Flare disposal?

[sarabande]

Unscrupulous rich landowners (not their impecunious tenants ) are not averse to firing TEPs into disused rabbit warrens to dissuade the pests from taking up residence again in autumn. This is not a practice that impecunious tenant farmers would condone, of course.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Letting flares off in the back garden it totally irresponsible.

Because ... ?

 

[bedouin]

Letting flares off in the back garden it totally irresponsible.

I would say that letting off any flare without good cause is irresponsible in that there is always a risk of injury to the user. Other than that there can't be much wrong with setting off a red handheld in the daylight in the garden. I wonder if they make good BBQ lighters?

 

[Stemar]

Falmouth CG took mine: no charge but I had to telephone first and arrange a mutually convenient time. I took several boat's worth along, perhaps 30 flares.

But it's worth noting that you do not need to carry parachute flares on anymore provided:
- you have a VHF with DSC and
- you have a liferaft with internal flare pack.

This covers a lot of us. The hand-helds you can just let off in your back garden. What's the fuss? No need to wait for bonfire-night or Bastille day for that matter.

I wasn't aware of any requirement to carry parachute flares, unless you're RORCing or, maybe based abroad. I certainly never have for pootling around the South Coast. When the boat goes back in the water for next year, I'm giving serious thought to a laser "flare" and, maybe a set of mini flares, but that's my lot

 

[bedouin]

I wasn't aware of any requirement to carry parachute flares, unless you're RORCing or, maybe based abroad. I certainly never have for pootling around the South Coast. When the boat goes back in the water for next year, I'm giving serious thought to a laser "flare" and, maybe a set of mini flares, but that's my lot

If you want to use them to attact attention in an emergency then parachute must be a much better option than hand held. Much longer visibility, IMHO safer to set off and doesn't keep you occupied holding / waving it when you probably have much more important things to be doing like trying to stop the boat sinking or getting the liferaft / grab bad ready.

That said if I replace the flares I think I will go for hand held only too.

On the matter of laser/LED flares - do they really work well in the daylight? 90% of my sailing is probably in daylight so having a system that only works at night might be a little short sighted

 

[Stemar]

If you want to use them to attact attention in an emergency then parachute must be a much better option than hand held. Much longer visibility, IMHO safer to set off and doesn't keep you occupied holding / waving it when you probably have much more important things to be doing like trying to stop the boat sinking or getting the liferaft / grab bad ready.

That said if I replace the flares I think I will go for hand held only too.

On the matter of laser/LED flares - do they really work well in the daylight? 90% of my sailing is probably in daylight so having a system that only works at night might be a little short sighted

One of them (http://www.seasafe.co.uk/shop/ct/man_overboard_ancillaries/pd/rescue-laser-flare-lights- ) claims up to 20 mile visibility at night and 3 miles in daylight. Is that significantly worse than a parachute flare? The other thing it claims is to run for 40 hours. Oh, and no expiry date, plus, I assume, the ability to test it in your living room...

 

[LadyInBed]

I'm giving serious thought to a laser "flare" and, maybe a set of mini flares, but that's my lot

:encouragement:
That's what I carry, plus a PLB

 

[bedouin]

One of them (http://www.seasafe.co.uk/shop/ct/man_overboard_ancillaries/pd/rescue-laser-flare-lights- ) claims up to 20 mile visibility at night and 3 miles in daylight. Is that significantly worse than a parachute flare? The other thing it claims is to run for 40 hours. Oh, and no expiry date, plus, I assume, the ability to test it in your living room...

I am not entirely sure the CG would thank you for shining one of those at their helicopter

I thought you were talking about one of these:

https://www.marinesuperstore.com/si...MI7bjezeru2wIVzbztCh3jVgV3EAQYAiABEgKY6vD_BwE

Seems a good alternative to a red handheld at night

 

[prv]

I would say that letting off any flare without good cause is irresponsible in that there is always a risk of injury to the user. Other than that there can't be much wrong with setting off a red handheld in the daylight in the garden.

I'm not sure "irresponsible" is quite the right word if the only risk is to yourself. You're right there is some small chance of burning yourself through clumsiness or even a manufacturing defect, but with a pair of welding gloves on it's sufficiently unlikely that I'm quite happy to dispose of handheld flares that way. The first time you do it is useful experience.

If you want to use them to attact attention in an emergency then parachute must be a much better option than hand held. Much longer visibility, IMHO safer to set off and doesn't keep you occupied holding / waving it when you probably have much more important things to be doing like trying to stop the boat sinking or getting the liferaft / grab bad ready.

They do different things. Parachute raises the alarm, handheld pinpoints your position.

If you're trying to indicate your position to an approaching lifeboat (or whatever) then that's probably the most important thing for you to be doing at that point. Once they've located you, if you urgently need to be doing something else then there's nothing stopping you chucking the half-burnt flare into the sea.

I tend to think of parachute flares as more dangerous to set off than handhelds. The handheld just sits there and burns, albeit vigorously, whereas the rocket has a trajectory and recoil and rapid motion and a potentially-explosive propellant. Not that that would stop me launching one (and I'd like to get the chance to try it as a practice somehow) but it certainly seems like a bigger deal than the hand-flare.

One of them (http://www.seasafe.co.uk/shop/ct/man_overboard_ancillaries/pd/rescue-laser-flare-lights- ) claims up to 20 mile visibility at night

Only from a helicopter, though. From the beach or another yacht or a lifeboat, the curvature of the earth is going to hide it long before that. That's why parachute flares have so much greater range than handhelds - because they're higher, not because they're massively brighter.

Pete

 

[Stemar]

True, though in a Snapdragon with a nervous crew, I'm almost never out of sight of land. The real disadvantage, which I acknowledge, is that most people would recognise a parachute flare as a distress signal, probably fewer would recognise a laser unless it's flashing SOS, which some do.

I rather hope a mayday on VHF will have a helicopter looking for me and I'll only need to attract their attention. As for dazzling the pilot, most of the lasers use a prism to spread the beam, so you get a line of light. Waving that in the direction of the chopper, rather than pointing at it will show as a bright flash, ideal to attract attention, but too short to dazzle. I've a vague recollection of a test a few years ago that raised this as a possible concern, but found it wasn't an issue in practice.