Mixed feelings about Flares

[benjenbav]

As has already been pointed out, different pyrotechnics have different operating methods. OK, they're outmoded, but it would have been so much better if all makes had had the same system of firing. Offhand, I can't think of any other lawful and sensible activity where you are discouraged from practice, so that in an emergency you don't know what to do.

I’m sure there was something that the powers that be hinted would make you go blind and sprout hair on the palms of your hands if you practised it.

Darned if I can remember what it was. Perhaps it also contributed to forgetfulness?

 

[ylop]

That’s a bit like fighter pilots never firing their canon or missiles in practice just because they might never need to fight them in anger

Not more like pilots not practicing with ejector seats ?

Humm well quite so , but anything that Electronics requires someone else with similar , thats turned ON plus being monitored , at that time , surely ? Flares only require good eyesight to WORK , plus someone looking it that direction ; Non boating peoples can , will , do report Flares , wheras Electronis alarms will only work with similar alarms , surely

If only the international maritime community could get together and agree some systems and protocols so there was standard equipment and other vessels and coastguard were able to receive such calls. You’d need it to be GLOBAL so international boats could use it MARITIME specific so it wasn’t clogged with the local taxi firms etc, DISTRESS prioritised so routine ship movements were not getting in the way, but with wider SAFETY uses for the SYSEM.

Crazy idea it would never catch on!

However I am about to replace my phone. For less than the cost of a set of coastal flares I can “upgrade” to a model which allows emergency messages via satellite… sounds like that might be more reliable than hoping that someone happens to be looking the right way at the right time who has there own phone and sufficient signal to call it in…

 

[jbweston]

Now that I've moved away from sail and expect to be doing only day passages I've stopped carrying pyrotechnics. I have VHF/DSC, a PLB that I attach to my life jacket, a non-DSC handled VHF, a mobile phone and an electronic 'laser flare'.

I had a collection of time-expired pyros that I couldn't easily dispose of. My attempt to let off the smoke canisters in my garden were partly successful - total success in getting rid of them, total failure in the sense that my wife genuinely thought the house was on fire. The parachutes and red handhelds I didn't try to fire off for all the reasons given in this thread.

Eventually I found the chandlers at Largs Marina (Largs Chandlers) would happily take any number of old flares for disposal (for payment, naturally) even when I wasn't buying any new ones. So I didn't need to store them in my cellar steadily deteriorating any longer.

 

[benjenbav]

Well, I now know how to get rid of those flares.

Top tip, become an ultra supporter of a major European football team and take them along to the stadium when they’re playing a big match.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say you might feel out of place if you forgot to take along a few pyrotechnics…

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Sorrenta Calcio 1945. The Ultras are essentially integrated into the club culture and fan experience.

 

[ylop]

Well, I now know how to get rid of those flares.

Top tip, become an ultra supporter of a major European football team and take them along to the stadium when they’re playing a big match.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say you might feel out of place if you forgot to take along a few pyrotechnics…

You need to pick your team to match your flares though… don’t want to be the only guy at that end setting off a red flare - that could be really dangerous!

As far as I know nobody has launched parachute flares at football grounds - but it’s probably only a matter of time. Some matches are probably distress situations!

 

[Roberto]

Sorrenta Calcio 1945. The Ultras are essentially integrated into the club culture and fan experience.

If that s Sorrento in the Neapolitan coast, fireworks are deeply integrated within the whole population: I spent a New Year s Eve on Capri island and at midnight the whole coast seemed to have been set on fire. Maybe the giant Vesuvius firework of AD 79 has left a trace. If people are caught short of fireworks then it s firearms, who cares

 

[DreadShips]

You need to pick your team to match your flares though… don’t want to be the only guy at that end setting off a red flare - that could be really dangerous!

As far as I know nobody has launched parachute flares at football grounds - but it’s probably only a matter of time. Some matches are probably distress situations!

I seem to recall somebody a few years ago being injured by one fired from across the stadium, but can't find the incident.

And being unable to get into the stadium during the pandemic for a match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce wasn't going to stop ultras from their favourite game of lobbing flares onto the pitch either, thanks to a well aimed parachute flare...

 

[RunAgroundHard]

If that s Sorrento in the Neapolitan coast, fireworks are deeply integrated within the whole population: I spent a New Year s Eve on Capri island and at midnight the whole coast seemed to have been set on fire. Maybe the giant Vesuvius firework of AD 79 has left a trace. If people are caught short of fireworks then it s firearms, who cares

Indeed it is and indeed they are. The Virgin Mary was being taken for a stroll from the local Sorrento church accompanied by much fireworks. Also regularly set off in Capris and Naples as you state, based on recent visit. Naples was multiple times a night. Very hospitable people as well.

 

[benjenbav]

You need to pick your team to match your flares though… don’t want to be the only guy at that end setting off a red flare - that could be really dangerous!

As far as I know nobody has launched parachute flares at football grounds - but it’s probably only a matter of time. Some matches are probably distress situations!

Red smokes seemed popular in Paris yesterday.

 

[Cerebus]

How do people get them in to the establishment?

How do they get away with setting such things off? Or do they get caught? Last match I attended, the stewards were like the Gestapo.

I stopped carrying and renewing flares years ago and use electrical things.

 

[SaltyC]

Well, I now know how to get rid of those flares.

Top tip, become an ultra supporter of a major European football team and take them along to the stadium when they’re playing a big match.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say you might feel out of place if you forgot to take along a few pyrotechnics…

Aaah, you had the same thoughts as me re Liverpool games.

 

[jbweston]

I’m sitting on my hotel balcony in Naples as I write this. They love fireworks here, for any occasion or none. I’m sure Neapolitan sailors have no trouble disposing of old flares. In fact I imagine that they never get old as a canister of pyrotechnics must be an almost irresistible temptation.

 

[DreadShips]

It's a Friday afternoon so I'll just note my amazement that we're over 200 posts into a thread titled "mixed feelings about flares" and not one person has replied "yeah, they make my ankles look fat"

 

[Stemar]

We were in M&S the other day and noticed that they had flares in stock

 

[Graham376]

I’m sitting on my hotel balcony in Naples as I write this. They love fireworks here, for any occasion or none. I’m sure Neapolitan sailors have no trouble disposing of old flares. In fact I imagine that they never get old as a canister of pyrotechnics must be an almost irresistible temptation.

Much the same in Portugal. Midnight N Years Eve, seems everyone on the Tagus from Lisbon to Cascais fires off their old flares.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Humm , well , I was expecting anyone to give first hand experiences of using either FLARES OR RADIO etc , so , maybe very few have actual personal experiences of using Distress signals : Maybe that reasuring then ?

 

[Juan Twothree]

Humm , well , I was expecting anyone to give first hand experiences of using either FLARES OR RADIO etc , so , maybe very few have actual personal experiences of using Distress signals : Maybe that reasuring then ?

I'm lifeboat crew. From memory, the last time we had a casualty fire a flare as the primary means of calling for assistance (as opposed to doing so to indicate the vessel's position to the lifeboat) was around 10 years ago. And the previous occasion was 10 years before that.

 

[Cerebus]

I'm lifeboat crew. From memory, the last time we had a casualty fire a flare as the primary means of calling for assistance (as opposed to doing so to indicate the vessel's position to the lifeboat) was around 10 years ago. And the previous occasion was 10 years before that.

How often have you found people to use flares to direct you to them?

Do you have an opinion of pyro flares over electronic flares?

Are theses UK waters you volunteer in?

How many shouts do you get a year?

Are there particular months where more shouts occur?

 

[Juan Twothree]

How often have you found people to use flares to direct you to them?

Do you have an opinion of pyro flares over electronic flares?

Are theses UK waters you volunteer in?

How many shouts do you get a year?

Are there particular months where more shouts occur?

1.I've had people use flares to direct us to their position 3 or 4 times, but not in recent years, as everyone has GPS these days. So we usually get a lat and long in the tasking, and go straight to them.

2. I've never seen electronic flares in use. It's very rare to see flares at all.

3. Yes, these are UK waters.

4. 40 or 50

5. We used to get most of our calls during the summer months. However increasingly over recent years, we are getting more and more calls to despondent suicidal people, and these occur all through the year. They probably account for at least half of our calls now, and this is a trend that other stations are experiencing too. So many of our calls are shoreline searches, or standing off while the police talk to someone threatening to enter the water.