Score one for Flares

D

DownWest

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In our local paper this a.m.
Yacht "Kiss Mi" alerted CROSS that he had sighted flares at 23:15 sunday, 220km west of La Rochelle. They sent 2 helicopters out. He later advised them he had picked up the skipper of "Nivice" from a life-raft. Early Sun. morning the boat had hit something and sunk 30min later, he had been in the raft for 19hrs. One helio carried on and picked up the guy, reportedly in good health and carried him back for a check up. The Nivice was registered at Sables-d'Olonne.

Bet he was glad the flares worked.Also might be in the market for an EPIRB.
A
 
Humm, also makes you wonder if the insurer will pay, as he was single handed.
A
Not that he could have seen what he hit at 04.30., doubt if extra eyes would have helped.
 
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Humm, also makes you wonder if the insurer will pay, as he was single handed.
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Not that he could have seen what he hit at 04.30., doubt if extra eyes would have helped.

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Normally you must declare if you are single-handed; if his policy covered this and he met the clauses stipulated, then there should be no problem.
 
I seem to remember that it is said that it takes about an hour to respond to an EPIRB signal, so had he used an EPIRB he would have been out of the water 18 hours earlier.

Mmm, now let me think, sounds more like an own goal to me! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
You said:

"had been in the raft for 19hrs" that would have been comfy!

I'd rather have activated the EPIRB than have to wait, 'just in case' someone comes close enough to see my flare.
 
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In our local paper this a.m.
Yacht "Kiss Mi" alerted CROSS that he had sighted flares at 23:15 sunday, 220km west of La Rochelle. They sent 2 helicopters out. He later advised them he had picked up the skipper of "Nivice" from a life-raft. Early Sun. morning the boat had hit something and sunk 30min later, he had been in the raft for 19hrs. One helio carried on and picked up the guy, reportedly in good health and carried him back for a check up. The Nivice was registered at Sables-d'Olonne.

Bet he was glad the flares worked.Also might be in the market for an EPIRB.
A

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He may have been saved earlier using epirb - but fact remains that the flares worked and saved his life.

Thanks for posting.
 
There was no mention of a EPIRB. I presume "Kiss Mi" had HF radio, or a sat phone.
What would be interesting to peeps here, was if he (Nivice)had a EPIRB and it didn't work.
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I thought I'd posted a reply to this but I can't see it - I probably replied to the wrong post!

Anyway I did my Yachmaster recently and the examinier was a really interesting bloke with loads of tales to tell.

He was racing across the atlantic and his keel fell off. He got into a tinker tramp with his crew, and an EPIRB. Rescue would come quickly so they just took to bottles of beer and one other thing of insignificance that I don't recall.

A ship came quickly and passed them by. The EPIRB was inspected and had leaked and failed.

6 days later they were picked up only by the chance watch change on a passing ship so someone was on the rail.

If I had to choose between an EPIRB and flares I'd have the EPIRB. Thankfully I don't have to choose.
 
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There was no mention of a EPIRB. I presume "Kiss Mi" had HF radio, or a sat phone.
What would be interesting to peeps here, was if he (Nivice)had a EPIRB and it didn't work.
A

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Indeed, agree completely, it would be interesting to know.
 
After 19 hrs and probably not feeling great, a whole day of not seeing anyone (presumably, as he still had some flares left) and keeping a good look out to spot Kiss Mi at night, I would rate him a surviver.
A
The argument about either/or is odd. As many means as possible. Carrying a dozen flares reduces the odds of a failure. One EPIRB that fails leaves you stuffed.
 
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I'm not sure someone who's spend 19 hours in a liferaft is a good advert for the effectiveness of Flares. Quite the opposite.

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Sorry Toad - but that's a sorry comment to make ... the guy survived to live another day by use of flares attracting attention.

What is it with people that they cannot just accept and say - that's good ... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
No one disputes the fact that it was a good ending, yes he has lived to tell the tale and that is very good and it was flares that saved his life, but.....

The title 'Score one for flares' is not really just. We must assume that there was no EPIRB on board, why? Because if he had had an EPIRB and it had failed then that would have been even more news worthy than the story that is. What I and others are saying is that 19 hours in a liferaft aint that good, if he had had an EPIRB it may have been a lot less time. My original post in this thread was aimed at the criticism that it takes an hour for an EPIRB to be responded to.

Its no good people saying if an EPIRB fails you've had it, if you don't have an EPIRB you are greatly reducing your likely rescue to luck. Its no good saying your lucky if the electronics work, there is only one type of luck and if you leave that to luck that a passing yacht 200nm off shore will see you, then your luck could soon run out..
 
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No one disputes the fact that it was a good ending, yes he has lived to tell the tale and that is very good and it was flares that saved his life, but.....

The title 'Score one for flares' is not really just. We must assume that there was no EPIRB on board, why? Because if he had had an EPIRB and it had failed then that would have been even more news worthy than the story that is. What I and others are saying is that 19 hours in a liferaft aint that good, if he had had an EPIRB it may have been a lot less time. My original post in this thread was aimed at the criticism that it takes an hour for an EPIRB to be responded to.

Its no good people saying if an EPIRB fails you've had it, if you don't have an EPIRB you are greatly reducing your likely rescue to luck. Its no good saying your lucky if the electronics work, there is only one type of luck and if you leave that to luck that a passing yacht 200nm off shore will see you, then your luck could soon run out..

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The reality is that both EPIRB?PLBs and flares/rockets are one shot devices, they can't be fully tested by the user. Now equally because they are commercial products they are made to a price, and thus will not be 100% certain of operation, so there will always be a chance of failure no matter what brand etc you have chosen. This means that when you pull the tab, throw the switch etce to make your beacon/pyrotechnic work it may say 'not my day' and leave you there holding a dud. You may have a lightening strike which has jellyfied the brains of all your electronics, etc etc.

Doesn't it make sense to have more tha one means of alerting others to your problems. Yes an EPIRB/PLB may well be the fastest way to get help but isn't nice to know that your back up flares still do work.
 
Likewise we assume his boat sank before he could mayday etc.
We can debate the relative merits of different gear, but back up is good.
Not sinking is good also, what happened?
 
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