Who has used a flare in anger & why?

Many years ago I bought an old Beneteau and amongst the inventory were about a dozen flares, well out of date, in a supermarket carrier bag. I made an appointment at the RNLI in Poole to dispose of them. I chucked the carrier bag in the boot of the car and the guy at the gate gestured me to go over and park. He then donned full hazmat suit, helmet with visor and metallic gauntlets and came to get them. Well, I found it funny.
Seriously though, it appears from all the anecdotes above, that flares are more often hazards than help. I am definitely in the "no explosives on board" camp and am far, far happier with my Odeo LED "flare". I consider that in most situations, such as guiding a helicopter in, it would be more than adequate. I believe if you're in a situation where GPS, VHF, EPIRB and LED flare are not enough, you're pretty much stuffed.
 
ash2020 said:
Many years ago I bought an old Beneteau and amongst the inventory were about a dozen flares, well out of date, in a supermarket carrier bag. I made an appointment at the RNLI in Poole to dispose of them. I chucked the carrier bag in the boot of the car and the guy at the gate gestured me to go over and park. He then donned full hazmat suit, helmet with visor and metallic gauntlets and came to get them. Well, I found it funny.
Seriously though, it appears from all the anecdotes above, that flares are more often hazards than help. I am definitely in the "no explosives on board" camp and am far, far happier with my Odeo LED "flare". I consider that in most situations, such as guiding a helicopter in, it would be more than adequate. I believe if you're in a situation where GPS, VHF, EPIRB and LED flare are not enough, you're pretty much stuffed.
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To be Dooms Voice :

Powers gone on board ... batterys were left in the LED and mushy ... what are you going to do ?

I like the idea of my flares .... will use all other first ... but fall back is the flares.
 
ash2020 said:
If flares were inocuous, then it would be a no-brainer to have them, but they can be very, very dangerous, in storage and use. Why take the risk?
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The number of real incidents is small .... like most things in life - there's always a risk factor.

Flares have been around for long time and no-one has come up with any replacement that requires no batterys, no power ... that is truly self contained as the flare.
 
I have set off a parachute and a hand held flares for real. This was back in 1973 or there abouts when forecasts were not that good - remember the Shipping Forecast four times a day on longwave? Not many small yachts had VHF coms then; we did not.

We were on passage to Shetland. Well east of Fair Isle we had a southerly around F8 to 9 with big breaking seas. The boat was a small catamaran. We ran before it under storm jib towing warps. Four big waves broke over us in succession, the third filling the cockpit and the fourth accelerating us (again) and sheering both rudders off in line with the keel.

We fired a parachute flare, the first did not ignite. The second did and gave the clouds above us a delightful reddish glow. No one else saw it.

Later the wind dropped and we had made our way to somewhere south west of Fitfull Head (southern end of Shetland) using sail and steering with the outboard. The midnight thirty three forecast gave westerly gales putting us on a lee shore, so let off the hand held flare when a vessel appeared heading towards us. It was very bright, even with eyes closed and head turned away from it. It was also very hot and I had to drop it in the water before it had fully burned out.
 
Refueler said:
To be Dooms Voice :

Powers gone on board ... batterys were left in the LED and mushy ... what are you going to do ?

I like the idea of my flares .... will use all other first ... but fall back is the flares.
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Batteries in the Odeo flare are always checked regularly, generally I have at least 2 forms of GPS on boat battery, plus an iPad for nav, plus a phone in my pocket, plus an old iPhone, charged and tucked away on the shelf, plus a PLB in my lifejacket with an in-date battery. That's what I mean, if those all failed you're pretty stuffed. I wouldn't keep a box of fireworks in my bedroom and I choose not to have them on my boat. It's a personal thing - risk/benefit.
 
ash2020 said:
If flares were inocuous, then it would be a no-brainer to have them, but they can be very, very dangerous, in storage and use. Why take the risk?
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Do you have any evidence to support that argument?

We don't hear of thousands, hundreds, tens or even an individual each year being injured by pyrotechnics - even in the hands of football fans. There was the case of Duncan Wells, of Stress Free Sailing fame, being severely burnt with a malfunction some decades ago, but last time I spoke with him at the Southampton Boat Show he was alive and well. The case of a forum contributor having pyrotechnics self igniting when they were stored in a very full cockpit locked on a hot afternoon in Greece was poor storage.
 
LittleSister said:
They're also ideal for getting immediate attention from people nearby (when that is the case).
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Plenty of cases where people on shore have seen a flare and called Police / CG .....

I don't think an LED 'flare' or laser will provoke such response ... most land people understand significance of a red flare when they see one.
 
ash2020 said:
... Seriously though, it appears from all the anecdotes above, that flares are more often hazards than help ...
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That is not an accurate conclusion from the posts in this thread. The thread suggests that those who use flares or have experience of them in a distress situation have done so safely and positively. Apart from the fathers story that is.
 
RunAgroundHard said:
That is not an accurate conclusion from the posts in this thread. The thread suggests that those who use flares or have experience of them in a distress situation have done so safely and positively. Apart from the fathers story that is.
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Actually this post asked for real experience using flares in a distress situation. Other than one in 1973, before any of the modern safety systems, I can see only one actual experience where flares used for real (date unclear, so may also be okd world).
And one example of recent (2021) distress without any flares used.
Hardly much actual experience of recent use in anger.
 
dunedin said:
Actually this post asked for real experience using flares in a distress situation. Other than one in 1973, before any of the modern safety systems, I can see only one actual experience where flares used for real (date unclear, so may also be okd world).
And one example of recent (2021) distress without any flares used.
Hardly much actual experience of recent use in anger.
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I know what the OP asked for. Very likely, hardly anyone will have direct experience of using flares, other experiences of flares have been given. The post you quote is in response to another poster who believes that the thread shows how dangerous flares are and will not use them. I don't think the thread shows that and I will continue to carry them.

The OP would probably get more accurate information from reviewing the MAIB reports and other such investigations to get a handle on the use of pyros and what could be done better. Even so, that may be fruitless as a quick search of the MCA / MAIB reports using the word pyrotechnic only shows one incident, below.

Fire in engine room and subsequent abandonment of twin rig trawler Denarius

pyrotechnics were not stowed in a readily available place on board
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The skipper’s actions of going to the cabin below decks to collect pyrotechnics and warm clothing might have placed him in danger, but his presence of mind to take the portable radio and EPIRB undoubtedly gave the crew the best possible chance of being rescued, especially since the coastguard had not been alerted. However, there was ample room for pyrotechnic storage abovedecks on Denarius. Had the flares been stowed in such an area, they would have been more readily available in an emergency and thus avoided the need for anyone to go below decks. Additionally, there were quantities of pyrotechnics in each liferaft.
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dunedin said:
Actually this post asked for real experience using flares in a distress situation. Other than one in 1973, before any of the modern safety systems, I can see only one actual experience where flares used for real (date unclear, so may also be okd world).
And one example of recent (2021) distress without any flares used.
Hardly much actual experience of recent use in anger.
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That is completely unsurprising, given flares are something we carry only in case of emergencies we hope never to have, and the small sample of people who have read and bothered to respond to this thread, . How many here have experience of, say, deploying a liferaft in anger? (i think there was a thread about this ion here a while back, with very limited, if any, experience reported.

If you read books, one will find plenty of accounts of people receiving or providing help in response to flares. (Though I guess those who didn't receive help (or failed to notice someone else's flare) would not be posting. :oops: )

I've fired numerous time expired ones without harm.

A friends' companion's life was likely saved by a flare, after he became ill and delirious on a kayak trip across the North Sea. (All very scary, as they had fired numerous flares, but it was only the very last one that was spotted by a ship. It could also have put the safety of the rest of the party at risk trying to tow him when they had already been at sea without sleep for IIRC 36 plus hours and were still a long way from the shore the other side.)
 
Do they still sell the 'pocket' gun with mini flares ? Not that I would ever put in pocket !!

I seem to remember they got classed as 'firearms' and stopped ?

Shame as they were small and compact ... ideal to mount just inside companionway instead of the large canister of flares that often gets shoved away.
 
Refueler said:
Do they still sell the 'pocket' gun with mini flares ? ...
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Yes, they still do.

Pains Wessex Personal Distress Signal 9 Shots. Available for Click and Collect Only

Pain Wessex lightweight Personal Distress Signal pack contains 9 red aerial flare cartridges and a penjector firing mechanism, enclosed in a tough water resistant case. It features a slot for easy loading and unloading of the flare cartridge with the trigger in the safety catch position, and the penjector is fitted with a stainless steel spring and striker pin.
Each cartridge projects a height of over 50 metres, and will burn for over 5 seconds. Light intensity 10,000 candela, visible for at least 5 miles in daylight, increasing to 10miles at night, weather dependent.
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Have fired several rocket and h/h flares in earnest, in clear sight of two trawlers. Badly injured person on board boat following one total inversion and several almost-total, engine and electronics out of action. No response. Eventually sailed boat into a harbour the next day.

Also many years ago on Nov 5th: a yearly bonfire party on the lifeboat slip was the traditional way to get rid of them, rockets fired out to sea mixed with firework rockets. And handheld flares are excellent for lighting damp driftwood bonfires.

Last week paid to have full coded boat set of just-expired flares disposed of: got home and foud one red handheld had been forgotten. Let it off in far corner of garden out of sight of anyone.
 
GHA said:
Flare talk pops up quite often on here, seems sensible to do everything practical to not need them in the first place > so ..

  • Anyone care to leave a few details of any scary situations where flares really were used in anger?
  • What could have been done differently so the flares would not have been needed?

IMHO, all "disaster recovery" type stuff like flares & man overboard rescue etc etc should have money/time spent after spending money/time to do what can realistically be done to try to prevent the disaster happening in the first place.
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It wasent a scary situation, I had a garage and in my spray shop the paint sprayer had fallen asleep sitting in a chair and his head was resting on a car door. At the other end of the sprayshop was the paraffin blow heater, so to teach him a lesson I had one of my boat flares which I threw in, about a minuite later he comes rushing out shouting Fire, Fire, Woke him up.
 
I have, but I can't be bothered to reel it all off again, I'm a one finger typist.
It's in Scuttlebutt under 'electronic flares'
 
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