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25-04-2012, 14:28
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: South Australia
Posts: 8
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check your flares!
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25-04-2012, 14:47
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: VA, boat: Deale, MD
Boat: 1981 Nor'sea 27
Posts: 1,414
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re: check your flares!
looks like 3 flares wasn't quite enough. glad he made it out ok.
__________________
Daniel - Rhapsody Blog,
“A sailor’s joys are as simple as a child’s.” — Bernard Moitessier
"I don't need therapy, I just need my boat"
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25-04-2012, 14:51
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#3
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Solent, England
Boat: Moody 31
Posts: 18,423
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Re: check your flares!
Actually I think he had just the right number. However, yes some more would have been useful, you wouldn't want a dud as your last one.
Pete
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25-04-2012, 14:52
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Halifax, N.S Canada
Boat: Tanzer 26, Walk22
Posts: 930
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Re: check your flares!
He is one lucky man!!!
__________________
Just the guy that runs the boat.
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25-04-2012, 14:57
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#5
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CF Adviser Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Virginia
Boat: Island Packet 380, now sold
Posts: 8,942
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Re: check your flares!
Good reason to keep your out-of-date SOLAS flares in a separate airtight container from the in-date flares.
__________________
Hud
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25-04-2012, 15:23
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Halifax Nova Scotia Canada
Boat: Douglas 32
Posts: 30
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Re: check your flares!
I'm thinking an epirb or personal locator would have avoided a lot of suffering. Even a VHF handheld with GPS / DSC - if you can see the ship you're within range.
On the subject of flares, the SOLAS flares are totally worth the additional expense. I have tried lighting the el-cheapo variety in good weather on land after their expiration date and they are not always easy to get going. I've banned them from my boat. I expect my SOLAS flares will work well beyond the expiry date, and I will keep them as backups as suggested.
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25-04-2012, 17:34
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: U.S., Northeast
Boat: Currently boatless
Posts: 1,643
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Re: check your flares!
ORC Cat 1 SOLAS flare kit: $529.99
ACR GlobalFix Pro 406 MHz EPIRB with GPS and 121.5 MHz homing capability: $639.99
Which is the better value?
__________________
... He knows the chart is not the sea.
-- Philip Booth, Chart 1203
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25-04-2012, 17:46
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2003
Boat: Dragonfly 1000 trimaran
Posts: 7,145
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Re: check your flares!
Long story short, in 1993 I fired off some SOLAS flares dated 1975 during a 4th of July fireworks display.
They had been stored on deck of a sailboat in a hard shell Avon liferaft.
Every one of them worked perfectly.
__________________
The question is not, "Who will let me?"
The question is,"Who is going to stop me?"
Ayn Rand
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25-04-2012, 18:53
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,140
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Re: check your flares!
Yeah I think carrying a few hand held VHF's as backup might be a better to have than additional flares. Some Vhf's are not that much more expensive than the flares these days. Maybe the same price if you buy a used one.
__________________
Mike
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26-04-2012, 07:56
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 2,150
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Quote:
Originally Posted by senormechanico
Long story short, in 1993 I fired off some SOLAS flares dated 1975 during a 4th of July fireworks display.
They had been stored on deck of a sailboat in a hard shell Avon liferaft.
Every one of them worked perfectly.
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Same here. Very old flares worked quite well almost 25 years later . Keep them dry.
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26-04-2012, 08:06
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northern British Columbia, part of the time in Prince Rupert and part of the time on Moresby Island.
Boat: 50-ft steel Ketch
Posts: 1,884
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Re: check your flares!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy
ORC Cat 1 SOLAS flare kit: $529.99
ACR GlobalFix Pro 406 MHz EPIRB with GPS and 121.5 MHz homing capability: $639.99
Which is the better value?
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Where I come from better value has nothing to do with it. The flares are required by Transport Canada for vessels the size of mine.
__________________
'Tis evening on the moorland free,The starlit wave is still: Home is the sailor from the sea, The hunter from the hill.
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26-04-2012, 08:10
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#12
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Moderator and Certifiable Refitter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: South of 43 S, Australia
Boat: C.L.O.D.
Posts: 20,301
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Re: check your flares!
Interesting. IMO, flares are very much the tool of last resort after SSB, VHF, EPRIB etc but as they say, when you are down to your last chance, it better be a good one. I will be replacing non SOLAS flares with SOLAS ones.
__________________
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangereous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. T.E. Lawrence
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26-04-2012, 08:11
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#13
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Moderator and Certifiable Refitter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: South of 43 S, Australia
Boat: C.L.O.D.
Posts: 20,301
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Re: check your flares!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astrid
Where I come from better value has nothing to do with it. The flares are required by Transport Canada for vessels the size of mine.
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And here, both (flares & EPRIB) are required!
__________________
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangereous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. T.E. Lawrence
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26-04-2012, 08:32
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Skagit City, WA
Posts: 25,477
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Re: check your flares!
Quote:
Originally Posted by senormechanico
Long story short, in 1993 I fired off some SOLAS flares dated 1975 during a 4th of July fireworks display.
They had been stored on deck of a sailboat in a hard shell Avon liferaft.
Every one of them worked perfectly.
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Yeah, I think it's a good idea to keep the old ones. Last 4th we shot off 8 flares dated in the 80's.. non SOlas.... they all worked!
If Solas flares are that much money I would opt for more quantity of non solas! I did buy a few Solas for one boat...
__________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Broads and Boats. The rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard
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26-04-2012, 08:50
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2003
Boat: Dragonfly 1000 trimaran
Posts: 7,145
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Re: check your flares!
I don't know if you can still get used ones like the following, but it's worth a shot.
In the early '90's, we got our Avon liferaft repacked before our Mexico trip.
The repacking depot gave us several options about new flares which prompted me to ask,
What do you do with the old SOLAS flares?"
They said they had to pay to take them to a hazardous waste dump at great expense!
They also said if kept dry, they'd last virtually forever.
I then asked if they could give me back my old flares.
They not only said yes, but asked if I wanted any more, so I took about a hundred and gave them to several other boating friends in my cruising club !
__________________
The question is not, "Who will let me?"
The question is,"Who is going to stop me?"
Ayn Rand
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