Flares

[Warren Milberg]

I've owned and sailed boats for over 30 years. In that time, I have never had to fire a flare, nor have I ever observed a flare being fired by another boater in distress. In that time, I've bought and collected a lot of flares that have long since passed their expiration date. Once in a while, I've had infrequent opportunity to fire expired flares at marina events approved by the USCG to familiarize people with the proper method for undertaking this task. Three out of four expried flares illuminated perfectly. Yet I hope that none of us ever have to fire a flare in distress as that is not the time to learn how to do this safely. So, I've decided not to buy new flares when my current ones expire unless I am planning for an offshore cruise. If I am ever boarded and inspected by the USCG, I plan to trot out my 3x3 daylight distress flag and the electronic SOS signalling device that I believe will meet the night time rules.

So, what has been your experience with flares? Have you ever needed to fire one or more in an emergency? Have you ever seen someone else fire a flare? If you had an onboard emergency, are you sure of your procedures to safely fire the flares you have?

 

[Ross]

Never had need for them but know how to light them. Planning to burn some this 4th of July in my back yard to let some of my friends experience the pop and fiss.

 

[sailingdog]

The problem with a distress flag and SOS light is that they are of very limited utility, especially in bad weather. A SOLAS grade parachute flare can work fairly well in even overcast or foggy conditions. IMHO, it doesn't make much sense to buy USCG flares when the SOLAS ones are significantly better. I'd also point out that the SOLAS flares are safer to use in many cases, as well as being brighter and longer-lasting. Handheld USCG flares will often drop hot slag...which is a serious danger on a fiberglass boat IMHO. The SOLAS grade ones will not.

I've fired off both USCG and SOLAS flares. The SOLAS ones are really far superior.

One other point. A few years ago, I attended a Safety At Sea seminar. The USCG did a flare demonstration, including some very old—10+ years past expiration date—SOLAS flares. Not only did the SOLAS flares work, they were brighter than the in-date USCG flares.

 

[BobM]

I'm with you Warren. Every boat I have owned has come with a supply of out of date flares and I have found nobody who can tell me where to dispose of them safely. Some are even splitting open. I tried the fire department to no avail. Maybe I should contact the state police...they are the only ones I see using flares routinely and they seem to use a lot of them!

 

[Ross]

You can soak them in water and throw them in the dump or you can just burn them.

 

[Chris Burti]

Funny you should ask...I just upgraded my 25mm flares by buying 4 current ones yesterday. I regularly sail out of sight of land in waters that may not see a boat for extended numbers of hours at times. I like having lots of flares that will work if I should need them. I carry 25 mm, 12 gauge and hand held. I inspect my flares regularly and keep them as dry as possible.

I burn off all flares over ten years old or any that look to be discolored or are in poor condition.

I dispose of them by setting them off laterally in a wet field. I have a fire extinguisher and a shovel.This lets me gauge performance of old flares and make sure they are dead as a doornail without hazarding anybody or causing false alarms. In my 'experiments', 10 years seems to be the limit for consistent performance although I once found one almost 20 years old in pristine condition that worked fine.

I've decided that I need to get some smoke flares because tests that I have read about clearly demonstrated that the aerial flares are not nearly as effective locating inin daylight as smoke, but I've been procrastinating due to the $25/3 price.

Flag and mirror may be legal, I've got them, but I doubt that they are worth the time if you really need them.

 

[Benny]

The majority of boaters out there nowdays have no idea what a distress flag signal looks like and would not recognize a flashing lamp at night as a distress signal. Fortunately, maybe because of Hollywood, the great majority will recognize a flare as a distress signal. Because of this I believe that flares are the most effective visual signal we may have at hand. Flares come with an expiration date for a reason and that reason is that after that date the percentage of reliability that it will fire as intended drops to unacceptable levels when lives may be in danger. A flare is judged by performance, 1) brightness 2) altitude, 3) interval of burn and 4) actual ignition. A flare that fails to provide maximum performance on all four categories may fail you. I would not consider cost as a valid reason for not having fresh ones on board.

 

[higgs]

I came across a disabled vessel who wanted a two hour hour tow back to his port which I had left earlier. I was headed opposite with only an hour to go. He did not want to go where I was headed and I did not want to tow him two hours back meaning my trip was now 7 hours instead of 3. No wind and calm seas. If it had been even close to life threatening I would have done it no questions asked. A power boat went by headed in the needed direction. Radio failed to raise him so I fired off a flare. He responded and towed the disabled boat in. I have never been sure if that was a justified use of a flare.

 

[Ross]

I came across a disabled vessel who wanted a two hour hour tow back to his port which I had left earlier. I was headed opposite with only an hour to go. He did not want to go where I was headed and I did not want to tow him two hours back meaning my trip was now 7 hours instead of 3. No wind and calm seas. If it had been even close to life threatening I would have done it no questions asked. A power boat went by headed in the needed direction. Radio failed to raise him so I fired off a flare. He responded and towed the disabled boat in. I have never been sure if that was a justified use of a flare.

They make white flares for non life threatening alerts. But I have never seen them for sale.

 

[Ray Bowles]

In 2002 we were at sea and returning to Pensacola Fla through the western inlet. The ICW was very narrow once inside the inlet if you were to go west on the ICW. We saw a series of 3 red aerial flares behind the tall sand dune between the inlet and ICW and were monitoring Ch16. A VERY large and long double barge had just gone aground blocking much of the channel. Without the flairs it would have been very hard to imagine the actual location of the incident. With the currents and tide flow and the high amount of boat traffic anything less than these flairs could have led to more accidents. The flairs also pointed out the area of the new sand bars causing the grounding.
Ray

 

[sailingdog]

They do sell white SOLAS handheld flares... but I've never seen aerial ones for sale.

They make white flares for non life threatening alerts. But I have never seen them for sale.

 

[Roger Long]

I was once caught out in the middle of Buzzards Bay at night in a kayak and afraid I was about to be run down by a string of fishing boats headed for the canal. I didn't have a radio or flashlight but I did have small rocket flares. The weather I was caught in was bad enough that hitching a ride home on a fishing boat would have been a smart move anyway.

I fired off a flare about 100 yards ahead of each boat that passed close ahead until I'd used up the whole package. Not a single boat saw me and I was practically in their path. Of course, if they had been on a search, they might have.

I know someone who was on a boat New Years Eve in Europe where it is more common to fire off old flares at such times (or was 25 years ago). They found some fairly old ones in a locker. One detonated and blew a couple of his fingers off. I wouldn't shoot them after they are more than 5 - 10 years old.

 

[sailingdog]

Of course, flares made 25 years ago weren't as stable as the ones made now, or even just 10 years ago.

 

[Chris Burti]

To amplify my previous post...I buy new flares every year. I buy handhelds, 12 gauge and 25 MM in rotation...that way I have at least three current flares of each type plus an ample supply of outdated ones for back up. I have read countless reports of parties needing numerous flare before successfully attracting notice.

From my perspective I don't wish to engage in a "would'a, could'a, should'a" hindsight retrospective if I should ever need them.

 

[Roger Long]

Of course, flares made 25 years ago weren't as stable as the ones made now, or even just 10 years ago.

Aren't they now starting to get less stable, like most things made in China?

 

[sailingdog]

I don't know...the chinese have a very long history of working with fireworks...

Aren't they now starting to get less stable, like most things made in China?

 

[shemandr]

I took my expired "Flares" to a party last fall where I knew fireworks were going to be shot off. My idea was I could get rid of them without attracting attention. They were the type you hold up and pull the line to ignite. I'd never tried to fire one. Not one functioned.

 

[pogo2]

Older Flares

I use to be a collection point for older flares, it seemed everyone I knew would bring me their out dated flares and say can you use these. I have 4 boats so I would need a collection of flares for all my boats. Not anymore now when someone tries to give me out dated flares, I tell them to put them in their cars, you never know when you'll break down or be involved in an accident. Experation dates really don't apply to flares in the trunk, like they do for a boat. I've used the trunkies a few times when traveling.
The last time I had my boat check by any law officila was last year, and flares were one of the first things they checked after the registration and life jackets, so i don't think telling the officers that you aren't carrying them on board because of some other reaso is going to work with them.

 

[Ron20324]

My sailing club just put out it's annual "flare exchange" email. We skippers turn in our outdated flares for new ones. On March 27 down on the Rhode River we let members (about 600) shoot them off, plus use fire extenguishers to put out fires, and see anchor demonstrations in the beach sand. It is surprising that the older flares shoot most of the time. The ones with the little chain pull-cord seem to fail the most. The chain just pulls out.

 

[Warren Milberg]

For Pogo2:
For clarification, if I am ever boarded and the inspectors want to check the dates of expiration of my flares, I plan to say that while I have expired flares aboard, I also have a daylight distress flag and a night time SOS electrical signalling device, which I believe meet both of the US Federal requirements for signalling devices for recreational boats of my size.

An additional clarification may also help here. I don't mean to diminish the need for flares -- in certain situations like going offshore out of VHF or cell phone range. At the same time, I do not want to keep collecting old flares that I'll never (I hope) use. I sail on the Chesapeake Bay just about all the time, and only occasionally leave the Bay. I am in visual and radio contact with land just about all the time. As such, it is hard for me to imagine an emergency situation in which my VHF, cell phone, air horn, whistle, upside down ensign, and orange distress flag would not be as effective in summoning help as my expired flares (which I would also use) would be. The real question is how much redundancy does one realistically need?