Here's one for you... Old Flares!

[maddmike]

Not advocating, but;

Bob,Please note;I'm not advocating you do this, I was simply saying quite a few live-aboard cruisers in the Caribbean who do a lot of 'out island' crusing are doing it. I have no idea what would or would not be legal in the US as far as actually loading a 12 gage flair with pepper, I will defer to others more knowledgable, but suspect it would vary from State to State (the first time I became aware of the practice was from two law enforcement officers from the south who swore by it. Loading might or might not be legal, but I am willing to bet shooting at someone would be a big 'no no'. All that said, I might not be alive and here today to be called 'irresponsible', had I not been forced to employ this technique on one occasion outside the 'law abiding' world. I would suspect that anyone out there (besides myself) who has actually been boarded at night by a group of less than friendly folks in a remote anchorage might have a similar opinion. Out in the 'other' world being completely legal (if you can even get a consistant answer from officials in various ports in the SAME country to exactly what is legal)is not always smart or safe. There are various threads that rage pro-gun vs. anti-gun sailing, I have no die hard opinion (you will never outshoot a gang with automatic weapons, regardless of how you are armed). In the end, I'm just glad I had the option of protecting myself from a group of poor, hungry and drunk locals without having to actually use a 'real' firearm on them. Not really trying to give anyone a hard time or ranting a rigid opinion, just thinking outloud.MM

 

[Richard Bryer]

Cut you off??

The rules of sailing apply whether you are racing or not. If you sail through the race course when I am racing and you are on starboard tack or are downwind boat etc I will give way to you. I might yell at you if you make a habit of sailing throught a race when you can avoid it but I will give you the right of way according to the rules.

 

[Rick9649]

Give them to Police dept

Ialways give mine to the local police dept for use when they are working traffic accidents and stuff. Find a cop and just give 'em to him/her. They've always gladly taken them.

 

[tom]

I was surprised

I had more flares for my pistol launcher than I wanted to keep onboard. Fire Hazard. Anyway I shot them off on the fourth of July. The fire works that my neighbor was shooting off were so bright and went so high. I was surprised by the height and brightness of my flares....they were low and dim compared to the rockets my neighbor was shooting off. Cautious sailers will be glad to know that it had been raining off and on all day and all the vegetation behind our houses was very wet and there were no houses in the direction that we were shooting.  But the main point is that I realised that my flares were fairly dim and didn't go very high. I doubt that anyone on shore could see them if I was more than a few miles out at sea. Now I wouldn't consider shooting them off unless potential rescuers were known to be fairly close. As for shooting off flares on the fourth if others are shooting off fireworks no one will even notice. Where I now live fireworks are legal. Where I used to live it was a crime to shoot off fireworks.Tom

 

[Pops]

Flare Guns

As long as everyone is talking about flare guns, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone to check their guns to see if they actually work. I know that I have thrown away guns because they were corroded, broken (I dropped an anchor on the case), or were built incorrectly (yes, one of the biggest manufacturer of flare guns recalled many of their guns due to a manufacturing flaw). I don't remember the name of the company, but I remember that they are based in Peru Indiana. The guns would not open enough to insert a shell (doesn't matter if it is expired if it won't go in the gun). They had a free replacement program for awhile, excellent customer service. They definetly stood behind their product. They are inexpensive enough that I replace mine whenever I can't remember the last time I got a nice new one.