why are a VHF and flares important?

[space monkey]

As i said in another thread when the coastguard stopped me and my mate off tywyn a couple of weeks ago one of the things they asked if we had with us were flares. they seemed to think it was a good idea to have them and i would agree with them on that and with overruns opinion that the more ways you have to raise the alarm the better.

If your worried about them being around your kids lock them in the boot of your car when your not using them or somewhere similar the kids can't get to easily.

 

 

good reply- I think its just a case of reducing or eliminating the risks as far as possible - the more saftey features the better - who knows how anyone will react when it goes t*** up

[Simon Everett]

Don't discount the value of a good whistle - most lifejackets are equipped with them and a repeated blast on a whistle is a recognised distress signal. You would be surprised just how far a proper safety whistle can be heard - especially over water.

Mini flares are £30, the pack is about the size of 2 packets of fags and will fit in most PFD pockets - a lanyard to the launcher and through the flare pack is a good idea. That way you cannot lose either item. You get 9 (or is it 8) in the pack. They are mini rockets with a burn time of around 6 seconds each. Very useful for helping people to locate you in the water - a bobbing casualty, even a conscious one waving, is very difficult to spot in a swell.

[peter-robbo]

Thank for your thoughts guys, however call me foolhardy I am still not inclinded to buy any flares. I must add that as well as VHF and mobile phone I do have a whistle and one of them fog horn (CO2) thingys. Also I have a boat as well as a yak and all my safety gear is transfered from one to another and the kids go on the boat.

Someone said that they have a six second burn which doesn't sound long. I just think that flares in the past were essential, now with technology ie. Waterproof VHF, Mobile phones (who knows they may produce a waterproof mobile phone) I think flares are now relagated to being 'useful', I hope I am never in a position to eat my words

Peter

[corydoras]

Thank for your thoughts guys, however call me foolhardy I am still not inclinded to buy any flares. I must add that as well as VHF and mobile phone I do have a whistle and one of them fog horn (CO2) thingys. Also I have a boat as well as a yak and all my safety gear is transfered from one to another and the kids go on the boat.

Someone said that they have a six second burn which doesn't sound long. I just think that flares in the past were essential, now with technology ie. Waterproof VHF, Mobile phones (who knows they may produce a waterproof mobile phone) I think flares are now relagated to being 'useful', I hope I am never in a position to eat my words

Peter

I too hope that you are never in a position to eat your own words. Just my two bits worth, but as someone who spent 9 years of my life at sea, you got it right in your first post, you are being a muppet. Trying to use a VHF in the water in an emergency situation is a no no. Chances are that a rescue helicopter could fly past within 1,000 metres of you and would not see you at all if you did not have a couple of flares. In France you would not be allowed more than 200 metres off shore.

[nick]

flares are as essential today as they have ever been. They allow people to find you very easily. Often the RNLI when in the vicinity of your location will ask you to fire a flare to assist in finding you. At night in particular it is nearly impossible to see a head bobbing about on the sea, even with a fluorescent hood or whatever, from more than a few metres. In broad daylight and on anything other than an total mirror flat calm you can probably only increase that to a couple of hundred metres max.

 

FLARES SAVE LIVES.

 

Buy them. keep them safe, replace when the date says so.

 

I don't know how much anyone else values their own life, but mine is worth a damn site more than £30 to me.

 

To rely totally on line of sight electronics for survival at sea earns anyone a first class degree in muppetry!!

 

You also mention that you don't like to keep anything dangerous around because of young children. Do you have any hooks? Filletting knife? Petrol? Kitchen knives?

 

There are many dangerous items in all households, the only way to keep children safe is to a) educate them, supervise them, c) store "dangerous" items in a responsible way.

 

If you wish to lighten the load a little when either boating or yaking - bin the mobiles. They are not a safety device. If you would like a definitive answer on the question of flares speak to either the RNLI or the MCA - they will give you a fairly short answer on the question of being a muppet

Edited April 21, 2007 by nick

[YakDiver]

now with technology ie. Waterproof VHF, Mobile phones

technology is nice, but is only as good as the batterys, I do remember someone on here that forgot to recharge the VHF batterys, very easily done and at the end of the day you have to ask yourself one question "how much is your life really worth"

 

I've just seen Nick beat me too it

Edited April 21, 2007 by YakDiver

[nick]

I guess you may have noticed by now, but safety equipment is a bit of a hobby horse of mine. Not one that gets nearly enough excercise

 

Your kids go on the boat with you. So teach them all about the emergency equipment. Buy yourself at least 2 sets of flares. One should be something like the offshore flares pack on this page Why not an inshore pack? Can you guarantee that in an emergency you won't drift off shore?

 

I personally would also buy myself an Inshore pack and keep that in my yak (if I had one) - I don't know how or where I would fit it, but I would fit it in somehow. And probably get the mini flares too.

[corydoras]

Your kids go on the boat with you. So teach them all about the emergency equipment.

That includes how to deploy a flare.

[nick]

and how to use the vhf.

 

Anyone that is carried aboard a small private boat needs to know how to summon help in an emergency.

[Simon Everett]

I cannot believe that you are using a boat without flares. Utter foolishness.

 

A couple of rockets, a couple of red hand flares, an orange smoke would be the MINIMUM I carry on my boat. On the kayak I take the mini flares if just going fishing. If I am passage making I take the rockets off the boat and store them on the kayak, the mini flares go in the pocket of my PFD on a lanyard so they cannot become detached at all. Likewise the VHF is on a lanyard to me - a second handheld is in the glove box on the boat so if \i go overboard those oeft on the boat have a means of communicating with the rescue services.

 

You should acquaint anyone on the boat with you of how to handle /use both the boat and the safety kit - they might be able to save your life one day then. If you had a heart attack or were unconscious for another reason or if you went overboard, at the moment could they use the boat and successfully pick you up? get the boat home? Could they summon help? It's all very well thinking you are the one in control - but if you become disabled or go over the side then the boat is left without a competent helm.........both my boys could handle the boat by the time they were 10. To the point where I could rely on either of them to hold the boat off the slip safely and in complete control while I parked the car and trailer - and they would come alongside to pick me up from the wall - or if nobody waiting lie alongside the wall before I parked.

 

Don't think that you are the only one in the family who needs to know how to use both the boat and kit aboard. It is a very common situation.