HOT FUN IN THE SUMMER TIME: EMERGENCY FLARES

Looking through my emergency signalling canister this spring I found four handheld Handheld Signal Flares. Since it was the Fourth of July I thought it might be a good time to dispose of them by lighting them off on the shore. Seems to me learning and lighting about emergency signal flares is best tried with out being under an emergency situation. So soon after sunset I took the dingy to shore along with a large metal can that I would use to hold the flares after I set them off. It was an eye opening experience. While these flares are meant to be handheld the flame is extremely hot. They can also sputter dropping hot flaming particles about. How hot are these flares? Hot enough to melt through the metal can that I put them in:

That's pretty hot! If a handheld emergency flare can melt the metal can. Imagine what it will do to a fiberglass deck or the pontoon of an inflatable!
LESSON LEARNED: If you need to light an emergency handheld flare make sure you hold it far enough over the side so that it won't cause a fire on deck or damage your life raft.

SPRING OUTFITTING: Flare Check

While I was doing some of that preliminary organizing I came upon my Olin flare kit:

. So I thought this was as good a time as any to open it up and check to make sure what flares where inside and if any where out of date. Which is a no no with the Coast Guard and just not a good idea in general.

In my  Flare Kit there are both hand held flares and 12 gauge aerial flares:

I was glad to see that non of them were out of date and I could get through the sailing season without having to buy new ones.  I hope to never have to use one but, it is important to have them available just in case. Spring outfitting is a good time to check them and make sure they are not out of date. 

HOW HORNY IS YOUR BOAT?

   You should have some way of making an attention getting sound on board your boat. Just shouting will "Hey You" probably won't be acceptable.  I carry at least two sound signaling devices on board the first is a simple whistle which is used mostly for emergency type situations where I need to get another boaters attention.  It does not have to be fancy or expensive. It just has to get someones attention. I keep it on a lanyard near the helm ready and available at a moments notice. I also have one attached to my life jacket in case I fall overboard. The nice thing about a whistle is you can keep it in your mouth and have both hands free to do what ever needs to be done to continue to control the boat, render assistance or tread water and still continue to sound whatever signal you need to.  The other sound signal device I have on board is a Taylor Rechargeable Air Horn

Sure you can buy Air Horns with screw on replacement air canisters and you can keep buying replacement canisters. But, for me I like having an air horn that does not depend on me remembering to go to the marine store to make sure I have enough air canisters on board to make a signal for an extended period of time. Such as when one is sailing in fog.  You refill the Taylor unit it by a common air valve on the bottom of the air horn.

Even though the unit comes with a hand pump that attaches to this valve as shown  in the first photo. Pumping it up to full pressure using the hand pump can give one a pretty good work out. What I use instead is a compact 12 volt air compressor instead:














I simply attach it to the air valve of the horn and keep it handy in the cockpit ready to use in conditions like when underway in a fog means I'll be sounding the horn more than usual. As shown in the photo below:

 NOTE: Make sure you do not pump up the Air Horn more than it's rated capacity.

When the air runs out you simply turn on the compressor and refill it. The compressor also has a built in LED light on the side that can be operated separately or in combination with the pump:

To me it makes the most sense to have a unit like this on board. I also like that it I can still use the hand pump as a back up pump to refill it. As a cruising sailor I always like to have a back up.