Flares

[SPR]

Originally Posted by Johnscubanut

I attended a sea survival course last year & the instructor reckoned that Laser flares were going to be the things of the future! Demonstrated one in the classroom, pretty impressive I must say!
Size of a large pen & visible for miles! Replacable batteries etc.
Helicopter pilots at night not keen on them for some reason? lol

education - Greatland Rescue Lasers are very safe I have supplied flares to sea survival instructors and they have been tested with UK helicopters by RNLI , RAF and have been issue with safety Certificates.

If anybody want to discuss these, feel free to call me...

regards

Scott

[Dan Gurney]

According to this: http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/pdf/WH...ce_-_Rev_3.pdf

...they wont let you launch at Whitby without flares. Its fairly vague in thst they dont insist on any type in particular. I guess youd need to phone them to see if a laser would comply.

[Pikey Dave]

We launch regularly at Whitby & have never been asked if we have flares. All we have to do is sign a declaration stating that we have insurance( we don't even have to produce proof) and PAY!

[m chappelow]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

We launch regularly at Whitby & have never been asked if we have flares. All we have to do is sign a declaration stating that we have insurance( we don't even have to produce proof) and PAY!

If your using a private / marina slip don't think that the regs applies its only if your using council operated. Slips or beaches .

[m chappelow]

Originally Posted by j.i.wilson

I always keep my out of date flares for 5th November.

They always add an extra something to the bonfire party.

Please don't go telling me it's dangerous, its not. If you are willing to let hem off on a 5m RIB, letting them go in the back garden cannot be any more risky.

Great fun, except when they work perfect, I wonder, should I have kept them another year???

Ian

Until the para fails to open & it comes down like a scud missile & punches a hole through a conservatory/ car porch roof or rolls still hot or burning into someone's plastic gutter setting it all on fire ,

Also Be wary of setting of the floating smoke flares especially if its foggy or heavy mist in the garden especially with the 5 min burn ones ,,, know of someone that did that only to find out next morning that all the lawn and everything in the adjoining gardens were covered in a tarry orange dye , local cats had orange bellys for weeks after .

I do know of a safe-ish way to dispose if para rockets though it's not for the faint hearted .

[Festinghouse]

oh do tell! im with everyone else in saying that im reluctant to replace my flares, i think that the fact that it has been made extremely difficult to dispose of them tells you that they are no longer seen as being essential

[biffer]

I wonder how long it will be before health and safety and insurance companies pick up on us boys carrying pyrotechnics around on our boats

[Andy C]

Originally Posted by Clamchowder

According to this: http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/pdf/WH...ce_-_Rev_3.pdf

...they wont let you launch at Whitby without flares. Its fairly vague in thst they dont insist on any type in particular. I guess youd need to phone them to see if a laser would comply.

If you read the 'regs', you are 'required' to hold insurance, but only 'should' have flares.

My experience of Whitby matches Pikey Dave's, using the council run slipway and marina the only thing they are interested in seeing is your money.

The harbour master doesn't strike me as the sort that would be amused if you turned up in his office with a box of flares to show him!

[Copinsay]

I've not seen a laser flare and while I can imagine how they can help in cases where you'd use a smoke flare, I'm thinking that a parachute flare will have a considerable advantage when you are not in line of sight of potential help - eg at the close to a cliff, behind an island etc, as they have the height advantage?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Copinsay

I've not seen a laser flare and while I can imagine how they can help in cases where you'd use a smoke flare, I'm thinking that a parachute flare will have a considerable advantage when you are not in line of sight of potential help - eg at the close to a cliff, behind an island etc, as they have the height advantage?

the intended use is really to replace handheld red, for pinpoint location etc.

[Leapy]

[QUOTE="PeterM;509423"even on a small boat ...take everything ! Thats my thought ..../QUOTE]

I can see it now ... After deploying all your safety kit the SAR helo comes into view. Overcome with emotion, you pop the champagne

Damn those corks and why didn't the helo manufacturer do a cork strike test on the rotors???

[Copinsay]

Thanks Polly - that was what I was thinking, and thus that at least parachute flares still have a place and worth carrying.

[martini]

This is being discussed on YBW at the mo, a CG guy pointed out that the advantage of a handheld over a laser is that they work day and night to help identify a vessel in a crowded area eg the Solent and also that the smoke coming off helps heli pilots with gauging wind direction.

Sent from my portable speaking device using Rib.net

[Pikey Dave]

I once bought some Italian made flares, manfs name was "Lazlo" or something similar. We let them off on New Year's Eve when they were about 3 months out of date. One of the parachute flares blew up in my hand as I hit the striker, I was quite badly burned. I went to trading standards but the place I bought them from & the uk distributor had ceased trading. The flares were CE marked & SOLAS approved. Frankly I've not trusted flares since. They are un-testable & the only time you know if they will work is when the brown stuff is hitting the fan

[Dan Gurney]

Originally Posted by Andy C

If you read the 'regs', you are 'required' to hold insurance, but only 'should' have flares.

My experience of Whitby matches Pikey Dave's, using the council run slipway and marina the only thing they are interested in seeing is your money.

The harbour master doesn't strike me as the sort that would be amused if you turned up in his office with a box of flares to show him!

Thanks for that, and thanks Pikey. Been haven't launched there yet but I have this planned as my first 'sea launch' once the weather gets a bit better.

[martini]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I once bought some Italian made flares, manfs name was "Lazlo" or something similar. We let them off on New Year's Eve when they were about 3 months out of date. One of the parachute flares blew up in my hand as I hit the striker, I was quite badly burned. I went to trading standards but the place I bought them from & the uk distributor had ceased trading. The flares were CE marked & SOLAS approved. Frankly I've not trusted flares since. They are un-testable & the only time you know if they will work is when the brown stuff is hitting the fan

I tried an orange smoke once when I had a breakdown many years ago, smashed the first one to bits trying to set it off, think it was third time lucky by the time I got one to work. Luckily the passing boat had an aft facing passenger!

[Adamn]

I was given a Wessex orange smoke with an expiry date of 2001. It went off perfect on Bonfire night. I am now looking at my inshore flare pack expiry Dec 2012 and wondering if I should bother replacing them till 2022? but knowing me I will be off to the shops before spring.

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Poly

...OK I'll help you out one of them is often prosecuted under Section 89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 - can you clarify which offence you think someone might be committing for the other one?

Unless I'm mistaken a rocket is a firearm which is exempt from licencing. I'd be surprised (but haven't checked) if the exemption doesn't in some way state its exempt when intended as a distress signal. When you decide to fire it for entertainment that may well change the game!

Even if the firearms regs don't apply (and I'm less certain they do to handheld red /smoke), they could easily have you on a public nusience charge I'd expect? Reality they are likely to have some strong words with you and tell you not to do it again. Argue back, tell them its not illegal or ignore them and pop another off then I'd say expect to be explaining to the custody sargent in the morning what you did... Public nusience has been used previously for malicious phone calls to 999 despite there being specific legislation in the telecomunications act.

If ya wanna give it a go I'm happy to call the police for you and test the water to see what they prosecute you for ::;-)::

I could even be convinced that "The Merchant Shipping (Distress Signals and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations 1996" could apply - nothing in them says the vessel needs to be afloat, nor that the master of the vessel needs to be with the vessel... perhaps something in the wider Merchant Shipping legislation would say it can't apply. And if none of that applies then does the Fireworks Act 2004 apply? As a flare will not be tested to comply with BS 7114, it could be considered a class 4 firework. I'm sure I read a firework is meant to provide entertainment. I'd suggest the reason its being fired during a fireworks night it may be being used for entertainment. Normal members of the public can't possess class 4 fireworks.

[ShinyShoe]

Pretty sure its also illegal.

Never said it was illegal.

[m chappelow]

Seem to remember many years ago when some flare guns were made illegal such as the mini shotgun /cartridge type (very pistols) that para rockets and the mini flare /comet types were not classed as a straightforward firearm owing to the projectile not coming out of a barrel as such the rocket/ flare itself acts like a reverse barrel with the tube just acting as a protective casing ,
Doubt if it still stands today with the new laws though .