It's been a few years ago now, but I wanted to let my wife get used to the flares, both handheld and aerial, so I phoned Coast Guard in Canaveral, and asked them if we could shoot them off a couple miles out of the inlet. They told me to give them a call on the radio when we were going to do so with our position, so they'd know it was us if they got calls of a boat in distress. We did, shot several, called them back to say "all done". Only got rid of a few old ones, but it was good real-world practice.
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01-05-2019 01:35 PM #31
Re: What do folks do with expired flares?
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Daytona Beach, FL
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01-06-2019 11:04 AM #32Senior Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Posts
- 217
Re: What do folks do with expired flares?
When I managed Treadwell Bay Marina in Plattsburgh, NY, I held an annual event to help educate the boat owners and families. In attendance was the CG auxiliary, FD cold water rescue, Sherriff's dept, Vermont State Police and Power Squadron. As Lake Champlain is in 2 states and 2 countries it gave the chance to ask questions regarding those laws. We also started different types of controlled fires giving everyone the opportunity to use the proper and non proper extinguishers. We also used outdated hand held flares and gun fired flares and again everyone had the opportunity to participate. Before starting we notified Coast Guard Station Burlington in what we were doing. When we were all finished I held every one back as I needed to make one more call. I called the Coast Guard back to let them know we were done and they reported back to me that they received NO calls reporting the flares. Keep in mind between Plattsburgh and Burlington is the most populated areas of the lake. Lesson learned, launching a flare in the sky does not guarantee rescue!
BobWaz
1987 40 DC #322
Knot Again!
Champlain, NY
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Re: What do folks do with expired flares?
What a great thing to do for fellow boaters. Congratulations and Thank You
SEVEN
1979 53' MY Hull #563
Antioch, California
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01-06-2019 01:01 PM #34Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2017
- Posts
- 96
Re: What do folks do with expired flares?
I keep my old flairs as the will still work just in case. I like the learning lessons listed above great way to teach the proper use.
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Re: What do folks do with expired flares?
We had a similar demonstration "class" at our marina once. Everyone got to set off the old flares. What most of us noticed is that, yes, some of the old ones do not light or are less than fully operational. Also, that in daylight, the smoke flares are much easier to see than the red flame. I know its not required that you carry smoke, but it convinced me to have a few of those aboard as well.
Sky Cheney
1985 53EDMY, Hull #CN759, "Rebecca"
ELYC on White Lake--Montague, MI