Re: Flare replacement

On Tue, 13 May 2008 13:53:34 -0400, "Roger Long"
<strider@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>My question is strictly legal and practical.  Is it the kit that expires
or 
>is it the pyrotechnics?   Is a USCG boarding party going to want to see a

>date on the plastic box or will they be willing to look inside at the
flares 
>themselves.
>
>Other issues such as type of flares, etc. are outside the scope of my 
>question but well worth discussing.
>
>The only time I ever had to fire off flares was when I was in a rather
dicey 
>situation in a kayak in the middle of a very windy night night (Don't
ask. 
>I was young and stupid.).  I was pretty sure I would get back OK but was 
>afraid I was going to be run down by one of the long line of draggers 
>heading back into New Bedford.   I waited until the first one was quite 
>close and popped off a couple.  No response.   I fired one about 100
yards 
>in front of each boat that went by until I ran out.  If anyone saw them, 
>they weren't going to delay Miller time to stop and investigate.

If you are not signaling distress, you should use a color other than
red. They make both green and white.

They make one to three million candlepower rechargeable hand held
searchlights. They will pick up a stop sign at better than a mile.
Hard to miss. You can take one along on something as small as a
Sunfish. They are dirt cheap.

When I was a kid we had two of those, so we could hold races. I used
to go out at night, but I didn't have a light. Or a life jacket for
that matter. Shore was always within swimming distance, a couple of
miles at the most. I didn't usually go all that far from shore at
night. The lake is roughly five by seven miles. There was enough light
pollution to avoid the unlighted fi****ng boats.

Casady