Re: Flare replacement

"Bruce in Bangkok" <decypher_signature@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
>
> As I don;t live in the U.S. I am not up on the latest Coast Guard
> regulations, but assuming that you have a set of up to date flares is
> it a sin to have additional out dated flares?
>

With the Coast Guard, which you wouldn't recongnize if you've been away as

long as I think you indicated, you never know.  There was at time when the

only USCG Approved PFD's were the big bulky things that you couldn't do 
anything in except ****ver in the water and wait for help.  When the first 
generation of floating coats and kayak vests came on the market they were 
not approved. People started using them because they could work on deck
and 
have something to keep them afloat if they went overboard.  The CG 
maintained for several years that it was illegal to have them on board
even 
if the vessel had the full complement of approved PFD's.  They made a
couple 
of sail training vessel I was involved with remove them from the vessels
and 
the crew and trainees went from wearing PFD's all the time on deck to 
wearing nothing because they simply couldn't work in the USCG vests. 
Safety 
seldom factors in to the USCG view of things and it's gone from simply
silly 
to absurd.

--
Roger Long