wrote in message
oups.com...

JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

JimH wrote:


"An acquaintance of mine spent a long night on an overturned hull near
Vancouver Island. He had both SOLAS and "USCG approved" flares. He
failed
to
attract the attention of a *nearby* fishing boat with either..."


Not too compelling of a story on why to get SOLAS standard flares.
But I
guess carrying a couple could not hurt.

That does not dismiss the fact that SOLAS flares may not be needed by
everyone in
every boating environment. We have no idea where and how RG plans to
boat.
He may not need suspenders and a belt Chuck. ;-)

Not until his pants are falling off. :-)

Read about "burn time" and "luminosity" in this link from an
organization that ran some
head to head tests between SOLAS and USCG approved flares. Particularly
the parachute flares, as those are the units most likely to catch
somebody's attention.


http://www.boatus.com/boattech/pyro.htm

About the time somebody fails to get medical attention as quickly as
needed or additional tens of thousands of dollars damage occur to a
vessel in trouble, that $50 saved by buying cheaper flares will seem
pretty insignificant.


I totally understand the need when boating on the Great Lakes, on
sal****er
and on very large inland lakes. But if the person asking the question
boats
on a small inland lake (1 -2 miles wide) then the SOLAS flares may indeed
be
overkill.

And we have yet to find out where RB boats. ;-)

Just out of curiosity..........do you carry an EPIRB w/GPS receiver and
Type
I life jackets on your boat Chuck?

Yes to the Type I life jackets. We have 2, and that's the number of
people aboard our boat
99% of the time when we're underway.

What about the other 1%? Are they not important?

We also have 8 Type II jackets for
Special Peoples' Cruises or other times when we have guests aboard, and
if we're just going ashore in the dinghy we'll typically wear a Type II
rather than a Type I. (yes, we always wear PFD in the dinghy as it is a
small, open, boat). If I'm single handing, I don't go on deck without
at least my inflatable PFD and would upgrade if conditions warranted.

If I were to add anything to my inventory of safety gear it would be
two survival suits.
See the upcoming issue of a certain boating mag for an excellent
article, (written by an MD),
about the hazards of hypothermia.


When did this enter into the picture? W

Fair enough.......what about icebergs....killer whales..............killer
waves......lions and tigers and bears......oh my........ummmm. Again, we
may be talking about a boater who is in a small inland lake with only
summertime use. You do not know the facts....neither do I, so why speculate
on what he/she needs?



No to the EPIRB. Don't ever get far enough offshore to really need
one...BUT!!...if I needed one (or, as in the case of flares, one were
required) I wouldn't settle for the cheapest available as "probably
good enough."

We agree that everybody needs flares, but we disagree whether buying
decent flares is a proper priority for the use of boat bucks. My "belt
and suspenders" opinon is that it's better to have a flare that's
ridiculously overbright for conditionis than one that is just a wee bit
short of good enough to be seen. But then again, I'm the guy who still
keeps the paper chart
open on the chart table immediately below the SIMRAD chartplotter.
YMMV. :-)


Yet those flares were of no use in the scenario you previously posted. ;-)

If you indeed wore suspenders and a belt, regardless of the fact that you
only do near shore boating (how many miles is considered offshore Chuck?)
boating, you would have a life raft, survival suits and ditch bag with
portable hand held marine radio, a good supply of portable high dBA sound
signaling devices, an EPIRB (with GPS) and a supply of food and water as you
can easily be swept out to sea if you lost engine power....this is in
addition to your SOLAS flares. ;-)

My point is that everyone needs to do a simplified risk analysis of their
boating safety needs (over and beyond basic USCG requirements)........what
are the risks compared to the costs....what risks/losses are acceptable?
One obviously has to include the loss of life in this analysis.

What is good for you may not be good for another in a totally different
boating environment. ;-)