[C320-list] Expired Flare Kits

[Jack Brennan]

So here’s a question: Has anyone ever actually used a flare in an emergency?

Forty years of off and on sailing, and I’ve only used one once, when I was young and stupid. I had my first sailboat, a 19-footer, and a friend of mine and I sailed it from Pompano Beach, Fl., to Key Largo.

The motor and the wind died, of course, so we were still off Largo Sound when the sun set. We tossed the anchor, but a strong tide out of the sound sent us dragging toward Hawk’s Channel.

Smart boys that we were, we set off a flare gun and then a flare in hopes of getting someone to tow us in. There were some boats around, and some houses on shore, but we would have died of old age waiting for someone to see and respond to the flares.

We learned a valuable lesson – don’t rely on anyone else for help -- and repaired the outboard in the dark as we dragged slowly toward the reefs. 

These days, cell phones and VHFs are much more important than flares unless you are going across oceans.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.
Dolphin Cruising Club of Tampa Bay

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