VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Does anyone have any experience with the Tru Flare Pen Launch Mini Flares.

They sell them at MEC. They are very compact and are claimed to be water resistant as well as reasonably priced.

There are several videos on YouTube showing their use. The Pen can Launch Bear Bangers, Whistle Flares and Red, Green or White Signal flares.

Are these any good?

here are the youtube links


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNh-KyndVOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l-92SIHlfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-nMXm6UuM

i use the bangers a few times a year at work they are great fun. the flares are quite a bit smaller, i shot off a bunch one new years, out in the mountains (possibly a misdemeanor) . not sure how they would work out on the water, you might have to figure out how to keep it dry? they do light up pretty good. assembly can be a challenge if your hands are numb.

DWD, thanks for the info.

I agree about the numb hands. They do have a single twist version where you do not have to do the threading.

I had a similar one many years ago and it got corroded by the marine environment and became unusable. So you do need to maintain them unless they are perfectly sealed. The one in the second video link above has waterproof flares though.

EPIRB i think is the best thing .

AC wrote:EPIRB i think is the best thing .

EPIRBs: http://www.thegpsstore.com/EPIRBs-and-PLBs-C351.aspx
My buddy has the $250 one. (offshore fishing) Get the floating one! ;-)

This kind is cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/SPOT-Satellite-GP ... pd_sim_e_6
But it has a $99/year membership fee.

xmas is just around the corner.

PS Canadian site, and they throw in some free stuff:
http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/acr-r ... b-375.html

Not sure if you read my comments on SPOTs elsewhere in other threads Juan.. but don't waste your money. I use one for work check-ins regularly and in an emergency I expect it to be only slightly more useful than my teddy bear sitting on my bed back home.

EPIRB is a much better standard.

nanmoo wrote:Not sure if you read my comments on SPOTs elsewhere in other threads Juan.. but don't waste your money. I use one for work check-ins regularly and in an emergency I expect it to be only slightly more useful than my teddy bear sitting on my bed back home.

EPIRB is a much better standard.

I didn't see that...I seem to have strayed into the windsurfer forum by accident.

Or maybe I did see it...because I have this vague sense of being told the SPOTs aren't great. Only advantage, maybe, is you can use them to send a certain # of msgs per year, like text home that you're safe. Whereas the PLBs I think it is emergency call or nothing.

By the way, I don't know difference between EPIRB and PLB....something to look into. But I've been humming and hawing about one of these for a while now...either $250 for nothing, or the best money you'll spend for the rest of your life.

At our Pipers Debriefing with the coast guard, they confirmed that SPOT was not the way to go.

They said that PLB or similar was the way to go. Saul can confirm/fill in their recommendations regarding this as he had detailed conversations with them regarding PLB. Technologies/terminologies that I am not familiar with. I only heard the pricing...like $300.

Coast Guard recommended flares.

I can see PLB if you are sailing alone or going way off. Personally I am usually sailing with someone or a group of sailers I know, but if I am way out and break down they will see me as I am not that far off, but not necessarily know I need help. Valuable time will go by as they try to figure out what is going on with me ie self rescue, resting, swimming. If I shoot a flare, there is no question that I am in "Distress".

http://www.mcmurdomarine.com/en/product ... rtfind-s10

These look good, however I have heard mixed reviews. Mainly there are 2 different AIS modes a comercial and personal. From what I have heard most comercial ships turn off the personal signals to hide all the pleasure boats.

Would be nice to get a free on to test.

Even to check in with the family while travelling, the SPOT is somewhat useless. Unless there is another method to check if you are ok because there is no guarantee the message will go through and no way to check if it has. Even if it is working their own standards dictate that you need the better part of an hour, with the unit upright in clear view of the sky for it to transmit, with no specs on how much longer after that your message will be relayed in. Not to say it always takes that long (it often says it has transmitted in 30 seconds or so) but that it could take that long. If it is an emergency, 30 minutes is a long time, then an unknown amount of time after that for a third party private company to get in touch with local SAR agencies. For hikers that might fly, but when you are on the water in conditions we experience, 30+ minute coordinates are starting to get useless, 1-2 hour ones obsolete, and you are probably dead by then if it was a real emergency anyways. The biggest problem I find with our units though is plain and simple reliability. Sometimes we can't get them to say they've sent the message, other times it says it has sent but never arrives. Really makes you wonder what would happen in an emergency. I've only heard of one first hand experience and it was 4 hours before SAR was notified. Not good.