15
March - Flare up at Littlehampton
No
– not a flaming row amongst club members but a demo of marine
distress flares organised by the Littlehampton Marina Berth
Holders Assoc and taken by the RNLI.
10 Banstead members (plus 3 WAGs – they’ll be stowing
themselves away on the rib next) blazed a trail to the coast for
the evening’s firework party – sorry; flares seminar!
Fortified by an Arun Yacht Club fish and chip supper and a few pints (is
it really legal to set these things off under the influence of
alcohol?), the RNLI team showed us the different types of
flares, when they are used (don’t send a parachute flare up
when there is a helicopter coming) and how to fire them.
Yes – even the dimmest of us knew it was important to
hold the right end but we also found out that they all use
different firing mechanisms.
Best not to try and work that out from the instruction
manual in an emergency situation!
We also found out why it is important that the flares are
“in date”. Tim
“the Fixit” Cozens assured us that all ours are (now) OK.
Then it was out to the car park to play – sorry; practice – with
some real ones, including the intrepid Rachel “I’m
Frightened” Heard who somehow managed to overcome all her
fears and let off a red one once a burly lifeboatman held her
hand! None of us
quite realised how incredibly bright and hot these things are
(leaving us seeing everything else in a strange green colour for
a while after we had watched one – which it was painful to do
for more than a few seconds) and how long they burn for. (Six
minutes, as you ask).
A very enlightening and useful evening.
Let’s just hope we never have to do it for real.
(AH)
