It could have ended badly: On 10 June this year, there were heavy thunderstorms on the German Baltic coast. An eight-metre-long catamaran was doomed by a squall in the evening hours in the eastern Greifswald Bodden: the boat capsized and the crew could only save themselves on the upside-down boat. There they waited out the night. The sailors were unable to draw attention to themselves in the dark, as both emergency ammunition and mobile phones had been lost during the capsize. A hand torch would probably have been enough to call for help - the shore was less than two miles away. This emergency at sea clearly shows how important signalling devices can become when radios and smartphones fail. Some manufacturers now offer signalling flares with LEDs instead of pyrotechnics.
Advantages over conventional signal flares: According to the manufacturer, the Odeo Flare has the shortest burn time of over five hours. This is still a huge advantage compared to the burning time of 30 seconds to one minute of pyrotechnic hand flares. In addition, some of them can be fitted with standard batteries, making them easy to send by post. In addition, no heat can develop without fire and there is no risk of injuring yourself or others.
We have tested in practice whether the luminosity of the diodes and lasers is actually sufficient to locate a yacht in distress. You can read the results in the current issue of YACHT.Issue 23/2017 will be available from newsagents from 2 November or can be can be downloaded here immediately.
