Amber Flashing light.

[Biggles]

Has anyone fitted an amber flashing light to their A frame and if so which one.

Yes, I know you can only use them if your a Hovercraft, but I've always thought they could be a good safety aid both at sea and especially on the side of the motorway if you break down.

[Hightower]

Fitted one on an opponents Yacht once when we were racing with them one wekend in Cowes and we where all very drunk . Some of our crew picked up one of those road works flashing lights and hoisted up their mast. They got a bollocking from the Harbour master who thought the Ryde Hovercraft had lost its way .

[bogib]

I will be fitting Amber (yellow) and Red Sputnik LED to my boat (8 pieces all together) from Federal Signal

Bogi

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Has anyone fitted an amber flashing light to their A frame and if so which one.

Yes, I know you can only use them if your a Hovercraft, but I've always thought they could be a good safety aid both at sea and especially on the side of the motorway if you break down.

At the side of the motorway then your trailerboard already has two orange flashing lights on it. There are plenty of cheap laterns available for this sort of purpose that aren't fully water proof (etc as you would want when leaving on an a-frame). You can also leave them in the car for when you are not towing the boat. Also probably more effective placed well before the hazard than simply on the hazard (as should be the case with a warning triangle).

Don't see what advantage it offers at sea - it is simply going to add confusion, make it harder for people to see your nav lights. Close to shore (if you are not in an area where Air Cushioned Vehicles normally opperate, or fishering vessels) then I think they could get confused for shore lights.

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Don't see what advantage it offers at sea - it is simply going to add confusion, make it harder for people to see your nav lights.

Watching an episode of Seaside Rescue I noticed that India Juliet was having problems on one rescue identifying a boat from the many in the Solent. I thought then that if the boat had some sort of identifying beacon, ie yellow flashing light, it would have been so much easier for the helicopter crew. As it is seems like all small boats look very similar at a few hundred feet in the air.

[wavelength]

lots of yellow flashing lights on the Mersey at night- but all them hovercraft are actually fork lift trucks loading from the quayside

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Watching an episode of Seaside Rescue I noticed that India Juliet was having problems on one rescue identifying a boat from the many in the Solent. I thought then that if the boat had some sort of identifying beacon, ie yellow flashing light, it would have been so much easier for the helicopter crew. As it is seems like all small boats look very similar at a few hundred feet in the air.

She would need to know she was looking for the boat with the yellow flashing light. IMHO better to use a recognised International Distress Signal such as a orange smoke flare, handheld red flare etc. Other vessels will also recognise this too, and means even if you don't have good comms with the heli - you can make your position clear.

[tim griffin]

Red Jet fast cat uses yellow flashing light when coming in alongside Cowes and Southampton .
Could be confusing to rescue services as said before.
Why not use flares if in trouble and want Rescue services to come to your aid ???

[codprawn]

I thought some high speed vessels like hovercraft used a white flashing strobe like aircraft???

[Stoo]

Over hear, Coasties and Police boats use blue strobes when they're on calls.

Oddly, so do snowplows!

Good thing boating is seasonal... otherwise we would have lines of cars driving into harbours during blizzards, thinking they're following snowplows!

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Stoo

Over hear, Coasties and Police boats use blue strobes when they're on calls.

Oddly, so do snowplows!

Damn; must be cold up there if you have to plow the channel...

Yellow flashing lights are used by subs on the surface, as I recall. something like 3 short, pause, 3 short.

If you are looking for a distress marker light, why not simply go with a white strobe? It is, as I recall, a somewhat standard (if rarely used) distress signal anyway; will be readily identifiable (even in a crowd), and will not be confused with the odd boomer or hovercraft.

jky

[havener]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

If you are looking for a distress marker light, why not simply go with a white strobe? It is, as I recall, a somewhat standard (if rarely used) distress signal anyway; will be readily identifiable (even in a crowd), and will not be confused with the odd boomer or hovercraft.

jky

White strobe could easily be confused with a cardinal mark.

Why not simply stick with the SOLAS distress signals - trust me, in daytime bright sunlight from a large helo you won't see much of an orange light anyway. They're designed to be visible in the horizontal plane, not viewed from above.

Handheld orange smoke (daytime) is better for helo crews anyway - gives an instand view of wind sheer and direction around the casualty.

[jyasaki]

I agree completely with the SOLAS markers.

But the discussion seemed to be about what lights would not be confused with others, so I threw out the strobe, if one had to have some sort of light to feel better. Not talking about a flashing incandescent light, but an actual Xenon strobe, which would not be likely to be confused with a normal marker (though I also do not know what a cardinal mark looks like at night.)


jky

[havener]

Fair point about the strobe, but there is another problem with using strobes as a distress marker.

Depending on the kit used by the responding SAR asset, night vision goggles and some helo mounted night vision kit can give great problems with strobe lights - the intensity of the light pulse is decidedly NOT good for the user's eyes!

Night-time, handheld flares are always best....although we have been shot at more than once be people who do not know the difference between handheld and parachute.....

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by havener

although we have been shot at more than once be people who do not know the difference between handheld and parachute.....

LOL.

The picture this brings to mind is hilarious (though it probably wasn't at the time.)

jky

[CJL]

I've had a yellow strob fitted to my RIB for many years. The Port of London Authority insists that safety boats are fitted with them so that they are clearly identified and rowing boats don't plough into the back of us whilst we are rescuing somebody.

It is becoming more and more common place nowadays and they come in very handy when recovering on busy roads in Central London!!

I'd say go for it if you need it for recovering on busy roads and the like.

Chris

[Biggles]

Cheers Chris,

As you say they can be a good safety aid. And anything that improves safety has got to be worth it.

I have one lined up just waiting to sort it now.

[Jono Garton]

If anyone still needs one try - JC @ Rotaflash Ltd The Compass Off The High Street Northop Flintshire CH7 6BQ 01352 840786 01352 840798 j_carlin@btconnect.com

Mention my name and he will sort you a good deal out.

Jono

[Biggles]

Cheers Jono will bear that in mind.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by havener

Fair point about the strobe, but there is another problem with using strobes as a distress marker.

Depending on the kit used by the responding SAR asset, night vision goggles and some helo mounted night vision kit can give great problems with strobe lights - the intensity of the light pulse is decidedly NOT good for the user's eyes!

Night-time, handheld flares are always best....although we have been shot at more than once be people who do not know the difference between handheld and parachute.....

I have an IR strobe - wonder if that would help or just get me arrested???