FLARE UP!

Foot and mouth disease damaged so many different aspects of our lives in 2001, it even affected the sailing. Races to the Isle of Man were cancelled, so were the Scottish Islands Peaks Race and the British Three Peaks Race. Captiva turned her attention to the whisky and the Western Isles. In the event, 2001 was a good sailing season! Captiva visited Northern Ireland, St Kilda, Harris, Taransay, Benbecula, The Uists, Skye, Arran, Jura and Islay We tasted Laphraoig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. We barbecued wild trout at Rodel, kippers in the Crinan and kebabs at Ranza. The motley crew gate-crashed wedding Ceilidhs on Hebridean islands, watched minke whales and dolphins in the Atlantic, made some memorable passages and explored beautiful places.

It all turned grim in October 2001, when I received a telephone call about the boat being on fire! The fire started during the early evening of Thursday 18th October 2001. Red Smoke from the forward vent was spotted by marina staff. They called the fire service, ran onto the pontoon and emptied extinguishers into the boat through the (melted) air vent in the main hatch washboards. Their prompt and brave reaction saved the boat!

The fire crew arrived within 15 minutes, from Cumbria Fire Service, Maryport Fire Station. They removed smouldering kit and equipment from the boat to the hard, in the remains of the flare bucket one of the orange smoke floats was beginning to sputter and was extinguished. The senior Fire Officer at the scene was Divisional Officer Holmes and the Coastguard Officer was Bob Beck. The source of the fire was one of the hand held reds, there was no other equipment in the flare bucket and no sign of entry. The police were not called as it was clearly not a case of arson.

I travelled over to Maryport that night to inspect damage. You will appreciate my complete dismay as I stood in the saloon looking forward into the smoke blackened and dry-powder covered mess that was the heads and forepeak of my beautiful boat. Captiva is a Sadler 29, built as a special order for a design company in 1988, with lots of teak panelling and many attractive features, including a yellow and grey colour scheme that extended from the smart berth and cockpit cushions to style stripes and canvass work. She was used by Banks sails as a model for their cruising sails (high cut genoa, fully battened main and cruising chute system) & featured in their advertising. The boat was little used throughout her early life. When I bought her in 1997 - through Mike Lucas Yachting - she had only 750 miles on the log and was in immaculate condition.

My family and I sail the boat together or with friends. We are particularly safety conscious because we visit isolated places and pride ourselves on self-sufficiency, seamanship and safe practice. Before the boat sailed North towards Benbecula in July 2001, I checked all the safety kit, handled each flare looking for corrosion or dampness, they were repacked in the "bucket" supplied by the manufacturers and stored in the forepeak. The flares were XM RORC pack bought from Cruisermart in May 1998. We do not carry out of date flares, the boat was last inspected by Scottish Islands Peaks Race invigilators at Oban in May 2000. Its "sod's law" of course but Cruisermart went bust in 2001 and XM were taken over by Plastimo. So I doubt if there will be any redress against faulty kit.

I have a healthy respect for flares because as an RYA instructor I have demonstrated their use on courses over the years. I contacted McMurdo/Pains Wessex and suggested that they should have one of the hand-held red flares for inspection in the hope that this would be helpful. McMurdo/Pains Wessex have supplied the boat with a new set of their RORC flares FOC.. This is a very kind gesture, which I much appreciate as the offending flare was not one of theirs. Needless to say I will only buy McMurdo Pains Wessex from now on!

All the flares on board at the time were "in date" with expiry date 12/2001. They were stored in the bucket, as recommended by RYA, checked by myself on a regular basis. We have found one other recent case of a spontaneous flare explosion described on the web. It is a rare event but I have noticed that carriers have recently revised their views about transporting flares.

The marina staff probably had the fire extinguished before the fire brigade arrived. More damage was done by the corrosive element in the dry powder than by the fire itself. It wrecked zips, bolts, locks, chronometer, electrical kit, and caused my sinuses to run when I tried to salvage belongings from the forepeak. If you ever use dry powder extinguishers be warned about the corrosive nature of the powder and consider getting a pressure hose and washing it away as soon as possible to prevent further damage. But as ever, it would be wise to take photographs and confirm with your insurance company first!

We returned from our summer cruise on 13th September 2001 and left the boat at Maryport. If we had returned to Kippford, our usual summer base in the beautiful Rough Firth and left Captiva on her swinging mooring, she would probably have been a total loss. What makes me most twitchy is that at the end of October I was planning to bring the flares home and would have stored them in the attic.

Although I am confident that Pains Wessex flares are as safe as any flares can be, the experience has caused me to think again about the whole safety issue. We will still carry the recommended RORC pack but will revert to storing them in an ammunition can and wrapped in a fire blanket! I believe that Coastguards have metal boxes for their flare storage.

It is my opinion that flares are an anachronism and almost redundant. Something of a safety blanket for modern coastal sailors. When used in anger they are rarely seen or reported. Prior to 1979 many yachts did not carry VHF radios and flares were the accepted method of distress signalling, together with shouting, waving oars or arms, ensign upside down, etc.. It occurs to me that for the price of an Offshore Flare pack, approximately £150, its possible to buy a well proven EPIRB working on 121.5 MHz. Carried alongside VHF and Mobile phone, someone out there will surely hear a call for help. Perhaps some orange marker dye would be useful. The way forward is to equip with GMDSS and so I have installed a new ICOM M-401 VHF which will shortly be upgraded to GMDSS with a DSC Controller. Father Christmas will also receive a list which this year includes a Pains Wessex McMurdo Fastfind personal location beacon. No coincidence that the same people who make flares are in the forefront of developing EPIRBs etc..

The boat is now back on the water and fully repaired. Mike Hawkins at Maryport and his team have done a splendid job. Particular thanks are due to Colin the carpenter for matching the teakwork and Geoff the electrician for getting the electrics to work again. The new upholstery is superb! Ordered through Mike Lucas, with all its special features, buttons, sausages and piping, was completed and delivered within six weeks.

Lee Ho! John Harris, Captiva.