Distressingly poor in daylight?

■ Your article ‘LED and laser flares’ (PBO July) was most interesting. Like many other boaters, I chose to replace my pyrotechnic red flares with an Odeo Mark 3 LED flare, a PBO Best Buy. Your article tested this and other electronic flares at night, but nowhere can I find any reference to the Odeo flare’s performance in daylight.

Consequently we conducted a simple exercise to test the visibility of this flare at 1, 3 and 7 miles with a team from Gosport NCI (Coastwatch) on board my Beneteau Swift Trawler. This required the official approval and cooperation of Solent Coastguard (MCA), QHM Portsmouth harbour and three NCI stations at Calshot, Lee-on-Solent and Gosport.

The conditions on the test day in early July were smooth, less than Force 2, high cloud with sunny spells. For each test the flare was activated and held high on the flybridge for 1 minute, with Solent Coastguard informed by pre-arrangement on Ch67. Our vessel was visible from each NCI station and the ranges were measured from our known positions, confirmed by AIS.

Not surprisingly, the flare was not visible by naked eye or optics at 7 miles – but, disappointingly, neither was it visible from two equidistant stations at about 3 miles, even with high-powered optics. Likewise, at 1 mile from Gosport NCI it still wasn’t visible with the naked eye, but it was with optics. Remember that this was with trained watchkeepers actually looking at the vessel when the flare was activated.

Clearly, the visibility of this LED flare at these ranges suggests that it does not make it the device of first choice as a distress signal during daylight. However, this brief exercise cannot preclude its valid use at closer quarters to attract attention from a searching lifeboat or helicopter. Indeed, its relatively long battery life of 5-6 hours lends itself to being activated and attached to the liferaft or casualty vessel while awaiting rescue.

Perhaps PBO should consider conducting more tests on these electronic distress flares in daylight. ■ David Pugh replies:

It’s interesting to read of your results, which tally with what we observed whilst waiting for darkness on our own test. However, a daylight test is perhaps a little unfair, as red handheld flares are recognised as a night-time signal. There’s little on the market at present to replace their daytime counterpart, orange smoke. couples were ‘silver sailors’, and that without fail the yacht was always helmed by the men, who sat comfortably in the cockpit while their poor wives went out on to the foredecks in rough seas and scything rain to pick up the mooring or lower/lift heavy anchors. However, I was lucky. My husband demonstrated that he is not constrained by this culture, and handed over the helming to me. Not an easy an exchange of duties for either of us: I suspect we were both back to who was more terrified of the outcome.

Nevertheless, with practice and encouragement it worked. I am safe in the cockpit, and also have a sense of satisfaction that I have at least one skill I can contribute.

So, I ask, why don’t more couples do this?