G'Day, On a couple of occasions now I've experienced people in trouble who have blown the mandatory whistle and noone has heard. Fortunately they were spotted as missing and in trouble, but its been a little close for comfort. On the last occasion the question of carrying flares and mini rockets came up and someone mentioned that minirockets when fired went off with quite a pistol crack. Is this true? If so could it be a better alert system to supplement the whistle, on the other hand its a bit undesirable to set off a minirocket just to attract the attention of someone in the group. Made me wonder if there was something akin to a cheap waterproof starter pistol that could be used instead of a whistle? All the best, PeterO
Always a difficulty when distance is involved. I normally use a Fox-40 whistle (which I believe is a British product). It's considerably louder than the usual pea-containing whistle of its size. If long distances are involved I carry a lung-powered foghorn sold by, among others, West Marine. It's a short plastic tube you blow into from the side to make a plastic diaphragm flutter. This one carries far and can probably take out an eardrum at close range.... Joe P > [Original Message] > From: PeterO > On a couple of occasions now I've experienced people in trouble who have > blown the mandatory whistle and noone has heard. Fortunately they were > spotted as missing and in trouble, but its been a little close for comfort. ><SNIP> > Made me wonder if there was something akin to a cheap waterproof starter pistol that > could be used instead of a whistle?
Joe wrote: - >If long distances are involved I carry a lung-powered foghorn sold by, >among others, West Marine. It's a short plastic tube you blow into from >the side to make a plastic diaphragm flutter. G'Day Joe, The foghorn sounds like the sort of thing I'm looking for. Is it small enough to fit in a PFD pocket? Peter Rattenbury and I tested the Fox 40 whistle some years ago and very roughly speaking we found it was audible to about 300m when facing into a breeze, which coincided with the limit of visibility for sighting an olive green Klepper kayak in a 2m swell. I'ld be interested if people have similar or more accurate data. All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On 28 Dec 2004 at 9:42, Joseph Pylka wrote: > I normally use a Fox-40 > whistle (which I believe is a British product). Canadian. We get to blow our whistle sometimes! The "inventors" of the Fox-40 certainly got a lot of press when they convinced the local media that it was a new thing. However, the principle, several sound generators of slightly different pitch interacting and creating beat frequencies, is old and well known. There's a new version of the Storm whistle that's quite loud and may or may not have a pea in it - I'm trying to find out for sure. The packaged versions rattle, but it isn't clear that a pea is responsible. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Michael Daly said: > > There's a new version of the Storm whistle that's quite loud > and may or may not have a pea in it - I'm trying to find out > for sure. The packaged versions rattle, but it isn't clear > that a pea is responsible. My older "Storm" does not have a pea. It has been wet many times and always works. It's loud enough to hurt your ears. Steve Holtzman *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> On the last occasion the question of carrying flares and mini rockets came > up and someone mentioned that minirockets when fired went off with quite a > pistol crack. Is this true? If so could it be a better alert system to > supplement the whistle, on the other hand its a bit undesirable to set off a > minirocket just to attract the attention of someone in the group. Made me > wonder if there was something akin to a cheap waterproof starter pistol that > could be used instead of a whistle? Brochure "Safe Boating Guide" by Canadian Hydrographic Service in the section "Distress signals --> Sound signals (without specifying boat type), says: "Continuous signalling by any fog-signalling apparatus. Gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute"; and shows something looking to me like elegant muzzle-loaded pistol, as an illustration. Fog-signalling apparatus, like cruise ship horn, sounds good to me too :-)... I wonder, if they are still hydraulic on those big liners, like used to be on steamers, or electrical-driven? Some little steam engine could fit into kayak, I guess... *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> The foghorn sounds like the sort of thing I'm looking for. Is it small > enough to fit in a PFD pocket? I have two; one is the one I mentioned from West Marine, called the "Admiral Hornblower" found at: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=1 0001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=28223&catalogId=10001&classNum=154& subdeptNum=50&storeNum=8 It's about 8 inches long and 2 1/2 - 3 inches wide. 120 dB or better... The other is a smaller one, 5 inches by 2 inches, with the SeaSense brand on it. This is more pocketable but I did wind up putting a crack in it -- easily repaired with electrical tape. This can be seen at: http://www.unifiedmarine.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi/web2001/seasense/catalog_inde x.html it's called the "Safety Blaster". Joe P. Haven't seen any tests on the Fox-40 but anecdotal evidence is pretty good... *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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