Principles of signaling

The purpose of distress signaling is: first to attract attention and second, to provide a homing signal to guide the responding party to your craft.
Remember, nothing can happen until someone's attention is attracted. The most effective distress signals for attracting attention are aerial flares and parachute flares because they are moving, spectacular and cover a large sighting area. Once help is on the way, handheld red signal flares, orange smoke signals and orange distress flags serve as beacons helping rescuers to pinpoint your position and keep them on course.

Aerial Signals
Aerial flares should be fired after sighting or hearing a potential rescue vessel. To attract attention to your distress situation the U.S. Coast Guard recommends that you fire 2 aerial flares, one immediately after the other, so rescuers can confirm the sighting and the direction of the signal. Parachute flares do not need to be fired in twos since a single parachute flare has adequate burn time(25 to 30 seconds) to confirm sighting and position.

Hand-Held Signals
Hand-held signal flares are intended as homing signals to pinpoint your position. Surface to surface sighting range on water is approximately 3 to 5 miles, depending on boat elevation. If a rescuer is 5 miles away and running at 20 miles per hour, it will take 15 minutes to reach you. Therefore, you should have at least 12 minutes (total burn time) of signals onboard to maintain a strong homing signal until help arrives.

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