Originally Posted By: BigToe
Originally Posted By: ireckon
Regarding the mirror, I'm not skilled enough to do SOS. My skill level is at being able to hit the target. My goal would be to shine a constant reflection. In this particular scenario (tired, capsized boat, hanging on for dear life), performing SOS with a mirror would be even farther beyond my capabilities.


Any signal in sequences of three should be recognized as a distress signal, whether it's a flash, light, whistle, flags, etc.

SOS is just three shorts, three longs, three short: · · · — — — · · · of anything.

A constant reflection may be seen as just that, a reflection not a signal.


That SOS (three shorts, three longs, three short) is just not going to happen in this situation with a signal mirror. If you could have done the simpler three shorts, pause, repeat, then you still have high skill.

I don't deny what an SOS means. I'm doubting that I could have done an SOS with a signal mirror in this situation. Merely hitting the target in this situation would have been a remarkable feat for me. Regarding an SOS with a whistle or a blow horn, I could have done that. A flashlight is irrelevant here because it would not have been seen. I don't think I would have wasted my energy trying to signal with a flag, which probably would have been a bandana in this situation.
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