I was out walking the dog late yesterday afternoon, just minutes before sunset, in the hills above my house, where we have a good view out to sea. Bingo! - There it was - a distinct mirror flash, on the horizon, just in front of Anacapa Island. Shortly, another flash, and then - nothing... I paused, thinking of this thread, and observed for a bit. The source of the flash was not visible, and there were no flares, smoke, or any other signs of distress - nothing out of the ordinary.

I concluded that it was simply a "window flash," as I had described in my earlier post in this thread. This was apparently correct, because the usual sources have made no mention of any maritime incidents at this time.

The source of the flash was easily at least fifteen miles distant. Signal mirrors are extremely good signaling devices, but persistence and regularity are important to getting your message across.