I was on a boat - there is no way the flies could have travelled on our backs?

Question

how could they get 5 kms out to sea?

Answer 1

Cardboard boxes are a breeding ground for insects.  It takes 5-10 days for eggs to hatch.  If on a yacht, use only plastic boxes or collapseable plastic bags for storage.

Answer 2

Ya they can fly that far, I have been 50 in a open boat going 40MPH no cabin and flys came.

Answer 3

They were on the boat already when you boarded?

Answer 4

There are several varieties of flies that somehow live on the water.  In Lake Ontario, during the early summer, there is a variety that looks like a small brown housefly... that bites.  It's a painful bite, not an itch like a mosquito.  These suckers come in by the thousands (I'm not exaggerating here) on a day that has very light wind.  They didn't breed in a cardboard box or stow away on board; they simply live out on the lake.

Answer 5

Perhaps they have a nest somewhere in the boat.

Answer 6

First sailboat l bought the previous owner had 2 flyswatters on board, l thought it strange till l began sailing the Great Lakes in Summer..those buggers bite and draw blood!

It has become a game now...to see who can accumulate the greatest number of dead flys in the cockpit...it's also good excercise swatting those things for hours.

Ps

The new "electric fly swatters" are useless aginst them..there too fast.

Answer 7

God, I hate those things. Where they the kind that bite your ankles all day! When I go out on my boat these d**n horseflies seem to come out of nowhere. In my case, there are these rock breaker walls that they live on, and travel all around the area by scent. I also believe that they live and travel on anything that floats! Like seaweed and anything else, and seem to materialize out of nowhere, but actally float around, feeding off seaweed and other "stuff", then harrass boaters!