“Where it can best be seen...”

[Stemar]

So flashing blue red and green are just fine if emanating from the disco of a cruise ship at sea, but prob not on a yacht anchored in Portsmouth Harbour!

I could live with the lights if I had to, it's the noise that usually accompanies them that gets me :disgust:

Where can I get a small surface/surface missile launcher?

 

[Resolution]

That's gonna smart!

:biggrin-new::biggrin-new:

 

[wonkywinch]

I like the old paraffin lamp appearance but not the risk of one of my wonky knots coming undone in the night and setting light to the deck. Got round to thinking how easy it would be to modify an old lamp but then found these on Ebay. Cheap and cheerful no doubt but I wonder if it's waterproof:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lloytron...pper-Garden-Camping-Handle-Torch/264246891964

 

[Kukri]

There’s really not a lot of support for the idea that the place where the all round white light can best be seen is the masthead.

 

[dom]

There’s really not a lot of support for the idea that the place where the all round white light can best be seen is the masthead.

A bit like those pointless, black, round, flag-halyard twirlers peeps place in their foretriangles when anchoring in areas known for stuffy harbour masters

 

[LONG_KEELER]

A white fender strung up just below the steaming light is surprisingly effective.

Not too high and moving and twisting about.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Thanks to everyone contributing to an interesting discussion.

I like my big old fashioned Davey cone burner oil lamp on the forestay because it cannot be mistaken for anything else, but it’s one more job to rig it so I have used the masthead light if really tired, but I don’t trust it.

I remember you mentioning that that this kind of light has a touch of yellow in it.

When I come across a light like this on the East Coast it is normally a barge. Not been wrong yet.

A mass of lights like this is probably a OGA Rally.

 

[Kukri]

And in daylight, a dead tyre in the fore triangle is an infallible sign of a Thames Barge at anchor...

 

[Boathook]

When at anchor, we ALWAYS have 2 all-round white lights, one at the masthead and the other at eye level on the foredeck

We think it's better to be seen

I like that. I normally only use one at low level but will consider the masthead as well in future.

 

[chrishscorp]

hung from the forestry by a rolling hitch round the furled foreskine.

Not sure that will give you a good nights sleep

I have found a battery powered LED lantern hung low in the fortriangle to be fairly painless.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I like the old paraffin lamp appearance but not the risk of one of my wonky knots coming undone in the night and setting light to the deck. Got round to thinking how easy it would be to modify an old lamp but then found these on Ebay. Cheap and cheerful no doubt but I wonder if it's waterproof:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lloytron...pper-Garden-Camping-Handle-Torch/264246891964

Why go for ge traditional look. We use one of these. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/293021161605

A bit like those pointless, black, round, flag-halyard twirlers peeps place in their foretriangles when anchoring in areas known for stuffy harbour masters

A strange comment. You appear to be suggesting yachts shouldn’t display an anchor ball. Or are you suggesting something else?

 

[mainsail1]

The regulations must have changed without me noticing.
I have always worked on the basis that the white light on a less than 50m vessel had to be in the forepart of the vessel where it can best be seen. Same applies to the black ball.

I ventured into Studland Bay a few weeks ago on a very dark night and the three yachts already there had masthead anchor lights. It was absolutely impossible to judge where they were anchored..... I discovered the next morning they were much much further away than I had thought.

 

[Kukri]

The regulations must have changed without me noticing.
I have always worked on the basis that the white light on a less than 50m vessel had to be in the forepart of the vessel where it can best be seen. Same applies to the black ball.

I ventured into Studland Bay a few weeks ago on a very dark night and the three yachts already there had masthead anchor lights. It was absolutely impossible to judge where they were anchored..... I discovered the next morning they were much much further away than I had thought.

The regulations have not changed but, like you perhaps, I had been mis-reading them.

Paragraph (a) specifies the fore part of the vessel where it can best be seen for the higher of the two white lights on a vessel of over fifty metres.

Paragraph (b) says that a vessel of less than fifty metres can put her single white light ‘where it can best be seen’ but does not specify ‘the fore part of the vessel’.

The black ball is specified in (a) and (b) says nothing about it so the black ball still has to be in the fore part of the vessel in all cases.

I only spotted this when I re-read Rule 30.

 

[PhillM]

Where can I get a small surface/surface missile launcher?

Try here :https://www.landfallnavigation.com/rbg-herreshoff-cannon.html

 

[Poignard]

And, ‘where it can best be seen’ implies, in my interpretation of the Rule, where it can best be seen by those who need to see it.

 

[dom]

A strange comment. You appear to be suggesting yachts shouldn’t display an anchor ball. Or are you suggesting something else?

I guess my point is that compliance with the anchor ball rule is unfortunately now so low that one barely bothers looking out for one. And I include in that balls that end up drooping so close to the mast/ stackpack, stanchions, etc. so as to be functionally invisible.

The problem may stem from the fact that they are indeed mostly a waste of time in charted anchorages, secluded bays, etc. Although I find it incredibly foolish to anchor yawing around in a fairway or narrow channel without showing the appropriate day signals.

The overarching concern here is that boats which fail to comply with IRPCS -- to which local bylaws such as Chister/Falmouth may add additional weight -- may end up seriously compromising a potential insurance claim or other legal actions.

Which is why at night I illuminate the deck to enable other vessels to both spot the anchored vessel and to judge perspective which can be tricky at night. I also illuminate an all-round masthead for belt-and-braces and compliance purposes.

 

[Kukri]

And, ‘where it can best be seen’ implies, in my interpretation of the Rule, where it can best be seen by those who need to see it.

That is also my interpretation, but it may not be canonical. I don’t think the Admiralty Court of the High Court has ruled on it.

Frank Holden’s bridge wing snaps are good enough for me.

 

[dunedin]

Frank Holden’s bridge wing snaps are good enough for me.

Again a lot depends on where you are anchoring. We anchor a lot, but it would be extremely rare for us to be anchored anywhere near where a large ship would - or indeed in most cases even could - come near to (except for occasional places very close to vehicle ferry ramps - eg Muck). The danger is mostly from fishing boats or other yachts, both of which tend to have lower level eye lines.

 

[Kukri]

Again a lot depends on where you are anchoring. We anchor a lot, but it would be extremely rare for us to be anchored anywhere near where a large ship would - or indeed in most cases even could - come near to (except for occasional places very close to vehicle ferry ramps - eg Muck). The danger is mostly from fishing boats or other yachts, both of which tend to have lower level eye lines.

Frank’s point (although he can speak for himself!) is that from the wheelhouse of a ship the masthead light disappears into the shore clutter. From the cockpit of a yacht or the wheelhouse of a fishing boat the masthead light is too high and may be missed or if seen it is hard to judge the range - see Mainsail’s post 32 above. Either way, it seems the lower level light is more likely to be seen.

 

[Graham376]

I guess my point is that compliance with the anchor ball rule is unfortunately now so low that one barely bothers looking out for one. And I include in that balls that end up drooping so close to the mast/ stackpack, stanchions, etc. so as to be functionally invisible..

Maybe that's the case around the UK where there are no maritime police looking to meet their quota of tickets issued but I see more anchored boats with rather than without a ball, where we sail. Hardly anyone bothers to use the motoring shape though.