Anchor Ball Needed?

What should be on the Foredeck?

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CaptainBob

CaptainBob

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How important is it to carry a ball for daylight anchoring? Do people bother?

I don't intend to do any anchoring particularly, but as it's a standard emergency procedure, should I carry an anchor ball just in case?

Do you?
 
You don't intend to anchor, particularly?

If you don't intend to anchor, you'll be missing out on a lot of the quiet pleasures of just being on the water. You'll also spend a fortune on marina fees.

Sometimes you might have to anchor (eg no wind, engine kaput, strong tide, lots of expensive boats on moorings a few hundred yards away).

When you do anchor (and you will), why not spend a minute putting up the anchor ball - it's not that onerous, is it?
 
It doesn't have to be a pukka plastic swindlery item for £25 plus VAT, you can saw up a bit of plywood and paint it black if you want to.
 
Shell out....crikey, the very thought of it!!

There was an anchor ball and motoring cone for £10 on the 'for sale' board recently....that's not bad is it?

Or, with a couple of circles of scrap plywood, and a bit of black paint from the shed, it's next to nothing (I made mine like that in 1989, and it's still giving reliable service today...never malfunctions).
 
I have never seen the point of small boats using an anchor ball in recognised and popular anchorages. If it's not moving and there's a chain danging over the sharp end into the water its anchored!

However the IRPCS say:

[ QUOTE ]

(a) A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can best be seen:
(i) in the fore part, an all-round white light or one ball;
(ii) at or near the stern and at a lower level than the light prescribed in sub-paragraph (i), an all-round white light.
(b) A vessel of less than 50 metres in length may exhibit an all-round white light where it can best be seen instead of the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule.
(c) A vessel at anchor may, and a vessel of 100 metres and more in length shall, also use the available working or equivalent lights to illuminate her decks.
(d) A vessel aground shall exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule and in addition, where they can best be seen:
(i) two all-round red lights in a vertical line;
(ii) three balls in a vertical line.
(e) A vessel of less than 7 metres in length, when at anchor, not in or near a narrow channel, fairway or anchorage, or where other vessels normally navigate, shall not be required to exhibit the lights or shape prescribed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Rule.
(f) A vessel of less than 12 metres in length, when aground, shall not be required to exhibit the lights
or shapes prescribed in sub-paragraphs (d) (i) and (ii) of this Rule.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you do not display an anchor ball and someone T bones you then it could be argued that it is your fault for not displaying the appropriate ball.

Sometimes local regulations and bye-laws add extra weight to the IRPCS.

So IMHO it is sensible to carry an anchor ball. As said a simple "shape" can be made from a couple of discs of thin ply that slot together. There is no specified size so what ever is convenient to make and stow should be adequate. Mine is about 9" diameter and I do use it when anchored.
 
I can't honestly see what good a 9" plate can do on a boat probably festooned in towels, drying swimwear, damp bedding etc, and with a chain dangling off the front in a recognised anchorage. Nine feet possibly might be noticed!
 
[ QUOTE ]
can't honestly see what good a 9" plate can do on a boat probably festooned in towels, drying swimwear, damp bedding etc

[/ QUOTE ] Where it can best be seen is the key. Mixed up with the laundry is possibly not where it can best be seen!
[ QUOTE ]
Are boats on swinging moorings "anchored"? Do they need balls and white lights? What is the difference

[/ QUOTE ] Since there is no definition in the IRPCS of either "anchored" or "moored" one is left to assume anchored means anchored and moored means moored. There is no requirement, as you well know, for a moored vessel to display shapes or lights.
 
Re: Anchor Ball Needed? ... What about NUC and Aground then?

I was recently looking at a surveyors report on a boat requiring coding, and he had indicated that NUC and Aground shapes were needed in addition to the obvious anchor ball and motoring cone ......so you would need to carry TWO round balls! I am sure this can't really be a requirement for coding a small yacht.

As my boat dries out twice a day on its mooring this could get quite amusing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Vic
 
Re: Anchor Ball Needed? ... What about NUC and Aground then?

[ QUOTE ]
......so you would need to carry TWO round balls! I am sure this can't really be a requirement for coding a small yacht.


[/ QUOTE ]
Certainly is and has been since the code first appeared 1n 1993. That's the one with 'Lord Rank' on the cover.
 
Re: Anchor Ball Needed? ... What about NUC and Aground then?

[ QUOTE ]
[Certainly is and has been since the code first appeared 1n 1993. That's the one with 'Lord Rank' on the cover.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that - I should have checked back to source. I would love to know if anyone has ever SEEN a small yacht showing either NUC or Aground.....and for that matter how many would immediately remember what it meant.

Vic
 
I always carried one but never used it the UK. In Holland deploying the black ball is a common occurence even when moored to one of the many publicly provided mooring bouys that are laid in groups of 3-5 in popular lunch stops.

What happens, of course, is that after a leisurely lunch we raise the sails, cast off and head for home, and usually only realise that the anchor ball is swinging from the spreader when the main comes down as we approach the marina. It's OK though, because I fly the Dutch flag, rather than the Red Ensign, so I'm not really letting the side down.

Mark
 
Re: Anchor Ball Needed? ... What about NUC and Aground then?

[ QUOTE ]
so you would need to carry TWO round balls!

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't it three for aground?
 
[ QUOTE ]
I can't honestly see what good a 9" plate can do on a boat probably festooned in towels, drying swimwear, damp bedding etc, and with a chain dangling off the front in a recognised anchorage. Nine feet possibly might be noticed!

[/ QUOTE ]

If you had been unfortunate enough to be in Cullatra anchorage Faro in 2004, one advantage would have been no large fine for not displying anchor signal. One of the victims was a v close relative of the founder member of the OCC. I think it can be confusing in a large anchorage, when some boats are moving through the anchored vessels. And I hope I never have to explain why I was teeboned with no light/shape displayed.
 
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