Anchor lighting

[BrianH]

Must be very good expensive ones, most are rubbish with just a dull glow and don't last half the night.

People keep saying that without it being true. Every garden light I've had on a boat has lasted all night.

I have LED solar garden lights both in my garden and on my boat. The garden ones rarely last the night but the boat one always does - the latitude difference and sunshine hours between Switzerland and the Adriatic has a lot to do with it, I think ... plus the area of solar panel and short summer nights when aboard in the latter.

The stern-mounted one below has multiple LEDs and a multi-faceted inner lens that really shows up at some distance. It is a German product that I can no longer source; it was expensive so perhaps can no longer compete against the flood of cheap but inferior imports.

For busy anchorages that one is augmented by a 12V LED lamp hung in the fore-triangle, cable-fed from a socket in the dog-house - not always deployed, as many anchorages that I find myself in are uncrowded without background shore-lights.

 

[Normalfornorfolk]

It is worth thinking about what we are trying to achieve with anchor lights. The priorities could be summed up in rough order of importance as:

1. Visibility. The most important factor is to make yourself visible to other vessels that may be coming into the anchorage. It is worth appreciating that they likely to be approaching from your rear with possibly bright shore lights in front of your vessel. They may to be distracted trying to monitor their position, looking at the chart plotter and getting their anchor ready etc. If the weather is bad your lights will need to be bright to overcome these handicaps.
2. Legal conformity. In the event of a collision it is important to be able easily establish your lights conform to the required standard to avoid liability.
3. Dark adaptation. If the wind picks up at night it helpful to be able to visually check your position and the position of other boats.
4. Power consumption. LED lights don't consume much power, but as they will be on many hours each night it is helpful to minimise the consumption as much as possible consistent with the above aims.

Noelex makes some good points there to which I would add, it depends on where you are anchoring too. A blazing 2 mile masthead light is what you need if you are anchoring in the Downs or the Solent to await a tide as commercial - ie large shipping may be present. I submit that such a light is not only unnecessary and inappropriate but may also be antisocial in the Walton Backwaters or Newtown Creek where only yachts and dinghys are creeping around at night. There the stronger garden lights may well be OK. The COLREGS were developed with big shipping at sea in mind, not small yachts in creeks and so are necessarily not always the ideal or most appropriate solution.

Many of our tidal rivers are crowded with moored boats right up close to a busy shipping channel and none of those need an anchor light, but in theorey if you drop your hook at the end of the trots or even amongst them you do. Simply the means by which you are attached to the bottom does not, imo, make a pressing case for applying different regs. After all, should you show "aground" lights and shapes when you take the bottom in a drying anchorage and replace them with an anchor ball whan the tide comes up? To guard against whom, no doubt someone asks. Well, whom indeed in a drying anchorage, another flat-bottomed creek-crawler perhaps, or maybe a nocturnal hovercraft? My point is, different situation need different solutions.

I think a degree of practicality is appropriate along with consideration for the law, but I really don't appreciate night being turned into day in a quiet, shallow anchorage by neighbours with blazing lighthouses on their mastheads, let alone those infernal strobes.

 

[jordanbasset]

Jordan,

Certainly looks much smarter than our Nescafe jar.

Jonathan

 

[geem]

We are anchored in a small anchorage in the Bahamas at the moment. There is hardly any lighting from ashore. There are about a dozen boats here. One boat uses flashing white leds. The most annoying anchor light known to man. Most have conventional masthead lights. Some have an additional light at deck level. These all work fine and you can distinguish the boat by the lights. The ones that dont work are the boats using led garden lights. Use one and it can hardly be seen use several and I have no idea what I am looking at. One guy has about 6 small led lights and it looks like the boat is anchored a mile away when it is actually 100yards. The mast head light gives prospective that no other light provides. In my opinion this is important if you are arriving in an anchorage In the dark. By all means add bow and stern white leds but dont leave the masthead light off

 

[Greenheart]

October 15 2019

We tested the idea that a light in the fore triangle damaged vision for spotting yachts dragging down on you - it's another of these marine truths that aren't.

Is it inconceivable that in a calm, a vessel approaching from astern may fail to see an anchor light which is hung in the anchored yacht's foretriangle, because her mast obscures the point of light? Not likely in waves, but people like to anchor when it's very calm.

Given that LEDs easily offer more than one point of light within a single lamp, isn't there a market for a 'belted' anchor light which can clip round the mast above the stowed mainsail, with LEDs on each hemisphere providing at least 180 degrees of visibility?

Sorry if this was already suggested/dismissed, here or elsewhere. It wasn't easy searching for the latest anchor-light thread.

 

[Kukri]

I really dislike using the all round white masthead light, although I have done so once or twice.

I like the Davey &Co ‘cone burner’ paraffin anchor lights, hung from the forestay about six feet from the deck. Don’t forget to secure the downhaul. In this position the light is well above the horizon as seen from the cockpit so it does not spoil your view of other vessels. It’s also easy for anyone to see what it is. Mine is a full size one off a scrapped coaster and it can easily be seen from two miles away.

I think you would be very unlucky if someone approached you from astern on a calm night on a constant bearing and never saw the riding light because it was always obscured by the mast.

I keep meaning to fit an LED one but the wander lead is a bit of a bore.

 

[Greenheart]

I think you would be very unlucky if someone approached you from astern on a calm night on a constant bearing and never saw the riding light because it was always obscured by the mast.

Very unlucky; but it's not impossible, is it? Masts are thick, and lights are narrow. The slowly approaching skipper steering straight and looking carefully ahead mightn't see a thing till his own pulpit bicolour is reflected by the anchored yacht's gelcoat dead ahead.

One could put a second light on a stick at the pushpit, but in a packed anchorage, isn't there a danger of two lights being assumed to be aboard two vessels?

 

[sailaboutvic]

Very unlucky; but it's not impossible, is it? Masts are thick, and lights are narrow. The slowly approaching skipper steering straight and looking carefully ahead mightn't see a thing till his own pulpit bicolour is reflected by the anchored yacht's gelcoat dead ahead.

One could put a second light on a stick at the pushpit, but in a packed anchorage, isn't there a danger of two lights being assumed to be aboard two vessels?

I think it got to be pitch dark not to see a anchor yacht before your that close and I guess as we do we be going very slow in any anchorages.
We have two anchor light one on the stern on the stainless next to the panels and the other on the bow about 3 mts height .
I have to agree with you tho , I know depending on the angle our bow light can be masked up by the mast .

 

[GHA]

Very unlucky; but it's not impossible, is it?

Maybe on a big boat with large mast section but smaller boat like mine with 40' mast then yes, pretty much impossible. From dinghying back lots and lots, not likely anyone could hold a course that bang on for more than a moment going to happy hour let alone coming back.

 

[Graham376]

Personally, I would like to see masthead anchor lights banned, virtually impossible to judge distance away even when they're not lost in shore lights. We use the Dusk to Dawn anchor light which as well as 360 degree ones has some downlighting leds which light up quite a bit of the fore deck so boat can be seen from any angle of approach. https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/dusk-to-dawn-anchor-utility-led-light?variant=21259016775

 

[geem]

Personally, I would like to see masthead anchor lights banned, virtually impossible to judge distance away even when they're not lost in shore lights. We use the Dusk to Dawn anchor light which as well as 360 degree ones has some downlighting leds which light up quite a bit of the fore deck so boat can be seen from any angle of approach. https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/dusk-to-dawn-anchor-utility-led-light?variant=21259016775

I totally disagree. A good masthead light with a bright deck level light works very well. Not everybody is anchoring with a town as a backdrop.

 

[noelex]

I think anchor lights suspended a few metres up and preferably illuminating the superstructure are much more effective than a light at the top of the mast.

On my old boat I experimented with a light in foretriangle, but felt the obscured angle towards the rear was little too great for comfort. However, I anchor well over 300 nights a year often not in recognised anchorages so I am probably overly sensitive to risk of a collision at night while at anchor.

On my new yacht I have installed what I think is arguably the best solution. The top of the mast has an approved legal marine anchor light that is always on. This ensures that the boat complies with all the legal and insurance requirements. However, I also have a number of deck light options. Normally I leave one of these on overnight as a supplement.

LED spreader lights or a deck light (often combined with the steaming light) are an OK solution. I occasionally use these, but I have some down lights that are installed on the solar arch that don’t interfere with forward night vision and light up the boat very effectively, especially from the rear where an inattentive boat is most likely to be approaching. As the boat is a pilothouse design, the cabin lights are also useful and these have a very low power draw.

The combination of anchor light and deck lighting is encouraged by the collision regulations. This combination is mandatory for larger vessels. With low power draw LED illumination this option can be used effectively by smaller vessels.

 

[RupertW]

I totally disagree. A good masthead light with a bright deck level light works very well. Not everybody is anchoring with a town as a backdrop.

I agree - in fact for country driving I have fitted the rearlights of my new car on a pole 10 metres above the boot.

 

[LittleSister]

The foretriangle is legally accepted as a location for an anchor light, though as your stern will 'face' any approaching traffic I never understood why a light off the topping lift or backstay is, also, not accepted.

Who is it not accepted by? There's no ColRegs requirement for the anchor light to be in the foretriangle. It's required to be where it can best be seen.

That could be fore, aft, masthead, low level, etc. depending on circumstances.

 

[Graham376]

I totally disagree. A good masthead light with a bright deck level light works very well. Not everybody is anchoring with a town as a backdrop.

I was referring to mast head alone, no argument with "bright deck level" one.

 

[doug748]

Who is it not accepted by? There's no ColRegs requirement for the anchor light to be in the foretriangle. It's required to be where it can best be seen.

That could be fore, aft, masthead, low level, etc. depending on circumstances.

Yes, I always hoist mine on the backstay. Mainly because it is convenient but I guess you could argue that it is less likely to be masked by the mast or furled genoa.

 

[KellysEye]

We had a battery powered anchor light at the back of the boat because a masthead light is difficult to see if you are anchored in front of street lights, also all anchored boats point upwind so any yacht arrriving wiil come in from behind.

 

[geem]

Ww

It is worth thinking about what we are trying to achieve with anchor lights. The priorities could be summed up in rough order of importance as:

1. Visibility. The most important factor is to make yourself visible to other vessels that may be coming into the anchorage. It is worth appreciating that they likely to be approaching from your rear with possibly bright shore lights in front of your vessel. They may to be distracted trying to monitor their position, looking at the chart plotter and getting their anchor ready etc. If the weather is bad your lights will need to be bright to overcome these handicaps.
2. Legal conformity. In the event of a collision it is important to be able easily establish your lights conform to the required standard to avoid liability.
3. Dark adaptation. If the wind picks up at night it helpful to be able to visually check your position and the position of other boats.
4. Power consumption. LED lights don't consume much power, but as they will be on many hours each night it is helpful to minimise the consumption as much as possible consistent with the above aims.

There are many ways to achieve the above goals. I think for most boats an approved marine masthead anchor light combined with some lower decks lights is a good combination to consider.

The masthead light removes any question mark over the legality of the lights. It is also a very good option for preserving dark adaptation as almost no light is visible from the helm. The lower lights can be solar, but in an ideal world would be powered from the main house bank and situated towards the stern. Powering them from the house bank means they can be bright and there is no question they will maintain that brightness. It also means if you want maximum dark adaptation they can be quickly and easily turned off from the main switchboard. This can be important if, for example, your boat starts dragging. For a quick visual check if you wake up in the night situating the lights near the rear means you can maintain reasonable dark adaptation when looking forward, which is usually the area of most interest.

I agree with your assessment but we use a powerful led lamp that suspends in the fore triangle and faces the stern. It also sends light in a full 360 degree arc but focuses light to the stern. This means its visible from all directions but also lights up the super- structure such that it the boat can be seen very well from sides and front. When you are returning from shore we can pick the boat out easily. It also means high speed craft running through the anchorage see us well.

 

[noelex]

Ww
I agree with your assessment but we use a powerful led lamp that suspends in the fore triangle and faces the stern. It also sends light in a full 360 degree arc but focuses light to the stern. This means its visible from all directions but also lights up the super- structure such that it the boat can be seen very well from sides and front. When you are returning from shore we can pick the boat out easily. It also means high speed craft running through the anchorage see us well.

An anchor light in the foretriangle can be a good solution. It depends on the boat and light.

The best method is to try slowly motoring around the yacht with the tender on a calm evening and assess the visibility from different angles.

It is also worth checking the obscured arc is less than the maximum allowed by the collision regulations (I think that is 6° from memory, but please check it has been some time since I looked this up). This can done with simple trigonometry.

If it is not an approved light, it is also worth checking the brightness meets or exceeds the requirements. This is harder. Bebi are now defunct, but their website had some good details on the type and number of LEDs that were likely to meet this standard. One of the internet archives might have a copy of this.

 

[Greenheart]

I like the Davey & Co ‘cone burner’ paraffin anchor lights, hung from the forestay about six feet from the deck. Don’t forget to secure the downhaul. Mine is a full size one off a scrapped coaster and it can easily be seen from two miles away.

The Davey & Co design seems to be the only really reputable non-electric lamp available, pity they're no longer made. The objection to paraffin/oil/kerosene lamps appears to be the lack of beam strength or the dioptric lens which casts only a very narrow beam.

This one (£186 from Classic Marine ) is definitely attractive, but how effective?

https://shop.classicmarine.co.uk/4-anchor-light-copper.html