Anchor lights - where used?
- Thread starter Billjratt
- Start date
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Sook.
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
That got lost in translation on me.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
philip_stevens
Well-Known Member
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Funnily enough, I was cogitating on anchor balls - never owned one and never felt the need for one (though we certainly do have and use an anchor light, kept low for visibility)
And I came to the conclusion that an anchor ball may be needed anchoring in a river - but I don't recall ever anchoring in a river (other than the widest use of the term covering the estuary or sea loch).
We anchor a lot, but almost exclusively in bays.
NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
Always, anchor light (led) and anchor ball are hoisted together as soon as we are anchored.
knuterikt
Well-Known Member
I always hoist the anchor ball (and if i plan to stay overnight the LED Anchor light below) when I anchor.
The anchor light is plugged in at sunset
To OP have you ever entered an anchorage when it's pitch dark with boats anchored and no lights on?
It's not up to me or you to decide when and if another boat want/need to visit the same place we anchor in.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Same here. I don't think I have ever seen one used on a yacht.
Billjratt
Well-Known Member
Yes, I've often anchored or had to re-anchor in dark crowded water. Places like Espalmador and up the West Coast can get quite chaotic if a sudden wind kicks in.
I simply switch on whatever lighting I need for the moment, usually the whole place is illuminated by decklights . If I was entering an anchorage in pitch dark I'd sweep it with the searchlight while still in open water, and as I mentioned in the OP you still have to deal with the moored unlit boats.
What I was objecting to was needless pollution. Lights up in the air can be confusing - I once thought I was approaching a tall yacht anchored ahead of me, but I couldn't see and was not on radar, which turned out to be an aircraft landing light in the distance.
I agree with those who use a dietz or similar, we occasionally do too. For electrics, a 1/2watt bulb in a mustard jar served us well for years.
I simply switch on whatever lighting I need for the moment, usually the whole place is illuminated by decklights . If I was entering an anchorage in pitch dark I'd sweep it with the searchlight while still in open water, and as I mentioned in the OP you still have to deal with the moored unlit boats.
What I was objecting to was needless pollution. Lights up in the air can be confusing - I once thought I was approaching a tall yacht anchored ahead of me, but I couldn't see and was not on radar, which turned out to be an aircraft landing light in the distance.
I agree with those who use a dietz or similar, we occasionally do too. For electrics, a 1/2watt bulb in a mustard jar served us well for years.
Amulet
Well-Known Member
Widely in use on the creek-crawling east coast. Maybe even useful. Most of us hoist them. Looking forward to getting back to Scottish waters.
GrahamM376
Well-Known Member
I rarely see a yacht anchored without one, maybe because the authorities in most countries outside the UK enforce the law and sometimes fine transgressors. Our ball and low level anchor light are hoisted as soon as the anchor's snubbed.
prv
Well-Known Member
I actually saw a surprisingly starry sky when I anchored in Alum Bay the other week. We were tucked close in under the cliffs to hide from the wind (easterly with a bit of north in it) and this also blocked out the light from most directions. There aren't any occupied buildings overlooking the bay itself. We had the lights of Christchurch some way off, but that was about it. Not quite as good a view as a clear night in mid-ocean but still pretty good.
On the various subjects of the thread -
I have an LED anchor light that hangs from a halyard above the foredeck. I always use it at night.
I almost-always hoist an anchor ball. I certainly will do if I'm staying the night, because the light and ball are spliced together into a single assembly.
I have come close to hitting an anchored yacht because it wasn't showing a ball. It was anchored in Southampton Water, with a couple of knots of tide giving it a small bow wave, so I thought it was motoring towards me. Since I was sailing, I expected it to give way. No danger as such (anchored or motoring, I wouldn't cut things too fine) but by the time I realised, we were close enough for the other skipper to hear me exclaim "**** - he's anchored!". At least, I assume that's why, as we sailed away, he started hanging a fender from the clew of his furled jib.
I have also come close to hitting angling boats anchored without lights in Southampton Water - even twice in one night.
I used to use an oil lamp in the cabin in Kindred Spirit
Pete
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
All this talk of hitting unlit boats!
Doesn't anyone else scan around with a torch when approaching an anchorage?
I've found that it's difficult to pick out anchor lights from shore lights around some anchorages, but a hull reflection sticks out like a sore thumb.
Doesn't anyone else scan around with a torch when approaching an anchorage?
I've found that it's difficult to pick out anchor lights from shore lights around some anchorages, but a hull reflection sticks out like a sore thumb.
prv
Well-Known Member
The angling boats I mentioned are not in any conventional anchorage. In fact, it's not unknown for them to be inside the (secondary) buoyed channel!
Pete
William_H
Well-Known Member
Funny I tend to agrre with OP. Around here it is unusual to see and anchor light on. One popular anchorage Thompson Bay at Rotttnest might have 50 boats overnighting on swing moorings scattered around the bay. You might see one anchor light if you are lucky.
On the other hand 3 guys died some years back in Port Hedland where a barge was left anchored without lights. The guys dorve into the barge at high speed before sun up. Barge owners were held responsible because the anchored barge was inadequately lit. To my mind more from stupidity of driving at high speed in the dark. olewill
On the other hand 3 guys died some years back in Port Hedland where a barge was left anchored without lights. The guys dorve into the barge at high speed before sun up. Barge owners were held responsible because the anchored barge was inadequately lit. To my mind more from stupidity of driving at high speed in the dark. olewill
bert49uk
Well-Known Member
Lundy Island
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Anchor light, - yes, a modest LED hung off the end of the boom. Anchor ball? So far, never. I can see that, if for some reason, you were anchored in a channel where no-one would expect a boat to be anchored, there would be justification to use a ball, but to show that you are anchored in an anchorage, Doh!
Boats come and anchor in the bay where my mooring, and several others, is. Why should the anchored boats be expected to use lights and balls, when the moored boats don't have to? The Law is an Ass.
Boats come and anchor in the bay where my mooring, and several others, is. Why should the anchored boats be expected to use lights and balls, when the moored boats don't have to? The Law is an Ass.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
That's a case where I would use an anchor light: locals will know where the moored boats are but not where anchored visitors have dropped the hook. I really can't see the point of the ball, though. There's a whole flippin' boat to spot during the day.
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
>I don't think I have ever seen one used on a yacht.
Don't take your yacht to Portugal you get fined if you don't fly an anchor ball while at anchor. I do wonder if an insurance company would pay out if you were hit at anchor without a ball up, we always flew one wherever we were.
Don't take your yacht to Portugal you get fined if you don't fly an anchor ball while at anchor. I do wonder if an insurance company would pay out if you were hit at anchor without a ball up, we always flew one wherever we were.