Anchor lights - where used?

[Billjratt]

The thread on the new supernova dazzlingly bright LED masthead lights set me thinking.
MUST we have these polluting things (anchor) on everywhere we go?
A quiet dark bay with no through traffic would be ideal for star-gazing if there were no other lights, but on they come...
I acknowledge the need if a boat is anchored in a fairway, but otherwise we should all save our battery power -
Perhaps if they were all inefficient high current battery-flatteners, they would be left off more often.
So, is the much-vaunted LED in fact a retrograde step from a quality of life point of view?

Before you all threaten me with midnight ramming, most of the decent anchorages around the coast have at least one mooring buoy with an unlit boat on anyway, so why spoil it?

 

[Rigger Mortice]

But how would you find your boat when you return from the pub?

 

[sailorman]

But how would you find your boat when you return from the pub?

a conventional lamp in the fore triangle + mebby a cabin lamp to zero down on own vessel

 

[dazautomatics]

We are in the West Indies and the amount of boats here without a decent anchor light or any lights at all is ridiculous. Please use a suitable bright light displayed somewhere on board that will do as it is supposed to, which is alert other vessels of your presence. And the garden light thing is so stupid! you spend £1000 of pounds on fancy chart plotters and gadgets, but why not a decent light!!!!!!

The "we can't afford the power" is utter Bull Sh*t the modern LED lights are cheap and use no power.

Just remember guys It may be you driving a dingy back to the boat or trying to get anchored in the dark!

Common sense and a bit of courtesy to your fellow sailors goes a long way

Darren

 

[TQA]

In a crowded anchorage a cockpit light is better than a masthead. Who looks at the sky when you are zipping through lots of boats.

I don't know for sure but if you have a tall mast like Rambler and you get hit by a high speed tender maybe the masthead light did not do the job.

 

[KellysEye]

>A quiet dark bay with no through traffic would be ideal for star-gazing if there were no other lights, but on they come

I never found a bay to anchor where there wasn't light loom from a village/town near by, the only times we have seen the whole galaxy is night sailing offshore. Where are these dark bays?

 

[vyv_cox]

Couldn't agree more - the masthead is not the place for an anchor light. Almost all boats in the med have biminis, which includes fishing boats that are in and out all night long. It is almost impossible to look upwards past a bimini, even if you bother to try.

We have a completely self-contained LED anchor light, internal batteries and daylight switch, that lives on the stern arch. I have never seen another shop selling them unfortunately, as they are about the best we ever see. We still have a Triton 9 LED one, superbly bright but without a daylight switch, unfortunately no longer in production. When we use it we hang it under the anchor ball forward.

 

[RupertW]

>A quiet dark bay with no through traffic would be ideal for star-gazing if there were no other lights, but on they come

I never found a bay to anchor where there wasn't light loom from a village/town near by, the only times we have seen the whole galaxy is night sailing offshore. Where are these dark bays?

Many many in Croatia - perhaps the odd holiday home light which goes out by late evening but most of the bays we have anchored in have been a few bays away from a town.

Masthead anchor lights can be pretty but deck or head level lights are the way to avoid getting hit. And I have rarely been hit by a boat which is a mile away so have no interest in my lights being visible until much closer. I tend to have a light at bow and at stern - at just above pulpit and pushpit height so visible in all directions over the cabin top but under the boom.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

. Where are these dark bays?

I can't think of any suitable bays that I would want to anchor overnight in. I can think of several secluded anchorages up various rivers.

 

[Burnham Bob]

My anchor light runs on lamp oil and hangs from the courtesy flag ha;yard on the spreaders. Nice gentle light so visible without creating light pollution, doesn't run the batteries down and is about the right height I reckon. It would only be obscured from an apporaching boat by a few degrees by the mast and the loom would show up if anyone was close enough for the mast to completely shadow the light - or so I believe!

 

[Salty John]

I acknowledge the need if a boat is anchored in a fairway, but otherwise we should all save our battery power -

In the US you'd get fined - typically about $70 - for not displaying an anchor light.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

In the US you'd get fined - typically about $70 - for not displaying an anchor light.

How do they know you're there if you haven't got a light?

......I'll get me coat.....

 

[john_morris_uk]

I can't think of any suitable bays that I would want to anchor overnight in. I can think of several secluded anchorages up various rivers.

Try sailing in Scotland!

>A quiet dark bay with no through traffic would be ideal for star-gazing if there were no other lights, but on they come

I never found a bay to anchor where there wasn't light loom from a village/town near by, the only times we have seen the whole galaxy is night sailing offshore. Where are these dark bays?

See the answer above!

Actually there are plenty of places in the world where you can anchor without any sign of civilisation.

There just aren't many on the S Coast of UK or the N Coast of France.

edit: To answer the OP, anchoring in some remote bay with nothing else in sight and in the dark is EXACTLY where I suggest an anchor light is most needed. One doesn't want to run the risk of someone coming in after dark thinking 'no-one anchors in here!' and promptly running straight into you...

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Try sailing in Scotland!



See the answer above!

Actually there are plenty of places in the world where you can anchor without any sign of civilisation.

There just aren't many on the S Coast of UK or the N Coast of France.

Yes, I agree that there are no signs of civilisation up in Scotland

........I'm on my way to get me coat. Honest....

 

[JumbleDuck]

My anchor light runs on lamp oil and hangs from the courtesy flag ha;yard on the spreaders. Nice gentle light so visible without creating light pollution, doesn't run the batteries down and is about the right height I reckon.

I'm precisely the same. An added advantage is that few people use oil lamps, so it is very easy to spot my boat in busier places at night.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I'm precisely the same. An added advantage is that few people use oil lamps, so it is very easy to spot my boat in busier places at night.

I'll welcome you on board when you arrive at Serendipity by mistake: we also use a traditional oil lamp but we hang ours from one of the genoa sheets as they are in the fore end and at a convenient height.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I acknowledge the need if a boat is anchored in a fairway, but otherwise we should all save our battery power -

Not just a fairway - anywhere that another boat may reasonably be expect to come and join me. I normally hoist my hurricane lamp as part of my going round the boat and checking that everything's OK before bed ritual.

Now, how many here bother with an anchor ball during the day?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Not just a fairway - anywhere that another boat my reasonably be expect to come. I normally hoist my hurricane lamp as part of my going round the boat and checking that everything's OK before bed ritual.

Now, how many here bother with an anchor ball during the day?

Guilty as charged. Its got a line permanently attached to it and sits in the cockpit locker and is a few seconds work to hoist on the spinnaker pole up haul. (The line is used to tie it down to the hand hold just forward of the fore hatch.)

I suggest the light is even more important where you DON'T expect a boat to be anchored.

 

[FWB]

Now, how many here bother with an anchor ball during the day?

I always hoist an anchor ball, in case I get hit and have to make an insurance claim. I know it's usually obvious that a boat is at anchor but an insurance company might disagree.

 

[NUTMEG]

I always hoist an anchor ball, in case I get hit and have to make an insurance claim. I know it's usually obvious that a boat is at anchor but an insurance company might disagree.

Me too, and for the same reason. Some may scoff, but I always hoist the motoring cone too. Makes me feel all 'sailory'.