dunedin
Well-Known Member
I can vouch for that - they were extremely difficult to spot, even close to - and very painful to hit
Anchor lights - where used?
- Thread starter Billjratt
- Start date
I can vouch for that - they were extremely difficult to spot, even close to - and very painful to hit
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
>Yes, and if you see a yacht sitting stationary in a sheltered anchorage, with a length of chain going down into the water from her bow, do you actually need a ball?
Seemingly encouraging people not to fly an anchor ball for any reason is encouraging people to break COLREGS. Do you really want to do that?
Seemingly encouraging people not to fly an anchor ball for any reason is encouraging people to break COLREGS. Do you really want to do that?
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john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Without going into pedant mode about IRPCS, the anchor chain of a ship or yacht is sometimes extremely difficult to see. On a ship it can be obscured by the bow, and a yacht can easily be skewed across current with the chain invisible from the angle you are approaching from.
Anyway I don't understand why people wouldn't want to put an anchor ball up? It seems a perverse sort of logic or just plain selfish that says why should I bother and I don't care about everyone else and whether they can see that my boat is anchored.
prv
Well-Known Member
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Maybe that particular bit of the Colregs is a bit ridiculous.
If you see 20 yachts sitting stationary in Puilladobhrain, what else are they doing?
Rigger Mortice
N/A
19 of them are anchored. One is arriving/leaving/underway.
Granted if it is a yacht it is usually easy to tell. But some Mobo's?
And that yacht with somebody sitting by the wheel? What is he doing?
99.9% of the time it's obvious, but simply assuming that everyone is anchored up could be a mistake.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Not to mention the ball itself. On a large ship it is impossible to detect a ball even a couple of feet across until quite close. I remember in the Elbe estuary diverting several miles to pass astern of a ship that we found was anchored when only a few hundred yards away.
prv
Well-Known Member
I've almost done the same thing on a couple of occasions, but the AIS made clear what was going on.
Pete
West Coast
Well-Known Member
If this is the event which happened early 80's to a wooden hull yacht, I was there and watched it happen less than 100 yards away. Bunessan was busy with lots of yachts, but most had anchored clear of a direct path to the pier. Local fishing boats were known to use the pier at dusk for sorting catches before heading back out to sea again.
Some yachts had anchor lights, some did not. It was very overcast, so a dark night with drizzle. The yacht concerned came in at dusk, hurriedly anchored in the clear area left by the other yachts in line with the pier. They then went ashore - yacht was in darkness. To be honest, I cannot remember if they rigged an anchor light, but if they did, it was very ineffectual.
Soon afterwards, now dark, fishing boats began to come in at some speed and judging by diesel note, not slowing down until past the yachts and close to the pier. I remember anxiously watching two or three going past seemingly close to the wooden yacht, although hard to tell in the dark. However, the next fishing boat hit the yacht with a very loud crash and sickening crack.
I don't know the extent of the damage, or the ensuing actions. The crew arrived back much later, after we had gone to bed. Next morning, they were in a very agitated state, but other nearby yachts who had witnessed the event had made themselves known to the crew and we did not have much more to add.
What to conclude? We had an anchor light up, rigged on the fore stay about 2 m above the deck. But the fishing boat decks were ablaze with floodlights for the guys working on the deck, I doubt that the helmsman would have seen an anchor light even if bright and well positioned. Perhaps better in this instance to choose an anchor position wisely.
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West Coast
Well-Known Member
+1. Coming into ardminish bay in gigha at around 2am last year, biggest problem was boats with masthead anchor lights. Up close, you cannot easily see them! Made me think, as my own anchor light is masthead, time to change this I think
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Neither can I. They cost very little to buy and even less to make. Hosting/lowering takes only a few moments.
(But, having written that, why can I so rarely be bothered to hoist a motor-sailing cone?
)alan17
Well-Known Member
I do have and use both anchor light and an anchor ball. Actually I have 3 anchor balls as, being a Southerly, I sometime use the keel as my "anchor" so technically I am aground and therefore do not use an anchor chain. I use this aground technique for a short stay when for example waiting for enough water to enter the marina. On several occasions canoeists have changed course when they realise that they are running out of water to go round my bow.
This may mark me out as a pedantic but I would say better safe than sorry.
PS I also use a motoring cone when appropriate
This may mark me out as a pedantic but I would say better safe than sorry.
PS I also use a motoring cone when appropriate
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john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
I agree that they are sometimes difficult to see but a quick scan with a pair of binoculars usually helps me spot the anchor ball. I freely admit that sometimes some strange blob in the rigging turns out not to be an anchor ball at all as you get closer and then spot the real thing in some other part of the ship.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
Another good reason for AIS.
In my case above it was pre my having AIS and the race committee yacht, at that time, probably didn't have it either.
prv
Well-Known Member
Actually, if I was in the same situation today, AIS probably wouldn't help even if the committee boat had it. Except at night, I generally turn off the AIS display in the Solent
Pete
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
When I see a boat sitting stationary in an anchorage with no-one at the helm, I tend to assume she's anchored or moored. The committee boat example someone gave is a good one: nobody would expect a yacht to be anchored there so it was a good idea to show it was.
Billjratt
Well-Known Member
Possibly the extra yardarm with a plethora of flags and pennants may be an alternative hint of the activity in progress even if you ignore the guy with the shotgun/cannon!
prv
Well-Known Member
Some clubs do have dedicated committee boats with lots of special gear for flaggery - but in this case the boat was a yacht, almost certainly the personal vessel of a helpful club member, and unlikely to have been rigged with "yardarms" (I'll suppress the square-rig pedantry
). If it was a single race or two rather than a complex regatta then the flags needn't have been numerous or obvious, and the "cannon" was more likely an aerosol foghorn.Pete
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
Do modern yachts have yardarms?
Have you sailed in the Solent, lots of boats motor around with a plethora of flags and pennants
andygc
Well-Known Member
Nor I. Of course, in some anchorages you don't have a choice. For example, Dart Harbour
That means anywhere in the Dart up to Totnes.