anchor vs masthead light

[winsbury]

My boat which falls in the under 12m rules came with bow bicolour red green plus combination masthead tricolour with and all round white. The previous owner sailed on tricolour, motored on bow plus all round masthead and anchored on all round masthead. Both bulbs in the masthead are 25w. Generally there seems to be a lot of anger in the forums directed at those using the masthead as anchor light preferring instead a lower mounted anchor light however a lower position will not give a full 360 coverage because of interference from mast and rigging and the masthead draws an awful lot of power to be left on for extended period. Just wondering how others have solved this conundrum.

 

[trevorr]

http://www.bebi-electronics.com/owl.html

No Connection, Just a satisfied customer.

Excellent Light which draws a lot less amps than our Mast Head Anchor light, and is much more likely to be noticed in a busy anchorage.

Trev

 

[BarryH]

I have one similar to this http://www.seateach.com/Dusk-to-Dawn-Automatic-Anchor-Light.htm Though mine has an LED rather than bulb.

 

[FWB]

http://www.bebi-electronics.com/owl.html

No Connection, Just a satisfied customer.

Excellent Light which draws a lot less amps than our Mast Head Anchor light, and is much more likely to be noticed in a busy anchorage.

Trev

+1 a great product and they are nice people to deal with.

 

[VicS]

My boat which falls in the under 12m rules came with bow bicolour red green plus combination masthead tricolour with and all round white. The previous owner sailed on tricolour, motored on bow plus all round masthead and anchored on all round masthead. Both bulbs in the masthead are 25w. Generally there seems to be a lot of anger in the forums directed at those using the masthead as anchor light preferring instead a lower mounted anchor light however a lower position will not give a full 360 coverage because of interference from mast and rigging and the masthead draws an awful lot of power to be left on for extended period. Just wondering how others have solved this conundrum.

I dont have the allround white but i do have a forward facing masthead light and a separate stern light as well as the Tricolour.

It means i always have the option of deck level lights when appropriate.

I used to use a hurricane lamp at anchor but i am now looking into ( inexpensive) battery powered LED lanterns to hang in the rigging. No reason why the lack of 360 vis should not be achieved by using two lanterns.
Best of the battery powered LED lanterns is probably the Draper one, but i have not yet tried it

 

[NormanS]

You employ an anchor light to be seen. If you want to anchor in a main shipping thoroughfare, use a masthead light. If you are anchoring in an anchorage, use an anchor light at the level of an approaching skippers eyes.

Personally, I have never yet anchored in a main shipping channel, but there's always a first time, so I have both. The masthead one is 10 watt, the one hanging on the end of the boom is an LED.

 

[winsbury]

I believe two is indeed allowed: one forward and one aft provided the forward one is higher. Though from the rear I guess this could conceivably get confused with a 50m motoring vessel also from the rear.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

In some places a deck level light is best to be seen. In other places a masthead light is better. Use whichever is appropriate.
By choice I use an homemade LED light which is very bright and switches off when the sun rises; but I've used the masthead light on occasion.

 

[onesea]

the one hanging on the end of the boom is an LED.

I know its legal same as the anchor light at the top of the mast, but IMHO anchor lights aft are as bad a manners as anchor lights at the top of the mast...

To me it should be some where near the anchor ball which is required to be hoisted forward, to a certain extent. I guess it comes down to spirit of the rules and letter of the rules...

Why because when I sail into an anchorage of a night, it is normally useful to know were the bow is for navigation.

I believe two is indeed allowed: one forward and one aft provided the forward one is higher. Though from the rear I guess this could conceivably get confused with a 50m motoring vessel also from the rear.

You can leave your deck lights on as well and pretend you are over 100m

Confusion unlikely as a ship would be carrying sidelights....

 

[bluerm166]

+1 for the excellent low-draw brilliant LED BEBI hung in the foretriangle towards the bow.
If the fitting is hung as a pendant so that it can swing out of the vertical and the boat itself swings on the water you would be very unlucky if anyone keeping a proper watch did not see it.If on the other hand you are in the middle of nowhere,for one reason or another,then caution suggests use of an additional fitting and battery draw becomes a secondary consideration.

 

[GrahamM376]

Another Bebi user, they can be purchased with or without photcell for automatic on/off. We also have LED masthead all round white. As Rigger Mortice says, it depends on where you anchor and what traffic is likely to be around. Living mainly on anchor or mooring, we dinghy a lot at night and, without doubt, a low level light gives a much better indication of distance off - problem with masthead lights is that it can't be certain whether one is seeing a short mast nearby or, a taller mast further away. Having said that a masthead light is the only one with clear all round visibility to meet the regs but, additional deck lights can be used in any position.

 

[NormanS]

I know its legal same as the anchor light at the top of the mast, but IMHO anchor lights aft are as bad a manners as anchor lights at the top of the mast...

To me it should be some where near the anchor ball which is required to be hoisted forward, to a certain extent. I guess it comes down to spirit of the rules and letter of the rules...

Why because when I sail into an anchorage of a night, it is normally useful to know were the bow is for navigation.




You can leave your deck lights on as well and pretend you are over 100m

Confusion unlikely as a ship would be carrying sidelights....

Any single anchor light merely shows that there is a boat somewhere under it. It gives no indication of length, attitude etc. May I suggest that you get a torch?

 

[JimC]

IMHO anchor lights aft are as bad a manners as anchor lights at the top of the mast... To me it should be some where near the anchor ball which is required to be hoisted forward, to a certain extent.

I take the opposite view and prefer to hang my anchor light from the backstay. I have found by experiment that it is less obscured there than when hung in the fore-triangle where it can be obscured by the rolled genoa on its foil.

 

[prv]

Any single anchor light merely shows that there is a boat somewhere under it. It gives no indication of length, attitude etc.

Mine does. It lights up the whole foredeck quite nicely, so you can clearly see there's a boat there, roughly what size it is, and which way it's lying. I'm going to use the same kind of light on the new boat.

Pete

 

[charles_reed]

You employ an anchor light to be seen. If you want to anchor in a main shipping thoroughfare, use a masthead light. If you are anchoring in an anchorage, use an anchor light at the level of an approaching skippers eyes.

Personally, I have never yet anchored in a main shipping channel, but there's always a first time, so I have both. The masthead one is 10 watt, the one hanging on the end of the boom is an LED.

If you talk to commercial sailors (who universally despise yachties, even when they sail themselves) yachts are a menace after dark, due to their inadequate lights), they dislike masthead tricolours, because they wobble and deck-level navigation lights because they're invisible. One thing they're all agreed on though is the masthead riding light as being vastly superior.
It's a long time since I anchored anywhere near commercial shipping and on those occasions I used a 10w masthead, since then I've sunk to a PV-powered extra-bright garden light mounted on the cockpit arch. That's a fit and forget device which, as I anchor 128/190 pa, is just great.
Paraffin is great for escapists to an earlier age, and replacement LED mastheads for those with more money than sense, but I'm suffering too much from cognitive dysfunction to use a removable LED (though I have one) in the foretraingle.

 

[prv]

a lower position will not give a full 360 coverage because of interference from mast and rigging

I guess that's true in theory, but I've never seen it actually happen in practice. The arc in which a mast blocks out a light hanging six feet in front of it is tiny (remember the light isn't a point source, especially if oil or LED), and between the movement of the observer, the movement of the anchored boat, and the movement of the light on its rope, you'd have to try damned hard to stay in the eclipse. That's just the direct light - at closer range you also have the light scattered off the rolled headsail, the rigging, the boat itself. You're not going to run into the stern of a boat that was completely invisible because the mast was in the way, not unless they're using a single Christmas tree bulb as the lamp.

the masthead draws an awful lot of power to be left on for extended period. Just wondering how others have solved this conundrum.

LEDs!

Heating a Victorian coil of wire up to near-melting point in order to use the glow given off as a side-effect has no place on a sailing boat

Pete

 

[GrahamM376]

I take the opposite view and prefer to hang my anchor light from the backstay. I have found by experiment that it is less obscured there than when hung in the fore-triangle where it can be obscured by the rolled genoa on its foil.

Another advatage is that with light around the cockpit, it deters unwelcome visitors when you're ashore, they can be seen easily.

 

[NormanS]

If you talk to commercial sailors (who universally despise yachties, even when they sail themselves) yachts are a menace after dark, due to their inadequate lights), they dislike masthead tricolours, because they wobble and deck-level navigation lights because they're invisible. One thing they're all agreed on though is the masthead riding light as being vastly superior.
It's a long time since I anchored anywhere near commercial shipping and on those occasions I used a 10w masthead, since then I've sunk to a PV-powered extra-bright garden light mounted on the cockpit arch. That's a fit and forget device which, as I anchor 128/190 pa, is just great.
Paraffin is great for escapists to an earlier age, and replacement LED mastheads for those with more money than sense, but I'm suffering too much from cognitive dysfunction to use a removable LED (though I have one) in the foretraingle.

Good to know that you can speak for ALL commercial sailors.

 

[SimonJ]

Mine does. It lights up the whole foredeck quite nicely, so you can clearly see there's a boat there, roughly what size it is, and which way it's lying. I'm going to use the same kind of light on the new boat.

Pete

That is exactly what you need!
Having spent 1000's of nights at anchor in the Caribbean and elswhere where as it gets dark around 1800 it is sometimes necessary to come in to an anchorage at night (& I have seen many others doing it.) On those occasions the only boats that are invariably clearly seen early, identified for what they are and then avoided are those with BRIGHT (not garden lights which are useless for that purpose!) anchor lights set low down in accordance with the COLREGs. A good anchor light will illuminate the boat to which it is attached. Masthead, so called anchor, lights can be lost amongst shore lights and often leave the hull unseen when close by.
I have made my own anchor lights by fitting a bright LED into a modified (previously failed) Davis type anchor light and also made them by encapsulating them in a glass jar. Power comes from a 12volt cig lighter style plug. They can be seen along with my boat from a long way off - which is what is needed! I usually compromise and not have the light 'in the formost part of the vessel' but place mine above the cockpit area to have downward light there as a secondary benefit.
One problem that sometimes arises when returning is identifying your boat when seeking it out in a pitch black night amongst a large number of anchored vessels (and there are lots of places like that in the Caribbean.) My solution then is to use ADDITIONAL led garden type lights set in a way to identify my boat when approximately within the right area. I have watched folk search without success for some time to find their boat in such conditions!
One plea - please do not go for flashing white lights which always infuriate everyone else and, according to the rules, indicate something else! If everine did that it would be a visual nightmare.

 

[blackbeard]

Agree with most other posts here. If you are in a normal yacht anchorage ie not in a big ship channel (!) then a light fairly low down is what you need. Generally if I am coming in to an anchorage, then a masthead light is no use at all in helping me avoid other boats; even if I happen to be looking up (as opposed to where I'm going) so I see the light, it's not obvious where the boat beneath it actually is. A proper anchor light will also illuminate the deck so you can, once close to it, see very easily what it is you have to avoid.

On my masthead light, the tri is 25 watts but the all-round-white is just 10 watts, I thought this was the usual arrangement.

Incidentally some anchor lights have a "dioptric" lens so the light is concentrated for a viewer on roughly the same level. Masthead lights on sailing yachts don't have this.