Does your vessel have a masthead tricolour light?

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Amari

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I have never sailed Amari (35' Wauquiez) at night but nevertheless have fretted that the tricolour is not working,(but the pulpit port/s'board lights are OK). Today, walking along the pontoon here at Marti Marina, Turkey, I noticed for the first time that about 1/3 vessels seem to have no masthead light at all, 1/3 have only a white (presumably anchor) light, and 1/3 have a tricolour. Naively I had always assumed all yachts had a tricolour. Presumably I needn't bother to get mine repaired/replaced (I'm too heavy/decrepit to ascend the mast myself) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
You can use a masthead all round white, a stern white and a bow bicolour for all normal situations for a saily boat and switchable with two 2-way switches. This is the standard configuration on Dragonflies.

Sailing...bow bicolour and stern white
Anchor...masthead all round white
Motoring...bow bicolour and masthead all round white


Not saying this is ideal, and there will be lots of comments on how deck level lights are hard to see, and higher electrical consumption compared to a tricolour, but it can be done.
 
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Naively I had always assumed all yachts had a tricolour.

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Me too! We have a tricolour, for the record. Need to swap that bulb over for a LED though.
 
No masthead lights fitted on my Moody. Deck level nav lights plus steaming light above the spreaders (with a combined deck floodlight). Nav lights on for sailing, put on the steaming light too if motoring. On a very dark night the reflections of these lights on the pulpit and rigging are surprisingly bright and distracting. The masthead tricolour doesn't have that effect.
 
A sailing vessel over 7m shows red/green sidelights and a white stern light. (The red/green sidelights show 112.5 degrees, the stern white shows 135 degrees).
A sailing vessel under 20m, UNDER SAIL, can as an alternative show a masthead tricolour.
A sailing vessel under power must show a white light at a higher level than the sidelights (steaming light) which covers 225 degrees and sidelights as above. It cannot use the tricolour under power.
The tricolour is a concession to save power on sailing boats.
Sailing boats can also show an all round red over green at the masthead but not in conjunction with a tricolour.
 
The advantage of a masthead tricolour when sailing are

1. Only one bulb to run taking 1/3 of the power
2. Can be seen at sea from all angles even when heeled ( the leeward light on a bow roller can often not be seen)
3. In anything of a sea the lower lights are not as visible as a masthead light.
4. Masthead light cannot be masked by sails.

If you are only interested in being legal however, the lower lights comply if the green and white are mounted on the pulpit.
 
Yes, though its not worked since last spring; I suspect a loose/corroded bulb. If I'm doing overnight passages, I prefer to use it - lower power consumption and more visible, but whilst we're just day sailing in the Ionian/Aegean, I'm not climbing the mast especially. To be honest, I'd expected it would've been fixed by now - we're not usually this long between loosing halyards /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
We just have the all round white at the top of the mast. The one thing about having the tricolour up there is that in the event of the bulb going, then all your nav lights are wiped out and also it's a bugger to replace the bulb. We are very happy with a single bulbed side light for'd and stern light at pushpit level.

The other thing about tricolour lights is that whenever I have seen them at sea from the bridge of a ship, it's a bit disconcerting just to see lights "hinging in mid air" as opposed to being able to make out the shape of a boat attached to the nav lights!
 
This diagram below might be of interest. It shows the permissible light combinations for vessels under 12 m loa.

Navigationlights.jpg



(Under 7m a single allround white light is permissible but the lights above should be used when practicable)
 
Yes. I would say if you have one installed try to get it working. Even if you 'never' sail at night there's always the unexpecetd event that requires you to. You'd feel a bit of a prat if your side/stern light failed and the tricolour was not available.
 
A couple of years ago we were given a talk after a dinner I attended, the speaker being a senior captain with White Link ferries. Within the Solent, and I suspect this might apply elsewhere, the skippers of these vessels recommend yachts to use deck lights rather than masthead tricolour, only for the reason that the deck lights show up better against the dark water, whilst a masthead light can so easily be lost against the background shore lighting.
 
I believe that any yacht built and sold should be equipped with masthead tricolour, pulpit-mounted sidelights, sternlight no lower than the pulpit lights, and a 'steaming'/motoring light, all fully complying with IRPCS: AND have the switch circuits arranged such that it is not possible to have the tricolour lit at the same time as other navigation lights. It is not difficult!
I wonder how many other owners on this forum have their yachts set up that way?
Experience in our southern waters (Wash to Lands End) has also led me to believe that any yacht less well equipped is really not fit for sea, especially coastal waters! The practical reasons given in other replies posted add up to that.

Dont tell me...! I know I'm an opinionated old b......, and it frequently gets me into hot water here, there and everywhere, but what the hell....!
 
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