Frustrated With The Nav Lights Showed

multihullsailor6

multihullsailor6

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I'm totally frustrated with the navigational lights shown by yachts.

I am currently at anchor in Marsamxett Harbour, Malta from where I have I an unobstructed view of about 250 yachts coming back to harbour after dark on a weekend.

Of these motor yachts and sailing yachts under engine (and even some commercial crafts) I estimate that about 60% show wrong navigational lights - and I have seen every combination imaginable!

Now what on earth is so difficult to

- switch on the correct lights
- check them before you go out and repair them if needed?

Of course it would help to know which lights are to be shown correctly!!!
 
Wrong Nav Lights Displayed

+1 !
Happens all the time here as well, but it is not only pleasure craft - many ships leave their nav. lights on when alongside in port, due to crew quality - or lack of it.
View attachment 34562

I know it is not very pretty, and I might improve it, but the labelling solved two problems. Firstly, on our boat, the little icons alongside the switches do not clearly show which lights they refer to, and secondly you need to know what lights are required for the particular situation, and importantly when you change from sail to motor or vice versa. My other half has no problem in selecting the correct lights - I just say motor or sail.
We do check our lights from time to time in the marina, switch them all on for a few minutes to warm the wires up, well that is the theory anyway.

That reminds me, I need an anchor light label:)

Cheers,

Michael.
 
When I first bought my boat I thought the switch labelled "Engine Light" turned a light on in the engine space. I spent some time looking for this light and wondering why it didn't work. Then SWMBO mentioned that whenever I threw the switch a light came on halfway up the mast. Ahhhh....... :o
 
emandvee44 said:
. . . We do check our lights from time to time in the marina, switch them all on for a few minutes to warm the wires up, . . . . .
Click to expand...

Michael, I suppose it is like warming up the engine before you leave harbour?

You have to make sure ll the electrons are flowing correctly and that the wires don't overheat.

I wonder if you look to see if the cooling water is flowing from the wires in a satisfactory manner? :D



.
 
Nice thread to start up multihull sailor and something that I feel very passionate about. After quite a few years of cruising abroad and I have to say that a large amount of yachts displaying the wrong navigation lights that are British is embarrassing (your AIS gives you away, lol) and we should all be very much ashamed of this.

An example.....

While transiting the Raz de Seine last summer through the night we saw 3 yachts heading north all with sailing lights with less than five knots of breeze 1of these even still had the boon cover on!

We have seen this on the Atlantic coast and in the Med. Not only does it confuse other pleasure boats that may be on a collision course i.e if the vessel displaying sailing lights is the give way vessel as she is blatantly motoring and the vessel that is showing the correct lights should be the stand on vessel and then they both give way as the vessel showing the correct lights decides to act on the falsely displayed sailing lights there could be a risk of collision.

And I guess this also causes friction with the ships as THEY KNOW YOU ARE NOT SAILING (doing 6kns with 2knts of wind) and then so many people complain that ships cut them up……

For the guilty party's here, come on! Put your god dam steaming light on when you’re motoring please!!!!

And no excuses on “we use the sailing light because it’s at the top of the mast and more visible”

Rant over, going to the beach now, have a good weekend 

Darren
 
lenseman said:
Darren, it is so easy, wire the steaming light into the ignition switch as that it will always be illuminated with the engine running. ;)
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I did on Kindred Spirit.

Not directly, instead I wired the coil of a relay into the engine circuit and the switch to the nav light circuit. This was nice and simple because the boat had no deck-level lights or tricolour, just a bicolour above the top of the jib and a stern light on the mizzen. So one switch for "Nav lights" (which also turned on the compass and instrument lighting) and if you started the engine then the masthead ("steaming") light came on as well.

On Ariam I have a rotary switch with the following positions:

  • Off
  • Sail Low
  • Sail High
  • Motor Low
  • Motor High
  • All Round White - might as well have a switch since the light is up there, but I prefer to use a hanging anchor lamp forward so this is not labelled "Anchor".

There is then a pack of diodes made up into a circuit of my own design, to light up the following combinations for each switch position:

  • Sail Low - bow bicolour and stern light
  • Sail High - tricolour
  • Motor Low - bicolour, stern light, "masthead" light halfway up the mast
  • Motor High - bicolour, all-round white at the top of the mast (we're under 12m so this is legal, and puts a visible light higher up if deemed appropriate in the conditions)
  • All Round White - white light at the masthead

Pete
 
There are some areas in the Caribbean where the whole concept of lights at night is rather random.

I am just glad if there is ANY light visible. Never mind the correct ones.

Pet peeve. The use of solar powered garden lights as anchor lights. The ones that change colour from RED to GREEN then back to RED.
 
TQA said:
There are some areas in the Caribbean where the whole concept of lights at night is rather random.

I am just glad if there is ANY light visible. Never mind the correct ones.

Pet peeve. The use of solar powered garden lights as anchor lights. The ones that change colour from RED to GREEN then back to RED.
Click to expand...

I always defend the use of garden lights at anchor but only the bluey white ones. I completely agree the coloured ones are alarming and could be dangerous. I picked up some the other week as my current ones need changing and fortunately realised they were coloured ones before I reached the till.
 
Same problem in the Solent; same statistics. There is no requirement to know what the correct lights are - no certificate of competence needed. That's what boaters want. That's what we get.
 
My frustration includes / extends to the anchoring lights as well. I am currently surrounded by four sailing yachts, three of which show feable (at best) white anchoring lights the weakest one visible from maybe 30m at best and the fourth one has a flashing strongish white light.
 
lenseman said:
So you are suggesting that you don't know either? :)
.
Click to expand...

David,

I know the basic ones only !!??....

But here is one for you:

A motorboat just left the harbour showing from the stern
- two white lights underneath each other
- underneath them a single flashing and alternating white, red and green light.

And it was not one of those Maltese party boats!

Was I born to early??
 
Those indulging their "parental" bias, should consider themselves lucky that ANY lights are shown.
In those parts of the world, less technically advanced than the limited areas in which the complainants sail, one is lucky to get the illumination of a quick draw at a cigarette as an advice of a boat under way.
 
RupertW said:
I always defend the use of garden lights at anchor but only the bluey white ones.
Click to expand...

Why do you defend something which, in 99.9% of cases is not a legal light? I've never see a garden light which is bright enough to meet the regs and will last all night before going dim. I know of one case where a fisherman hit someone on anchor and the yacht skipper was found guilty and fined for not showing the correct light, he was using garden lights.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Why do you defend something which, in 99.9% of cases is not a legal light? I've never see a garden light which is bright enough to meet the regs and will last all night before going dim. I know of one case where a fisherman hit someone on anchor and the yacht skipper was found guilty and fined for not showing the correct light, he was using garden lights.
Click to expand...

Doesn't really matter if it is just a backup to the main anchor light. I have one fitted and it gives useful light in the cockpit, easily spotted at short range and still lasts all night after 2 years in use. I think I paid about 2-3 Euro in a Carrefour but swapped out the battery for a decent rechargeable one. I think the larger capacity battery makes all the difference and 1-2 dull days don't seem to cause problems.

I must admit noticing a rise in the number of boats with odd anchor lights in the past few years. i.e. Only showing flashing white, red, green, yellow or combinations. Nothing wrong with a steady white near deck level though otherwise we'd need blackout curtains.
 
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Mistroma said:
Doesn't really matter if it is just a backup to the main anchor light. I must admit noticing a rise in the number of boats with odd anchor lights in the past few years. i.e. Only showing flashing white, red, green, yellow or combinations. Nothing wrong with a steady white near deck level though otherwise we'd need blackout curtains.
Click to expand...

As additional lights, garden and many others are fine as nothing in the regs to stop a vessel showing deck lights as well as an anchor light.
 
What about the yellow solar anchor (garden) lights that look like street lights from 5 miles away? They also have the habit of running out of juice well before the sun comes up.
 
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