Headlamps for yachts?

[Lyndsey Doyle]

Good evening, why don't yachts have headlamps like vehicles?

If you are out of sight of other vessels, sailing through the night, the main risk is crashing into a baulk of timber or a box awash, a random shipping container. Or a whale. Or a mass of fishing nets floating about.

The night watchkeeper should always have their night vision, of course.

If there is no risk of any other vessel mistaking the headlamps for nav lights, it must be legal.

So why isn't it common practice for yachts to have forward and downward pointing headlights to reassure the night watch helmsperson that the boat isn't about to run into a 40 foot box awash!

That scenario is my main fear which spoils the total tranquility of steering by a star etc,... waiting for the crunch of hitting something!

What would be wrong with dimmable headlights?

Out at sea obviously, not in the solent

I plan to fit them, anyway, what harm could it do?

Have you ever had your spiritual enjoyment of a night run undermined by imagining what it would be like if the boat sailed on to a box? I certainly have and will again probly, perhaps I'm too imaginative? It can't just be me surely

 

[bbg]

1. You will never have night vision if you are looking at the sea lit up by headlights.

2. To be of any use, your headlights will need to light up at least 100 meters ahead of you - impractical.

 

[Lyndsey Doyle]

Hello thanks for that but I am thinking about quite dim lights, just enough to make the difference.

Why 100m? As far as opportunity to alter course is concerned, much less would suffice, assuming someone has hold of the tiller.

 

[Woodlouse]

From the helm how clearly can you see the water dead ahead of you close to the bow? Most boats I've sailed there's a good 50 yards of dead zone between what you can see and the boat and sometimes considerably more.

Also consider how blinded you would be every time you hit a wave and send a wall of white water flying up ahead.

That said, I've seen some small speedboats with headlights. They are next to useless.

 

[Seajet]

You might be better off with night vision gear.

I had a ' Yukon ' early generation monocular, even though a cheapie it worked quite well - but packed up within 12 months and the supplier had gone bust.

With Night Vision kit you get what you pay for - it's easy to spend £ thousands - but the £100 jobs will do what you want while preserving natural night vision and not upsetting anyone else - or a draw on ship's batteries.

If looking at such kit, shop around for one that will go on a camera lens, can be handy for wildlife in the garden etc.

- Also if really worried about containers etc, consider a Forward Looking Depthsounder.

 

[bbg]

As a practical matter, most of the things you are worried about will be 90% below the water, so difficult to see at the best of times.

On a moonlit night you will be able to see anyway.

Lights that are dim enough that they don't destroy your night vision will be useless.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I had a Bruce Roberts geared for blue water, the chap I bought it from was sailing regularly to Holland in all weathers. The boat was fitted with a high arched frame at the stern and it had the normal staff on it such a emergency vhf areal, it also had two big spot lights used by racing cars. I was using the lights for marinas and occasionally for open sea, very useful. It would light everything in front for about 50m ahead.

 

[maby]

I'm planning an electronics upgrade and the new plotter will include functionality to display the image from an IP video camera - I shall investigate options for relatively cheap infra-red cameras that I can fit at the bows.

 

[NickRobinson]

Canal boats have them, can't remember if its a requirement for tunnels. Pretty useless at night.
When buoy seeking at night I find my powerful head torch gets sucked away unless there's something reflective to see.
At least a headlight forward of everything wouldn't be thrown back by sails/mast/rigging the way my Cree head torch does?

 

[fisherman]

A spotlight high up the mast picking out the area a few yards ahead might help, and would be less intrusive on other vessels, but I think the watchkeeper would also need to be forward or high up, looking down on the lit area to be of value. Fishing net, usually a torn out trawl belly, is singularly difficult to see even in good conditions.

 

[Concerto]

Nobody has mentioned that headlights would breach the international regulations for lights on shipping. Navigation lights and other fixed lights are used as a safety measure to avoid collisions or hazards. Adding white headlights would confuse other users of the water.

Sorry OP, this is a very stupid idea. The chance of hitting a large floating unlit object is incredibly small. Unlit fishing markers are the bain of many inshore sailors, but we still have to share the waters with fishermen. Then the use of a torch is acceptable to avoid them, and even then may not be an ideal solution as night vision is destroyed for some time.

 

[Daydream believer]

The reflection off the water at all differing angles would make it difficult to see anything in the water. It might pick up , say, a lobster pot but even in daylight these can be difficult to spot in time to miss.
Unless it is a really dark night, or dawn or dusk, one can actually see quite a lot once ones eyes adjust to the level of light. This would be ruined by the addition of lights & that would spoil vision in other directions
Where would you fit this light? If up the mast the jib would reflect the light.
If on the pulpit the light would skip the waves & miss the troughs
To work the helmsman would actually have to be looking & at night, as we know , a lot of the time a helmsman steers by feel & looks around him for other boats or for land or lights, the sails, at the compass, the chart plotter or GPS, his feet, the crew, the crew's boobs, the cup of coffee he is balancing in one hand etc & not so much at where he is going as one might expect.

 

[prv]

Nobody has mentioned that headlights would breach the international regulations for lights on shipping.

I think it's a bit of a silly idea for most of the reasons mentioned, but as far as regulations are concerned I don't think it's any worse than the blaze of working lights on a fishing boat or workboat (dredger/tug/etc), or the accommodation lights on a ferry or cruise ship.

Pete

 

[[70521]]

I plan to fit them, anyway, what harm could it do?

I look forward to reading the Marine Accident Investigation Board report on why the skipper of the other vessel was confused why a yacht, showing two (you do mean two headlights just like a motor vehicle) was sailing away from him then T boned him mid-ships.

 

[TSB240]

- Also if really worried about containers etc, consider a Forward Looking Depthsounder.

? Do tell more?

I thought they were about as useless as a chocolate fire guard...

Is there something better on the market now?

Would it work with Basking Sharks, Whales and dolphins or would the soft tissue limit the sonar reflection?

 

[jac]

I think it's a bit of a silly idea for most of the reasons mentioned, but as far as regulations are concerned I don't think it's any worse than the blaze of working lights on a fishing boat or workboat (dredger/tug/etc), or the accommodation lights on a ferry or cruise ship.

Pete

The only issue I could see would be that IRPCS state that you shouldn't display any lights that could be confused as nav lights.

If you have a bright white light shining forward it will probably obscure the Red and Green ( unless there is a lot of separation between them) so a ship 1/2 mile away and heading directly at your bow might see a white and assume it's a stern light. or maybe see a red / green and a white and assume it's a mast head light on small motor driven vessel and he is looking at your profile.

In either case you have confused him.

 

[fisherman]

Headlights are a different animal, on a car they are designed to let you see vertical and reflective features ahead of you at high speed. On a yacht you probably want to see the surface not far ahead, unless you are groping for a quayside in the pitch dark. I use a handheld spot on a lead.

 

[Otter]

A spotlight high up the mast picking out the area a few yards ahead might help.

I have one of those, it's a personal thing but i find the sight of the waves ahead of me picked out by artificial light absolutely terrifying, same with SWMBO, the waves look much bigger and confused. Instead at night I just allow the boat the rise and fall with whatever comes its way. Having said that I've never liked sailing at the dead of night, psychologically I'm happy to set off at 2am because I know it's going to get lighter but don't like sailing at say 11pm because I know it's going to get even darker! Stupid I know but that's the way it is for me.

 

[dom]

? Do tell more?

I thought they were about as useless as a chocolate fire guard...

Is there something better on the market now?

Would it work with Basking Sharks, Whales and dolphins or would the soft tissue limit the sonar reflection?

The answer is yes there are: take a look at the Raymarine site (now owned by FLIR, an IR equipment specialist) and you will find all sorts of cool IR and sonar gear, which incidentally will plug and play on most of their new MFDs. Not cheap mind!!

 

[Pye_End]

How big is the risk, and what are the chances of mitigating them in this way?

In any kind of a fetch, especially offshore, you won't see past the next wave regardless of headlights. Pitching will mean the beam one second will shine a few feet in front of the boat, and a few seconds later will be looking at the sky. Might have to stabilise the light in some way to have any effect?

How much power will a useful light consume?