Incorrect Nav Lights

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fireball

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On a slightly more serious note - it makes you wonder just what some skippers are thinking ...

there were we, motoring into Portsmouth on Friday night - commercial traffic everywhere - 3 x-channel ferries plus the normal wightlink/fastcat and then pilot boat on top .... and what do we see? A yacht (motoring) with:

Deck stern light on (white) ... and Mast Head White ....

once abreast it was apparent he had his steaming light on and the masthead was an allround white ....

there was no bicolour at the front ...

Yelled across that he was showing the wrong lights .... and shortly afterwards the masthead was turned off .... but wtf - do they not check what lights they are showing?

Everytime I turn nav lights on/off I check to make sure they're on/off ... and you don't need to exit the cockpit to do so - you can tell by reflections or glow in the dark .... so what would make someone leave their masthead white on whilst motoring?! Did he not check?!
 
Trawlers/fishing boats have the day shapes welded on don't they?!
I did manage to get one to 'obey' the colregs the other week - we were sailing and he was motoring (out of pompey as it happens) - clearly not trawling or collecting pots at the time - I just stood on and eventually - just as I'd've had to take massive avoiding action - he turned slightly to port to pass under our stern - we were hard on the wind and I'd noted he wasn't fishing at the time of standing on.

But really - I'm not overly bothered about the fishing dayshapes - they're doing 1 of 3 things usually - hell for leather to/from port - drifting/anchored and fishing - trawling/picking/dropping pots ... so it's kinda obvious that points 2 & 3 we keep clear of them.
Its the silly buggers who don't check their nav lights!! Cowes fireworks is usually the one to watch - silly buggers lit up like christmas trees with tri-colour and deck lights - and steaming lights on ...
 
I have to agree about Cowes fireworks, complete nightmare but can you honestly say you have never made the mistake of mixing the lights up ? I have done it 2 or 3 times in my life to my knowledge. The worst, and most embarrassing, was when the QE2 left for the last time. It was only my second time out in the new boat and we anchored just south of Marchwood to watch the fireworks. When the anchor was down I asked my partner to put the anchor light on. 'Is that it' came the shout from down below. Looking up from the helm position saw the loom of the white light. 'Thankyou' I said, engine off and had a beer. It was only when we were surrounded by dozens of other boats, motoring up Southampton Water when a shout came from one of the large tourist boats ' You've got your tricolour on !'. OOOPs ! The label on the instrument panel said 'top'. There was in fact no anchor light !

Chris
 
I was one of three nervous Yachtmaster candidates leaving Portsmouth in the dark a few years ago at the start of a weekend exam. The first boat we met off Gilkicker was motoring with a tricolour and steaming light on. At least the examiner didn't have to ask us what red over white means. But whaterver it was it was showing a red light on our starboard bow so we turned to starboard and went behind it.
Ever been tempted to make a "Saykuritay" call to warn the world and embarass the buggers?
 
When we left for the Scuttlebutt trip to Cherbourg, we saw 3 yachts. All coming into Portsmouth - all with the wrong lights.

1, Just a triclour, we thought the light was a fixed light on one of the forts, until it started moving across us - no sails up. Flashed with my 10 zilion candlepower lamps, and he put correct lights on. He had probably just had a horrid crossing in the F6 NE blowing, so I felt a bit bad.

2, Tricolour and steaming light,

3, Tricolour, steaming light as well as deck level nav lights.

100% of boats seen with incorrect lights!

I can confirm that Fireball was shoing the correct lights.....
 
I can honestly say I have not (knowingly) shown an incorrect light set. I do have a small issue that my masthead lights are not currently working - so underway it's decklights atm - add the steaming light under engine.

Showing TriC instead of all round white isn't as bad as many - and as you found out - an easy mistake to make!
 
Fiona - you really shouldn't Flash at passing ships ... :o poor bugger had probably been sailing all night and if he's anything like me - couldn't go down below to swap lights over!
 
I must admit that to avoid wrong combinatioons I have made up my own nav lioght panel so that the lights cam only be shown in the correct combinations. It even has LEDs to show which lights are on. As for going down below to change over, that would only take seconds so in my opinion under almost any circumstances not an excuse.
 
that would only take seconds so in my opinion under almost any circumstances not an excuse.
Click to expand...
So does getting seasick! Which is not what you need as you're coming into a busy port! It's not an excuse anyway - it could be a reason.
 
Some years back we were headed off overnight in company with some friends who had passed their YM Practical only a few weeks earlier. We were motoring with bicolour, steaming and stern lights and they had tricolour, bicolour, steam and stern lights on as so often seen. I called on the VHF and suggested they might have switched both sets of lights on by mistake, they replied 'we really want to be seen so prefer to have them all on'.

Over the years I have seen many French yachts over 7m even new ones that didn't HAVE deck level nav lights, only tricolours and steaming lights, although the switches for the latter seemed prone to immediate catastrophic failure.

Glenans Sailing School, who are excellent teachers of sailing but not necessarily seamanship, were always likely to be around south of Pointe De Penmarc'h without lights at all, or in later years when they bought a batch of lights, with tricolours only despite motoring. The best though was watching two Glenans boat motor together out of an anchorage, side by side, one showing a white stern light and the other both port and starboard and no this one wasn't going out backwards either. OK so somebody put the tricolour on backwards, but then did nobody notice? But in any case there was no wind and they were motoring anyway!

Personally I think it important to have good lights and the correct ones on. That includes fishing boats who often have all their fishing lights on regardless of whether fishing or not but then blind you with so many deck floodlights you can't see any nav lights anyway. We spent a few days in Cherbourg recently and I noticed fishing boats coming and going not just with the fishing shapes up but with fishing lights on as well - even in daylight!

Then there is the fishing boat that works in the lanes off Ushant, with a bright yellow flashing light permanently on. Great for attracting attention but very difficult to work out which way the buqqer is going.
 
Everybody's doing it. Last week I met 2 boats under power coming towards me, one showing just a white, another just a red. And the first one wasn't under 7 metres.
 
I'd be relatively stuffed if our Bicolour bulb went now - with no tricolour to fall back on ... I'd have to hope (as was suggested in another thread) that I can get the lens off easily and shine a torch through it.
 
Yelled at him!

fireball said:
On a slightly more serious note - it makes you wonder just what some skippers are thinking ...

there were we, motoring into Portsmouth on Friday night - commercial traffic everywhere - 3 x-channel ferries plus the normal wightlink/fastcat and then pilot boat on top .... and what do we see? A yacht (motoring) with:

Deck stern light on (white) ... and Mast Head White ....

once abreast it was apparent he had his steaming light on and the masthead was an allround white ....

there was no bicolour at the front ...

Yelled across that he was showing the wrong lights .... and shortly afterwards the masthead was turned off .... but wtf - do they not check what lights they are showing?

Everytime I turn nav lights on/off I check to make sure they're on/off ... and you don't need to exit the cockpit to do so - you can tell by reflections or glow in the dark .... so what would make someone leave their masthead white on whilst motoring?! Did he not check?!
Click to expand...

I can also see your halo shining!
 
Glad you can ... it means I've got the right Nav lights on then!!

come on - we all make mistakes, but that is pretty blummin basic and there are 000's of boats out there making the same mistake time and time again - which means it isn't a mistake it is carelessness or just plain stupidity.
Getting the right Nav lights turned on on a raggie isn't rocket science. If they can't cope with that, what else can't they cope with? Basic Colregs?
 
fireball said:
Glad you can ... it means I've got the right Nav lights on then!!

come on - we all make mistakes, but that is pretty blummin basic and there are 000's of boats out there making the same mistake time and time again - which means it isn't a mistake it is carelessness or just plain stupidity.
Getting the right Nav lights turned on on a raggie isn't rocket science. If they can't cope with that, what else can't they cope with? Basic Colregs?
Click to expand...

Wow! how does your blood pressure cope with seeing dive boats with permanent (plywood) dive flag "A"? :p
 
fireball said:
Cowes fireworks is usually the one to watch - silly buggers lit up like christmas trees with tri-colour and deck lights - and steaming lights on ...
Click to expand...

Cowes fireworks: We were under sail out of Gosport, mobos approaching head on and one bu88ger was trying to keep his remote-controlled, bow-mounted spotlight shining at his mate's mobo in front, so we saw green-white-red, green-white-white-red, green-white-red, etc, etc.

ISTR the skipper took the steamer-scarer and followed the approach of "5 on the sail, 5 on the sail, then 5 straight at the bu88er if he hasn't altered course"...
 
We did similar coming back a few years ago, before they introduce the speed limit ...
I kept a sharp lookout behind whilst SWMBO helmed .... saw a steady Green-White-Red approach from astern ..... no change in course .... so - 1million candles straight onto his bridge .... he veered off PDQ! That's the problem when i could only do 5 knots under motor.
 
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