LED Anchor Light?

NormanS said:
Yes, I read you, but there is something wrong where yachts would have their anchor light 50 or 60 feet up in the sky, when the motor boat anchored beside it has her anchor light 10 feet up, and the boat moored nearby is not required to show a light at all.?
I would imagine that few on this forum have boats in the over 50 metre class.

In the waters where I sail, few of the anchorages have any lights on the shore, so there is no way that a boat would be illuminated, but there are often stars in the sky, among which a mast head mounted light could easily be missed.

There are many "all round lights" mentioned in the Col Regs, fishing lights NUC etc., are you suggesting that they should all be mounted somehow at the mast head? If so, how?
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The rules make allowances for everything. Big boats must have two all round white lights to show that they are big and must put the deck lights on so as to illuminate the bit between them, This ensures that they can't be mistaken for two small boats anchored apart.
If in a remote anchorage and with a 50-60 foot mast with no shore lights then in a sailing boat less than 50 metres the rules say that you must have the white light at the top of the mast on (all-round) but you may also put other deck lights on to illuminate lower down. an extra light in the fore-triangle will suffice. Basically it is your responsibility to ensure that you are seen, starting with the absolute minimum for a small sail boat of one all-round white light at the masthead (top of mast). Switch others on by all means but never turn this one off.

If you think you will not be visible because of the stars and your tall mast then do something to make sure that you are.
 
Sorry to everyone, but we've wandered a bit off thread and I've started to feel a little like a preacher of COLREGS.
It's just that I hate it when someone bothers to set down a well thought out sensible set of rules to make everyone on the sea safer and then we go out sailing and everyone seems to ignore them!
It feels like 'well they told me to drive my car on the left side of the road, but I think really they might have meant the right, oops how did that accident happen?'
I will stop preaching now but I will never accept flashing anchor lights!

p.s. Once upon a time I too used a garden solar light for an anchor light, but then I saw the light and was converted back to the COLREGS (well actually, I didn't see the light which was the problem)!
 
Sorry Vonasi, but I have just re-read the COLREGS again, just to make sure, and I can not get them to mean what you say at all. I agree with Salty John and NormanS.

I also think the only safe place to put the anchor light is 2 metres or so up in the fore-rigging.

Sorry to disagree so totally

I will shut up now

Mike
 
IRPCS Annex I

Specifically relates to the design of lights and their placing, and seems to have been conveniently ignored, forgotten, or in ignorance by most posters.

Section 9

(b) All-round lights shall be so located as not to be obscured by masts, top masts or structures within angular sectors of more than 6 degrees, except anchor light prescribed in Rule 30 which need not be placed at an impractical height above the hull.

That equates to about 1 in 10, so a light 5 feet from a 6 inch mast is acceptable.
 
The thread was about whether it was practicable to replace the anchor light bulb in an Aquasignal 80 with an LED. It is eminently practicable. The rest of this discussion re. placement of anchor lights is irrelevant to the poster's question. Like may of us, his yacht is already fitted with an anchor light at the masthead with wiring and switch to same. To suggest that he replaces it with a different set-up is impractical and not particularly helpful. There is just as much chance of a fishing boat or other vessel hitting a yacht under way at night because they did not see the tricolour at the masthead. Are these posters suggesting that this too is dangerous and the tricolour should be mounted 2m off the deck?

I suspect that those on here who are so strident on the undesirability of masthead anchor lights simply do not have one fitted to their boat and that this lack of fitment is not through their choice, it was just not there when they bought the vessel. They are simply making a lack into a virtue, which is fair enough but I don't see the need to get so worked up about it. An anchor light at the masthead is fine, fishing boat skippers and others know this is where most yachts have their anchor lights and they are used to looking for them if they regularly transit yacht anchorages at night.

BishopT
 
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pyrojames said:
Specifically relates to the design of lights and their placing, and seems to have been conveniently ignored, forgotten, or in ignorance by most posters.

Section 9

(b) All-round lights shall be so located as not to be obscured by masts, top masts or structures within angular sectors of more than 6 degrees, except anchor light prescribed in Rule 30 which need not be placed at an impractical height above the hull.

That equates to about 1 in 10, so a light 5 feet from a 6 inch mast is acceptable.
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Well spotted pyrojames.

So now it comes down to each individual to decide what 'an impracticable height' is.
I can personally get to the top of my mast if I need to so would consider that a very practical location for an all-round light. Plus it's up there already, so really easy to use - very practicable. Others will probably disagree.

So the rules say that an all-round anchor lights are excepted from the rule and can be mounted low down if you think it impracticable to put it higher? If I interpret that correctly then it doesn't matter if it's down just a couple of inches off the deck obscured through 120 degrees by the sprayhood? Seems a touch dangerous to me.

I do believe this annex may be a left-over from when people used paraffin lamps and climbing to the top of the mast every day to light it was a pain!

On the 6 degree calculation I think the light would need to be quite a bit further than five feet from an average mast to only have only 6 degree obscured section, but what the hey it doesn't matter as they are excepted from the rule anyway!

I will still stick to my policy of 'at the top of the mast is definitely not obscured, lower down is'. Seen is seen. But thanks for enlightening me on an aspect of the COLREGS that may just have destroyed my faith in them....
 
Still not at the mast head

Pyrojames has beaten me to it about Annex 1. Says it all, really.

Vonasi.

Where in your Colregs does it say that your anchor light, or ball, has to be at the mast head? My copy doesn't say that. It just says "All round white.... where it can best be seen". Incidentally, have you ever seen an anchor ball at a mast head?
You haven't answered the point about all the other all round lights.

Bishop T.

My boat does actually have a mast head all round white anchor light, but I would never rely on it to give any other boat an accurate idea of where my boat was anchored, for reasons already given.
 
NormanS said:
Pyrojames has beaten me to it about Annex 1. Says it all, really.

Vonasi.

Where in your Colregs does it say that your anchor light, or ball, has to be at the mast head? My copy doesn't say that. It just says "All round white.... where it can best be seen". Incidentally, have you ever seen an anchor ball at a mast head?
You haven't answered the point about all the other all round lights.

Bishop T.

My boat does actually have a mast head all round white anchor light, but I would never rely on it to give any other boat an accurate idea of where my boat was anchored, for reasons already given.
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I think you may have written this prior to reading my reply to pyrojames so I just refer you to that.

But in reply to your last comment:

'My boat does actually have a mast head all round white anchor light, but I would never rely on it to give any other boat an accurate idea of where my boat was anchored, for reasons already given.'

I would respond:

My boat also has a mast head all round white anchor light, and I would ALWAYS rely on it to give any other boat an accurate idea of where my boat was anchored, for reasons already given AND I would use deck lights to highlight my position to people who aren't able to see 3 metres above sea level!

It appears that the COLREGS are actually very vague on anchor lights for small boats.

They must be all round white except that they don't actually have to be all-round. They must be visible from two miles, unless that is you happen to be looking from the direction of one of the infinite number of six degree obscured sections allowed and you can mount it anywhere you like if you are feeling too lazy to reach up too high!

I am amazed as I thought the COLREGS were written to take confusion away so as to avoid collisions and all the time I was wrong.
 
I think possibly we may have moved too far off thread.

Maybe there should be a forum rule that no thread is allowed to move onto politics, religion or COLREGS?
 
Yacht Mollymawk said:
We use an Owl anchor light made by Bebi Electronics in Fiji.

We are extremely pleased with it and highly recommend it. We've always got the brightest light in the anchorage!

See the recent LED anchor light article on our website.

Caesar
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I've got one of Bebi's anchor lights, impressively bright, it also has a ring of LED's underneath it which lights up the boat below it.

I'll have a read of your article now and leave the colreg argument to those with nothing better to do..... ;)





Bebi website seems to be down at the moment.
 
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Height of anchor light

I would rather have my anchor light at the same height as the eyes of those who are most likely to collide with me.

As it is a big oil lamp with dioptric lenses, it also helps when returning from the pub because it is usually the only one around, and therefore most noticeable.
 
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planteater said:
Me too - fitted to the aquasignal combined white and tri. Perfectly happy with it. At the time it was much cheaper than any other LED but the prices seem to have come down.
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Just bought one from searolf, as Ultra Led was out of stock, and does not accept phonecall under £30, so didn't get the business.
 
awol said:
I thought the anchor light was there to find my boat when I come back from the pub. The flashing red and blue version sounds perfect as a discriminator from all the other white lights. Where can I get one?
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I would suggest you ask a policeman.

If you do decide to get one then don't be surprised if when you come back from the pub it isn't there. Someone will have been by, snapped it off and thrown it in the oggin, which apart from the top of a police car is the only place for it. It's an anchorage not a disco!

As for everybody who likes there anchor lights low down for when they come back from the pub, well I still prefer mine high up as usually I'm slumped on my back in the dinghy!
 
I hesitate to come back on this subject, as it seemed to produce a lot of heat, as well as various forms of light, but I have had some further thoughts.

If you are going to fit an LED light at the mast head, be very aware that LEDs have a limited arc of light. This is generally about 40º, which is why an all round light requires several individal LEDs to give the full 360º visibility. This limited arc also of course means 20º up and 20º down from the horizontal. This being the case, you might want to consider the distance from your boat at which the light will become invisible to the crew of another boat, at deck level.

In my experience, most collisions take place at close quarters!
 
NormanS said:
I hesitate to come back on this subject, as it seemed to produce a lot of heat, as well as various forms of light, but I have had some further thoughts.

If you are going to fit an LED light at the mast head, be very aware that LEDs have a limited arc of light. This is generally about 40º, which is why an all round light requires several individal LEDs to give the full 360º visibility. This limited arc also of course means 20º up and 20º down from the horizontal. This being the case, you might want to consider the distance from your boat at which the light will become invisible to the crew of another boat, at deck level.

In my experience, most collisions take place at close quarters!
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Having seen them on other boats during the summer, whilst I have been burning up the amps, they were as visible near to as my standard filiament. That may because the lens of the light refracts the light some more?? So on this score I am not worried, other than, I would prefer a low light, indeed I have one, but there are so many dead areas of vision(like dead astern- bump:eek:) that I decided the mast head light was better.
 
Chris_Robb said:
I would prefer a low light, indeed I have one, but there are so many dead areas of vision(like dead astern- bump:eek:) that I decided the mast head light was better.
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At last a like minded thinking individual, there is no point in switching a light on if it can't be seen! Any obscured arc (behind the mast) is a potential collision.

Ooops forgot I wasn't going to post on this one again...
 
NormanS said:
In my experience, most collisions take place at close quarters!
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In my experience most collisions can be avoided by early observation, if your close it's too late.

Ooops posted again!
 
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