Lights while sailing at night

[Sailorsam101]

I've done an awful lot of night sailing in my time in the Solent and across channel.

I drive power now but what i see is still an issue.

Please do not use masthead lights while in the Solent of other such busy areas. Use your lower deck lights.

There is a simple reason for this that i shall explain. On a really dark night a lower light to the sea appears to be nearer than it is while a higher one appears to be further away. I'm often on the red funnel car ferry and i often see masthead lights on and judging the distance is hard while deck lights makes it easy.

Obviously its up to you what you do but i only use my mast head lights when offshore and away from lots of other traffic. If you don't believe me have a look next time you are out at night.

Another issue that I've often seen is the stern light. A few months ago i was doing 10kts at night on a very dark night with nothing insight in front of me. Then the yacht on front changed course and i saw her stern light. Over half the arc of it was covered by a dingy on snap davits on the stern.

Next time you are put and about just have a look at yachts that have a transom full of stuff and see if their light is obscured..its quite common sadly!


The above is the result of over 20 years of sailing in very busy waters.

 

[RupertW]

Interesting observation re the Solent - although we don't sail there now we do a lot of coastal sailing and when a mile or more offshore I tend to use the tricolour. It still is more visible from further away.

But agree completely re the stern light - my bugbear is people who hang fenders over the stern light so it appears and disappears as they swing about. Being in the Med I don't mind about people with davits, they just need to be slightly pitied for choosing to hang their car across their front door.

 

[prv]

Same applies to anchor lights at the masthead - if you see the light, then on a dark night it's hard to picture what piece of water it's above. And at close range and looking forwards instead of upwards, it's very easy to not even see the light in the first place if it's at the top of a tall mast.

There's a forum regular (I forget who) whose boat was badly damaged and nearly sunk because of this.

Ten to twenty feet above the deck, with a bit of light shed downwards to gently illuminate the hull, is best. Above the foredeck rather than aft is traditional.

Pete

 

[DJE]

It is sadly common in the Solent to see tricolour, steaming light, and deck level lights all on at the same time.

 

[lw395]

My pet hate is ensigns on sticks flapping around the stern light.

 

[sailor211]

Can I add, RIBs with lights on a stern gantry which are shilded by the occupants!! Nothing to see as the big black thing hurtles towards you .

 

[Topcat47]

Mea Culpa regarding my stern light. It's small, short and at deck level and almost anything obscures it, especially the ensign. It's not easy to know what to do about this. I tried one of those Temporary lamps on the pushpit to see how effective it was. It still ran a high risk of being obscured by the ensign and eventually slipped round so that it was pointing towards the water: all this in the time it takes to complete a cross channel crossing which was started in daylight.

Mind you, spotting the nav lights on commercial craft at sea is often made difficult by deck lighting that is several orders of magnitude brighter. Stern lights? Forget them.

 

[prv]

Mind you, spotting the nav lights on commercial craft at sea is often made difficult by deck lighting that is several orders of magnitude brighter. Stern lights? Forget them.

Sidelights are certainly often hard to pick out. At least the vessel's existence is nice and obvious, though .

Generally the masthead lights are pretty clear even with a blaze of deck lights, and they tell you which way it's going.

Pete

 

[dom]

Mea Culpa regarding my stern light. It's small, short and at deck level and almost anything obscures it, especially the ensign. It's not easy to know what to do about this. I tried one of those Temporary lamps on the pushpit to see how effective it was. It still ran a high risk of being obscured by the ensign and eventually slipped round so that it was pointing towards the water: all this in the time it takes to complete a cross channel crossing which was started in daylight.

Mind you, spotting the nav lights on commercial craft at sea is often made difficult by deck lighting that is several orders of magnitude brighter. Stern lights? Forget them.

I put an elastic band around mine, though an ensign purist would of course strike his ensign at dusk

Fully agree with what you say about commercial vessels.

 

[Daydream believer]

deleted

 

[Frank Holden]

Using trilights inshore is not just an issue for other small craft.

As viewed from the bridge of a big ship there is a very good chance that your trilight will be hidden amongst the background of shore lights.

Well offshore... great..... inshore not so great.... in fact very un-great...

And don't get me started on masthead anchor lights...

 

[johnalison]

It is quite clear that anyone in the Solent should be transmitting AIS.

 

[[163233]]

On a small yacht the deck level lights can be right on the water if you're going a bit.

Really some kind of deck lighting would be a good addition to sailing boats now that the power issue isn't as great as it was

 

[scotty123]

I've done an awful lot of night sailing in my time in the Solent and across channel.

I drive power now but what i see is still an issue.

Please do not use masthead lights while in the Solent of other such busy areas. Use your lower deck lights.

There is a simple reason for this that i shall explain. On a really dark night a lower light to the sea appears to be nearer than it is while a higher one appears to be further away. I'm often on the red funnel car ferry and i often see masthead lights on and judging the distance is hard while deck lights makes it easy.

Obviously its up to you what you do but i only use my mast head lights when offshore and away from lots of other traffic. If you don't believe me have a look next time you are out at night.

Another issue that I've often seen is the stern light. A few months ago i was doing 10kts at night on a very dark night with nothing insight in front of me. Then the yacht on front changed course and i saw her stern light. Over half the arc of it was covered by a dingy on snap davits on the stern.

Next time you are put and about just have a look at yachts that have a transom full of stuff and see if their light is obscured..its quite common sadly!


The above is the result of over 20 years of sailing in very busy waters.

If the yacht had been using its tricolour, I doubt a dinghy would hide the white stern arc.

 

[scotty123]

Using trilights inshore is not just an issue for other small craft.

As viewed from the bridge of a big ship there is a very good chance that your trilight will be hidden amongst the background of shore lights.

Well offshore... great..... inshore not so great.... in fact very un-great...

And don't get me started on masthead anchor lights...

That, is a problem with any lights.

 

[Daydream believer]

On a small yacht the deck level lights can be right on the water if you're going a bit.

Really some kind of deck lighting would be a good addition to sailing boats now that the power issue isn't as great as it was

On a small boat they could be bad for helmsman's night vision, especially if they reflect off a white deck

 

[lw395]

Mea Culpa regarding my stern light. It's small, short and at deck level and almost anything obscures it, especially the ensign. It's not easy to know what to do about this. .....

It's very easy.
Don't have an ensign on a nasty little stick.
Just because Force 4 sell them, you don't have to have one!

Or take the flag down when you switch the light on.

 

[VicS]

It's very easy.
Don't have an ensign on a nasty little stick.
Just because Force 4 sell them, you don't have to have one!

Or take the flag down when you switch the light on.

Or a novel idea on a boat known to me is to have the stern light on "a little stick " that replaces the ensign and its stick at night. Plugs into a deck socket.. A split pin keeps it correctly aligned and captive. Stows away safely when not in use too.

 

[DJE]

I seem to remember a requirement to display your ensign when entering or leaving a foreign port. Presumably this applies at night.

 

[Kukri]

Using trilights inshore is not just an issue for other small craft.

As viewed from the bridge of a big ship there is a very good chance that your trilight will be hidden amongst the background of shore lights.

Well offshore... great..... inshore not so great.... in fact very un-great...

And don't get me started on masthead anchor lights...

+1.