Masthead all-round red over green ??????????????

Interestingly, we crossed the channel overnight recently and saw a red light with a white higher up, ie looked like a yacht motoring towards us. Standing on, when we got passed we saw that the white was alround, ie they were sailing with their anchor light on.

I called up 'vessel at approx position ...' and pointed this out to them. They replied that they wanted to be more visible. Fair enough said I, just thought I should let you know how it looked.

'Should I have kept quiet and left them to it?' I thought to myself. No, I would have felt bad if they'd had an accident based on somebody else misunderstanding their lights...... or there again, is this possible?
 
i've noticed more recently with a strobe anchor light recently but not always been able to see the flag to tell where they are from,could be they have a bad contact in the bulb and it has just developed this characteristic,
out of curiosity anyone know what sort of power drain these lights take and what bulbs etc are used,
 
Re: Masthead all-round red over green ??????????????

At least they didn't have their steaming light on as well (an often observed phenomenon in these Solent parts).
 
First of all if you saw that red / green combo - and thought it was port / stbd nav lights - then I would question the last glass you supped ! Means he's on his side !! The red / green are vertical - are they not ?
 
Interesting this ....

The be seen debate as I call it ...

I carry a strong flashlight in cockpit - if any ship or other approaches - I shine on the sail - illuminating a large white expanse .... I have side nav lights that are not normally obscured by sails as they are on the pulpit..... so I hope that once a ship or why has seen my lit up sails - the nav lights will be seen and monitored after ...

Having crossed the Baltic recently I had no trouble beuing seen or seeing others ...

The trick is to be sensible and check allround ... and have a good light ready to light up all ...

The Tricolour I am not in favour of ... it dances around at top of an inverted pendulum ... to anyone watching it - it can swing from red to green to red etc. etc. and it waves around ... it gets lost amongst various lights ... it is not IMHO an improvement on deck level lights - which often are backgrounded by water - NOT shore.
Yacht lights put simply are limited by power and visibility ... so anything you do to augment this and ensure you don't get run-over is a bonus ...
 
OK - if no-ones on bridge or in W/house at time - agreed ... but if anyones out there ... bit difficult to ignore a sail lit up like 4th of July !!
 
How about a colregs test (looks like some of us need a refresher!)

You see these lights coming towards you - fast. What is it and what should you do ?

(and no, it is not two separate vessels)


wozzat101.png
 
Return my Yachtmaster certificate cos I have ABSOLUTELY no idea. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Is panic an option?
 
Masthead all-round blue light?

"sailing vessels remove tri-lights, use the red and green but when motoring obviously the steaming white will go on. Reason?? Two lights at the top give greater viz. "

what about a blue all around mast head light for under sail conditions with the appropriate red green, white stern light sailing/motoring lights.

Blue can be defined far better than any white light especially against heavily lit land lights and if out at sea even more so!

Just a thought

janek
 
[ QUOTE ]
I carry a strong flashlight in cockpit - if any ship or other approaches - I shine on the sail - illuminating a large white expanse

[/ QUOTE ] Secondary/reflected light, even from a very strong flashlight, is not very bright seen from a bridge. One should never hesitate to shine a light directly at the bridge of an oncoming vessel if you're in any doubt as to whether he has seen you. A bright pinpoint is much more easily picked up with your peripheral vision than an area of luminous sail. Hence strobes . . .

There is, of course, a whole lot of peeps out there who say 'never flash a bright light at the bridge of a vessel - you'll destroy his night vision and he won't be able to see you'.

What's a strobe then?
 
Shining that light at ?

As an Ex Bridge Watch-Officer .... if you or any other shone a light at me direct - I would not be amused at all ..... IMHO it is a silly action to take - but reserve for real emergency ...

My action of shining on the sail has some basis in real-life experience many years ago ...

In Carribean sailing north to US ... we passed a large Ketch ... he did exactly that - shone his light on the sail at quite a distnace away ... we had no difficulty seeing that ! Weather was moderate with him up and down in reasonable waves / swell causing him to disapear at times ... but that light shone on the sails worked.

Others are mentioning altering rules ... adding own lights etc. - yeh go ahead !! Confuse everyone ! There's enough lights already to try and memorise without adding more ...

Strobes ... mmmm jury out on that I suspect !!

Still I say it comes down to yachts have poor lights and low power ... so do best they can with the rules / items available.

One of the best items to have at hand IMHO ... and we are n0ow talking Sailboat ... is that engine on stby to be started and get the hell out of it !! Even better is the engine idling ready to knock into gear ! When I approach traffic lanes / shipping routes - engine is started and ready to save my ar*e ....
 
Re: Shining that light at ?

LOL

last time I wanted to be sure a ship had seen me, I shone a light on my sails, then swept it quickly over the ship - which was about 1 mile away and couldn't possibly have been dazzled - then held it on the sails for another few seconds.

They responded by turning a gazzillion candlepower spot light full on me! Nearly fried my eyeballs, but the response time was impressive.




PS I am disappointed by the lack of response from the professionals to my colregs/lights challenge. Shall I post the answer?
 
Re: Shining that light at ?

There you go ... see what happens when you play with the big boys !!

BUT - you are alive today and he got the message ... so did you !!!
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: Shining that light at ?

[ QUOTE ]
if you or any other shone a light at me direct

[/ QUOTE ] Apologies - I meant 'flash a light' - as a strobe. Or, for that matter, as a signalling Aldis. Agreed, no point in a continuous glare . . .

Though where this leaves 'steamer scarers', bright white flares, I'm not sure.
 
White flares ...

They are a completely different ball game altogether ...

We used a lot of them on the Seismic vessels I was on ... to warn of trawlers / ships etc. from crossing our 3mile long cable etc.

But the flare is shot into the sky ... and is well above line of sight ... so does not have the same effect as a light shone direct into OOW eyes. Yes its very bright ... but again - its above and while falling its light doesn't seem to harm vision that badly. OK look at it direct and yes of course your night vision will be shot ... but who would be so silly ??
 
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