Ouzo Recommendations

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tross

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In light of one of the possible underlying factors in the loss of the Ouzo being the crazing of the masthead lights, do you think the manufacturers now going to make replacement lenses available for their products or are they going to insist we buy the whole unit?

It would be nice if they made that gesture - I wait and to see
 
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I believe lenses are available for Aqua Signal

[/ QUOTE ] Aquasignal list spares for all their lamps, every little part is listed for past models as well as current ones ( See their website)

I failed to get a lens for my series 25 steaming light last year though, but that may just be down to useless local chandler.
 
I thought that masthead lights look like lights on a distant shore to a ship and that deck level lights show up a yacht better.
 
IMHO, you first need to persuade them that you are there. After that, you can show the 'aspect' red 'n green lights.

The ColRegs do not meet the needs of the small craft operator, in terms of lights visibility. I believe in a 'great big strobe' to get their attention by showing presence; after that they can look with binos for the weensie little red or green I show to indicate aspect.

'See and be seen'.


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There is nothing to stop small craft showing brighter lights. The colregs allow a lower power light to accomodate the fact that small vessels may not have the power capacity to show brighter light.

Given that power carrying capacity has probably improved over the years, and some may choose to allocate more space and money to it, perhaps there should be a recommendation that nav light sellers should offer lights which can accept a range of more powerful bulbs - perhaps they do, or perhaps you can just put a more powerful bulb in the units, subject to wiring and fuses possibly being changed to accommodate.
 
I totally agree with BilboB. At night I always have a really powerful white strobe (I know its against the regs!) and do not hesitate to switch it on when 'ships' are in close proximity...

I am also very willing to 'hit' 16 on the VHF and give them a shout.

I think it is crazy to expect 'watch-keepers' on the bridges of huge ships with probably 'spilled' light or shore lights around to see our tiny little lights. Out at sea I frequently hear 'ships' chat to each other on VHF to determine headings and intentions... I think we should all make greater use of the VHF in both day and night time situations where we are closing 'big ships'...
 
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Ah, but which ship do you call? In a typical mid-channel situation there might be up to 10 ships which could think themselves, more or less, to be the one you're worried about.

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Does it matter?

It means that they are all now aware off your presence, which they may very well not have been before
 
and what if everyone called on ch 16 to squawk their nonsense - apart from drowning you out what else do you think might be the outcome ?
 
I call the ship with a lat - long ex the GPS or saying the yacht with the strobe and I try to describe the ship as - container,ferry,tanker .... with their heading eg: the container ship heading east in postion.... with a yacht displaying a strobe on her starboard bow this it the yacht - Bambola (oops Eloise)

Normally seems to work... That is the advantage of the strobe....
 
I once participated in a Fastnet Race with a guy who had all the RORC-specified flares and other gear. Given that there would several hundred other yots around, and commercial shipping, I asked at the start of my first night watch where were the white flares stowed? I was left in no doubt that I was not to make use of any of his white flares in any circumstances - "They cost good money, after all!"

Doh!

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I commend your use of VHF. IMO monitoring ch 16 and the local VTS channel are an important aspect of maintaining a proper lookout. Very often you can get names and sort out who's who just from eavesdropping the Call-ins.
 
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I call the ship with a lat - long ex the GPS or saying the yacht with the strobe and I try to describe the ship as - container,ferry,tanker .... with their heading eg: the container ship heading east in postion.... with a yacht displaying a strobe on her starboard bow this it the yacht - Bambola (oops Eloise)

Normally seems to work... That is the advantage of the strobe....

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It works on most occasions, but we must never forget, (and I'm sure you dont), that there have been many VHF assisted collisions, so You have to be certain that you are talking to the vessel that you believe you are, and vice versa.
 
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and what if everyone called on ch 16 to squawk their nonsense - apart from drowning you out what else do you think might be the outcome ?

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You mean apart from better targetting? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I assumed if you were calling another ship, you would be trying to be as precise as possible not just a vague reference
 
when you consider your vhf may well have a range of 30 miles if your aerial is on the top of your mast, and there may well be several or even hundreds of yots/mobos calling the 'ship on my port side' etc every few minutes if it became common practise ....... it will quickly result in



chaos



ch 16 isnt for that, its primarily an emergency channel, albeit often shared as a call up channel. indiscriminate use will make it quickly fall into misuse and denigrate its usefulness as a safety tool.

buy an ais, dsc vhf radio and gps so you can correctly identify/plot and alert said vessel by an approved method - if you want to use vhf correctly

a bright light is a good idea if not shone directly at the approaching vessel - though rapid side to side movements creating a 'flashing' effect is effective if directed at the target

an efficient radar reflector is even better - as mentioned in the maib report

but top of the list is maintaining an efficient lookout .... nuff said
 
Agreed that it will cause chaos in the Solent on a busy weekend if everybody within spitting range of a manoeuvering ship starts bombarding said ship with questions on 16!

Different story out on the open ocean - I have called up ships on 16 in mid-atlantic, sometimes to ask them if they have seen us, as they were coming close, other times just for a chat, to find out where they are going to / from, what their cargo is, etc.
And invariably the Watchkeeper has come back and we have had a long chat - I think they welcome any little diversion like this when on a long ocean passage.
 
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