Riding lights

Obviously I'm not talking about permanently moored boats. These were visitors buoys with people sleeping on them.
 
Martin, I don't think that it is me who is sounding pompous. If you are happy to sleep without any lights that is up to you.
 
I know them well, the buoys are a permanent feature and charted so it is of no consequence that they are used by visitors. It is still your responsibility to navigate amongst them safely whether they have boats on them or not. If you couldn't see the boats tied to them, you must have had difficulty finding an unlit buoy, or would you like each buoy to be illuminated as well? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
no - not confused .......... the definition of being at anchor is being connected to the sea bed

simple innit /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
So what is the difference between boats on permanent moorings and visitors moorings? They still go bang when you hit them in the dark.

If I leave lights on when on a mooring I always feel a bit silly.

Bring on floodlit sailing I say.
 
A vessel of less than seven metres in length, when at anchor, not in or near a narrow channel, fairway or anchorage, or where other vessels normally navigate, shall not be required to exhibit the lights or shape prescribed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Rule.
 
So, just to clear things up. You seem obsessed with the hours of twilight & possible darkness. Would you show an Anchor ball in daylight, when moored to these Visitor Bouys, in a designated Mooring are that is clearly marked on your chart. After all you may not see them in all that blinding Daylight!

Martin
 
In a mooring area surrounded by permanently moored unlit boats swinging quite happilly all year round the only reason for a riding light is to help you find the boat coming back from the pub.

On an isolated mooring or off season when most off the moorings are empty in some places then it would be a good idea. All down to common sense I think.
 
wanting to rest easy when turned in, with or without others aboard - yes I would want to put a light up in my rigging when anchored, or on a mooring or rafted up with an unlit boat.

not cos it says I ought to in the colregs - but cos to my mind its common sense.

if you are happy to break the colregs, ignore basic good seamanship and be prepared to answer the coroner at hthe enquiry - fine by me.

sleep well /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Jonjo

You are severely testing the little grey cells here!

Our main hurricane lamp is a brass one made by a German company and I cannot remember the name, it could be Dietz(?) They cost about £25 and are not to be confused with the cheap copies made in China seen everywhere that rust and even leak from new, I think I bought ours in the chandlers in Yarmouth. We normally hang ours over the cockpit on a line between the sprayhood handrail and the stern gantry or backstay, that way it hangs just below the hood out of strong winds but its flickering light still illuminates the coachroof and deck. there are 2 more lines taken to the steering pedestal rail, not too tight, to steady it. Before the arrows start arriving with messages about it needing to be on the foredeck - it doesn't, read the regs properly, and anyway even on our set up on a 41 footer it is only 30ft ftom the bows.

We then have an ancient glass domed brass one with a brass wire cage around it, takes a 12v 10w bulb. I've had it for years and can't remeber when I used it last.

Next up is one of the USA made Davies lights (Force 4 sell them but I got ours from West Marine) that use very low wattage bulbs and fresnel lenses. There is an automatic one that switches itself on at dusk and off at dawn but we have the de-luxe(!) that comes with 2 bulbs, one only takes I think 220mA plus little colored lights that can flash or not and in various sequences depending which occupation you are advertising, or to identify which of the 500 boats in the anchorage is yours...

The masthead light is too high IMO, in our case 60ft above HWS (or LWN for that matter) and therefore very difficult to see close up or to judge distance from, whereas the flickering storm lantern is very clearly an anchor light.

Finally for those who believe we should leave anchor lights on when on moorings, can you imagine what Poole would look like with 4,000 moorings? The Milky Way on speed comes to mind! We had moorings for 25 years alongside the deepwater channel and had Truckline and Brittany Ferries pass within 25 yds of us every night without hitting us or anyone else to my knowledge.

Robin

PS I had always thought the boats in marinas and inside the likes of Yarmouth and Lymington etc with nav lights on did so accidentally, but after reading some of these posts now I'm not so sure!
 
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