Steaming & anchored lights

Porthandbuoy

Porthandbuoy

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 Apr 2003
Messages
5,862
Location
The Gareloch
www.backbearing.com
Apropos Slipknot's post on combined steaming & deck flood lights.

Does the panel consider these a suitable substitute for an all round white at the masthead? I confess I use mine for both motoring and when at anchor, even though strictly speaking they do not have 360 degree visibility.

Do they make an all round white at the masthead redundant?
 
Some night when you are at anchor, and are run down by a vessel coming from astern, you'll know the answer.:rolleyes:
 
NormanS said:
Some night when you are at anchor, and are run down by a vessel coming from astern, you'll know the answer.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Since the bulb, in the steaming light, went I have been using my anchor light as a steaming light:nonchalance:
 
An anchor light should be visible though 360 degrees.
An all round white at the mast head is visible though 360 degrees but is too high imho in a small yacht anchorage otoh a light suspended in the rigging will be obscured to some extent by the mast.


A steaming light is only visble through 225 degrees so no good as an anchor light

An all-round white light (at the masthead) can be used as combined steaming and stern light by vessels less than 12m in length.

( and yes we know about an allround white for vessels under 7m and 7knots before any pedants start punching away at their keyboards)
 
Last edited:
VicS said:
( and yes we know about an allround white for vessels under 7m and 7knots before any pedants start punching away at their keyboards)
Click to expand...

That's for power. You forgot

25 (d) (i) A sailing vessel of less than 7 metres in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.​

A rule which I once had to quote at the crew of a police boat on the Clyde, sending them away muttering darkly to themselves.

HTH, HAND.
 
VicS said:
An all round white at the mast head is visible though 360 degrees but is too high imho in a small yacht anchorage otoh a light suspended in the rigging will be obscured to some extent by the mast.
Click to expand...

But, assuming a decent light in the right position, the light it casts around it, illuminating parts of the deck, superstructure and rigging, will not. The likelihood of a boat approaching without deviation along the narrow and ever narrowing sector in which the light is, in fact, behind the mast, while the anchored boat stays completely still, is in any case, vanishingly small.

In practice, the "obscured by the mast" argument simply doesn't hold water.
 
bigwow said:
Since the bulb, in the steaming light, went I have been using my anchor light as a steaming light:nonchalance:
Click to expand...

The colregs specifically say that an all-round white may be used as a combined steaming and stern light - provided your boat is under 12m so you are perfectly correct.
 
JumbleDuck said:
That's for power. You forgot

25 (d) (i) A sailing vessel of less than 7 metres in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.​

A rule which I once had to quote at the crew of a police boat on the Clyde, sending them away muttering darkly to themselves.

HTH, HAND.
Click to expand...

In Dartmouth the HM has had purges on unlit tenders in the harbour and will come down heavily on powered boats with only a torch. If you row however, you're still OK.
 
Serin said:
But, assuming a decent light in the right position, the light it casts around it, illuminating parts of the deck, superstructure and rigging, will not. The likelihood of a boat approaching without deviation along the narrow and ever narrowing sector in which the light is, in fact, behind the mast, while the anchored boat stays completely still, is in any case, vanishingly small.

In practice, the "obscured by the mast" argument simply doesn't hold water.
Click to expand...

It doesn't even hold water in theory either :). The colregs specifically permit obscured sectors up to 6° wide in any all-round light, to allow for masts and other structure. Then give a further exemption for anchor lights, saying they also "need not be mounted at an impractical height above the hull", which sounds to me like a textbook description of a tiny masthead light high above a backed-out yacht.

The people who insist that an anchor light must be at the masthead "because it's the only place it can be seen from the full 360°" are simply wrong both practically and legally.

Pete
 
But apart from all that good stuff, the power consumption of a steaming light and deck light combination is considerably greater than that of a decent anchor light. Mine is completely self contained and automatic, internal battery and solar panel recharging.
 
prv said:
I

The people who insist that an anchor light must be at the masthead "because it's the only place it can be seen from the full 360°" are simply wrong both practically and legally.

Pete
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Long time since I studied the regs in detail, but they are certainly comprehensive. On the east coast, where I now do most of my sailing, there are lots of good anchorages (and never any question of paying for them, as they are in sheltered creeks, not harbour areas) It's interesting to look out across these anchorages at night. The positions of boats with proper anchor lights are immediately obvious. And then there are they various white lights, visible if you deliberately look upwards, presumably with darkened, invisible boats somewhere below them. Not only are they unnoticed unless you specifically look for them, but it's also impossible to judge distance and relative positions these boats, as you can with a boat partially illuminated by it's anchor light.

As some may have discerned, I really, really dislike masthead anchor lights.
 
Serin said:
... Not only are they unnoticed unless you specifically look for them, but it's also impossible to judge distance and relative positions these boats, as you can with a boat partially illuminated by it's anchor light.

As some may have discerned, I really, really dislike masthead anchor lights.
Click to expand...

To the extent of not looking out for them?
 
Would a steaming combined with stern light without the side lights be OK as an anchor light. This would give the same effect white light seen from 360 degrees and could avoid any blockage of elimination
 
Rogershaw said:
Would a steaming combined with stern light without the side lights be OK as an anchor light. This would give the same effect white light seen from 360 degrees and could avoid any blockage of elimination
Click to expand...

In Glénan I saw a well set up British ketch with an oïl lamp attached below his anchor ball. Seemed like good idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top