Sunken yacht in Solent

[dunedin]

Meaning: your intentions are unclear.

3 short blasts for operating propulsion is regularly used around ferry ports to warn other boat users.

Sound signals may be “regularly used” in SOME ferry ports, but certainly not all - and perhaps not most.
Almost never hear sound signals when any Calmac departs or alters course - other than the occasional sound expletive as AWOL has alluded to.
Perhaps with double ended ferries they struggle to decide what is astern vs ahead

 

[rogerthebodger]

Perhaps with double ended ferries they struggle to decide what is astern vs ahead

I have the same issue with tugs that don't know if they are coming or going

 

[billskip]

Calmac ferries entering and leaving Oban have been known to sound 5 hoots!

Very often here also, in Los Cristianos, I can hear them from the comfort of my chair..

 

[capnsensible]

Sound signals may be “regularly used” in SOME ferry ports, but certainly not all - and perhaps not most.
Almost never hear sound signals when any Calmac departs or alters course - other than the occasional sound expletive as AWOL has alluded to.
Perhaps with double ended ferries they struggle to decide what is astern vs ahead

When there are no other vessels around, signals aren't used.

 

[NormanS]

When there are no other vessels around, signals aren't used.

Same with anchor balls.

 

[capnsensible]

Same with anchor balls.

Except sound signals are for a dynamic situation.

Anchor ball indicates to any other vessel arriving or departing nearby that the anchored vessel is unable to maneuver.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Same with anchor balls.

Sound signals are for the instant though, whereas anchor balls are for vessels that might, or might not pass. The anchored vessel may well not keep a watch, i don’t know any yachts that do apart from exceptional weather. You just don’t know if there will be other boats. Nor do you know if they’re sailed by intelligent people who’ll be able to tell that you are anchored.

 

[Little Tern]

The anchored vessel may well not keep a watch, i don’t know any yachts that do apart from exceptional weather.

Really? Is that not contrary to Rule 5?

 

[Mark-1]

Really? Is that not contrary to Rule 5?

Yes.

Rule 5 - Look-out​

Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.

That has hit the floor so many times in this thread it's getting battered.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

May I venture to suggest that displaying a ball is a part of your risk mitigation strategy?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Do you have a 24 hour watch rota at anchor?

 

[Mark-1]

Do you have a 24 hour watch rota at anchor?

Assuming that's aimed at me perhaps a dozen times in my entire life, maybe less. So no, almost never.

....but I've been agreeing with Gem43 et al when (in this context) they say "I prefer to separate the practical from the pedantic." and disagreeing with Gem43 et al when (in this context) they say "We can't pick and choose which rule to ignore as we so desire.".

 

[Little Tern]

Yes.

Rule 5 - Look-out​

Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.

That has hit the floor so many times in this thread it's getting battered.

But... but...

upthread, I was being told that I absolutely MUST display a small black ball, not because it would make me safer, but because it's in the rules.
Now we're being told that there's other rules that nobody bothers with. Rules that would actually make you safer. It's almost as if people are picking and choosing which rules to obey?

And what about insurance? Again, the old bogey-man of last resort "it will invalidate your insurance" was raised - no cover if you're hit while at anchor with no ball. But your insurance is fine with you not keeping any kind of lookout?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Assuming that's aimed at me perhaps a dozen times in my entire life, maybe less. So no, almost never.

....but I've been agreeing with Gem43 et al when (in this context) they say "I prefer to separate the practical from the pedantic." and disagreeing with Gem43 et al when (in this context) they say "We can't pick and choose which rule to ignore as we so desire.".

It’s an awkward one. I’m a dedicated displayer of the black ball, but need my beauty sleep. What do I say when the maritime police knock on the hatch?

 

[Little Tern]

Anchor ball indicates to any other vessel arriving or departing nearby that the anchored vessel is unable to maneuver.

No they don't. They indicate that the vessel is anchored, and may be over 7m length.

Anything else is conjecture. It is often possible to shift an anchored boat within the scope of its rode. But of course, the anchored vessel must be keeping a lookout to determine whether a risk of collision exists. And, apparently, very few do.

So maybe a single black ball really means "I am not maintaining a proper lookout".

 

[Mark-1]

It’s an awkward one. I’m a dedicated displayer of the black ball, but need my beauty sleep. What do I say when the maritime police knock on the hatch?

Nobody mentioned anchor balls as a mitigation for breaking rule 5 in the first 13 pages, but yeah, no quarrel with that. - My posts in this thread have been specifically addressing "Invalidates insurance" and "must follow the rules" posts, which smelt like bull-poo and have turned out to be exactly that, I'm sure people have all kinds of other reasons, as do I.

 

[NormanS]

When I put my anchor down, I'm moored to the seabed. For some strange reason, there is no suggestion that moored boats are required to show a ball, even although they are just as vulnerable to the supposed danger of collision. Logic?

 

[capnsensible]

No they don't. They indicate that the vessel is anchored, and may be over 7m length.

Anything else is conjecture. It is often possible to shift an anchored boat within the scope of its rode. But of course, the anchored vessel must be keeping a lookout to determine whether a risk of collision exists. And, apparently, very few do.

So maybe a single black ball really means "I am not maintaining a proper lookout".

A vessel at anchor cannot maneuver as prescribed by the rules. So the day shape is hoisted to tell any closing vessel what its doing.

It's the whole point of a system of shapes by day and lights at night.

It seems that when it comes to ignoring some of the rules, many haven't either read them or understood them. They apply to all vessels even to those who are being skippered by the 'can't tell me what to do' flotilla.

 

[dunedin]

.......What do I say when the maritime police knock on the hatch?

Prey what are "maritime police" ? Up here if you see a Police vessel you must be within sight of a nuclear submarine or base - and they tend to be quite persuasive.
Elsewhere, as far as I am aware, the don't exist.

When I was in Mallaig once the RNLI lifeboat had to take the local PCs to deal with a domestic incident, at a community unable to be reached by road!

 

[capnsensible]

When I put my anchor down, I'm moored to the seabed. For some strange reason, there is no suggestion that moored boats are required to show a ball, even although they are just as vulnerable to the supposed danger of collision. Logic?

Well I'd start by considering that a fixed mooring is not an anchor deployed by a vessel.