The killing fields

[Mr Cassandra]

There's absolutely no reasoning behind adding more confusion to a difficult circumstance.
By adding red ,green, orange, or even white flashing lights is doing this .

 

[OldBawley]

Some other point; @ Geem mentions a marked channel trough the anchorage. There is no channel.
They just randomly power trough. At night. About one every two minutes during early night.
I chose a anchoring spot out of the direct route from the entrance channel to the main “Party” hotel.
Just before dusk a big super comes in and parks into the direct line, thereby directing the speed taxi´s ….. yes, straight onto my boat. Some 100 yards further. So I move. I get out of the way, maybe that helps.
But then, those partygangers coming from Spetses have paid heavy for the thrill of been in the most noisy powerful taxi they could have. It is a circus attraction. So they want to slalom a bit. And they do.

The solution is underway. Anchoring not allowed. Good for the new marina also. Lots of revenue.
As mentioned before, one of the Hydra water taxi´s ploughed our jib boom off. Flag hanging from it, still he did not expect there to be an bowsprit. That taxi did not speed,was manoeuvring backward. Guess those boats keep no track going slowly backward.

 

[Richard10002]

I hate flashing lights on anchored boats. Coloured flashing lights are even worse and colour changing flashing lights are just crazy. I have seen them all. In the situation where you are hit by a rib and the occupants are killed, you are the one breaking the law. You are the one that will be in prison. Why do it? Comply with the law or see the law used against you. If you want to be seen then use led spot lights to illuminate the boat. You dont need coloured lights if the whole boat can be seen. Ok, it might take more power to run them but its legal and it works. Its what we do in busy anchorages. An led white flood light illuminates the boat from the bow, a bright white led light hangs from the mizzen boom and an anchor light at the masthead. It works and its legal.

Yes... similar to what I used to do.

 

[OldBawley]

Update : Russian bay, a very busy anchorage. Dark now, had a look around. Lots of small white lights, probably yachts, could be street lights or lights from the Russian bay beach bar. Lots of red flashing lights, some on anchored yachts, most on the long landlines of the super yachts. Also red flashing on the demolished underwater pontoon of Russian bay.
One thing is sure : stay away from flashing red.

 

[blxm]

An interesting discussion on anchor lights.
I’m currently at anchor in a moderately busy anchorage in front of a town. Having a beer and listening to pink floyd, but that’s probably irrelevant.
Looking out I can see 16 sailing boats. Two have no lights at all and are almost invisible. 2 have tiny garden solar lights and are practically impossible to see against the town lights. 9 have masthead lights and the closer boats are pretty difficult to see as the lights are to high in the sky and blend in with the street lights on the hill.
1 has flashing white and is blending in nicely with the local flashing signs.
1 has a light in the fore triangle that’s pretty bright and stands out.
1 has a flashing red light. This blends perfectly from my vantage point with the flashing red on the end of the quay and probably, from anthoher view, with the red channel markers a little way off. In my opinion this is completely irresponsible. However, the boat that stands out by far is the modest yacht with a deck light on. Mounted under the spreaders. It’s not a super yacht with hundreds of deck lights nor a boat festooned with flashing lights.
From now on if I want to be seen I’ll just use the deck lights. With modern LED’s the power consumption is less of an issue. Oh, and it satisfies the collregs.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Poros Aug it's a night mare , i not know it any different ,
All I say is we had a great season so far , away from some country that start with a G , not seen one cross anchor non boats anchoring within 10 boats lengths , only the last couple of weeks have we seen these fast racing Rib .
At times it felt we gone back 30 years .
If it wasn't for a couple of break downs It's been the best year for some years .
As far as being seen , you could always have LED going all the way up the mast ,
Remember guys as long as you have an all round white light , there nothing illegal if people want to have any other lights .
May be a pain to some .

 

[OldBawley]

Indeed, the Saronic islands are extremely busy in summer, best is to leave for summer, just around the corner all is quiet. For Vic : from what I recall, France and the west coast of Italy ware more busy than quiet parts of Greece. Last week I hurt myself and the old boat left some feathers also, spare parts can´t be had in August when every Greek is having holiday. So I am stuck here and have to survive. I am sure there are worst places to be stuck.
In this thread that returns to lighting all the time one should not forget we ware hit three times when fully lit. Since I have led lighting everywhere in the boat, I leave all cabin lights on all night. Not in winter, could do so but there just are no killers around in winter.
On one occasion I even heard the hitting boat coming closer but I was on the phone and had to concentrate, did not pay attention. Not that I could have done anything.
What I try to make clear is that even the best lighting won´t help, the only way to be sure is to go into a marina.
The rule that a all round white light must be seen on an anchored boat dates from a time that flashing lights did not exist, nor did street lights. I am pretty sure that a new reglementation would be different. If it would help against bullet boats ?

 

[BigJoe]

The point here is, everyone wants to be seen

We have an all-round white masthead anchor light.

We also choose to display 1 rechargeable white LED camping lights, at eye level in the cockpit, this is not anchor lights, it’s just a light.

 

[Tony Cross]

The point here is, everyone wants to be seen

I'd turn that on its head and say that all boat users need to look. It's true that white anchor lights blend in with city lights behind them, but if you look you can see anchor lights moving against the city as you slowly motor into (or around) the anchorage. I have never had a problem seeing masthead anchor lights, but you have to look.

Whatever you do you'll be at risk from the irresponsible and/or truly stupid who not only motor at speed in an anchorage, but they don't look. That's why I'd be on the VHF to the coastguard as soon as I became aware of one...

 

[geem]

The point here is, everyone wants to be seen

We have an all-round white masthead anchor light.

We also choose to display 1 rechargeable white LED camping lights, at eye level in the cockpit, this is not anchor lights, it’s just a light.

In my experience in ‘ normal’ anchorages anchor lights work fine. When there is lots of background clutter from shore lights then anchor lights do not help the boat to be seen. The only way to see a boat in these circumstances is if the boat is illuminated not just the light. Spreader lights lighting up the deck, mast, etc do this very well. We just choice to have a dedicated led light that lights the boat up better and uses less power than our two led deck lights. We use this in anchorages where there is background clutter and/or lots of traffic. I have just bought a photocell for our led flood light so it will come on automatically when we are ashore. All helps to keep the energy draw under control.

 

[miyagimoon]

Anchored vessels and vessels aground
(a). A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can best be seen:
(i). in the fore part, an all-round white light or one ball;
(ii). at or near the stern and at a lower level than the light prescribed in subparagraph (i), an all-round white light.
(b). A vessel of less than 50 metres in length may exhibit an all-round white light where it can best be seen instead of
the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule.
(c). A vessel at anchor may, and a vessel of 100 metres and more in length, shall also use the available working or
equivalent lights to illuminate her decks.

Based on the Colregs you are required to exhibit an all-round white light where it can be seen, you "may" use available working or equivalent lights to illuminate her decks. Whether flashing lights (white or coloured) fit the bill of working or equivalent lights is debatable.

 

[OldBawley]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPeetFWRVxo

 

[DownWest]

There is a quite a history of 'money' causing accidents by ignoring the rules and no recourse for the victims, so it does look like having deck lights illuminating the boat from the spreaders could be the best idea. Avoiding the hassle has to be better than dealing with the perps.