Too many flashing, alternating, occulting, isophase,blue, red, yellow anchor lights

[Roberto]

I guess at night it may be important to recognize which is your beloved one (boat) so in crowded anchorages some sort of difference in lighting can be useful when back from a particularly happy happy hour, not to talk about tide turns and boats spread everywhere and no one on the shore knows where to head for


btw I have a very colregish >250 lumen all round white, which makes it (one of) the brightest anchor lights, but of course I can supplement with several additional blue red green white flashing lights of all sorts from Moroccan fishermen

 

[Chris_Robb]

We had a small trimaran anchored next to us with sternlines ashore. He had a strobe light flashing all night which was unfortunately visible through the stern cabin hatch.

That was seriously annoying.

 

[RupertW]

Flashing lights are annoying, and red/green very confusing, but I'm a fan of garden lights. I want people to see me at eye level when closer to me than a couple of hundred metres. I have not yet been hit by anything further off than that.

Masthead lights are pretty decoration high up in the sky but I certainly can't tell if one is close by and 25 feet up or much further off and 60 feet up.

So garden lights permanently fixed at bow, stern and under boom - just taken off if we are at a marina for the night.

 

[MASH]

A vessel is perfectly entitled to display deck lights as desired, the trick surely is not to make them confusible with colreg lighting.

No harm whatever with garden lights on deck (or cabin lights below - how could there be?) . As long as the anchor light is distingushable.

And concur with the display of anchor lights in shallow anchorages - it really is pointless most of the time, big deal.

But strobes/non standard lights are a total no-no.

 

[nortada]

Like your solution

So garden lights permanently fixed at bow, stern and under boom - just taken off if we are at a marina for the night.

Agree provided you are seen at anchor you are far less likely to be hit & your 3 garden lights are far more reliable than a single anchor light at the mast head (unless its a lobo lite).

 

[Happydaze]

Another thing about masthead lights is that they go out of the helmsmans line of vision quite a way off if he/she is stood under a bimini.

 

[MASH]

Another thing about masthead lights is that they go out of the helmsmans line of vision quite a way off if he/she is stood under a bimini.

yeah, but you aren't displaying them just for other yotties skulking under biminies are you? You're displaying them for the rest of the world's commercial shipping fer chrissakes! Jeez - how parochial can people get? You're part of the world's shipping! Wake up and join shipping on Planet Earth!

 

[noelex]

View attachment 33925

yeah, but you aren't displaying them just for other yotties skulking under biminies are you? You're displaying them for the rest of the world's commercial shipping fer chrissakes! Jeez - how parochial can people get? You're part of the world's shipping! Wake up and join shipping on Planet Earth!

The "world's shipping" is not going to anchor in the sort of depths that yachts do.

I would like to see a lot more yachts with a good bright anchor light, preferably not at the masthead.

Garden lights are fine as supplement, but they are not bright enough on there own.

One problem is that many boat owners returning from shore are under the impression their boat is quite vissable. If you turn around and approach as a boat entering the anchorage will do, from the open ocean side, dull/high anchor lights become lost against the background of shore lights.

Pick the yacht anchored ahead of me in the photo

 

[prv]

I would like to see a lot more yachts with a good bright anchor light, preferably not at the masthead.

Garden lights are fine as supplement, but they are not bright enough on there own.

Agree with both of those.

On Kindred Spirit I had a Bebi "Beka Kaukaua" anchor light, which hung above the anchor ball in the fore-triangle. Very bright compared to anything incandescent. The downward-facing "cockpit light" LEDs lit up the boat so it was clear what she was, which way she was facing, etc, and gave an idea of scale / distance.

On the new boat I have used the masthead all-round-white a couple of times, but will be getting something similar for the foretriangle as soon as I've done the wiring for it to plug into.

Pete

 

[noelex]

The downward-facing "cockpit light" LEDs lit up the boat so it was clear what she was, which way she was facing, etc, and gave an idea of scale / distance.

This is a big advantage of a low down anchor light. Even without any downward facing LEDs there is usually enough illumination to see the superstructure.

Judging the distance from a single point of light is difficult and prone to large errors errors. If you can see an outline of the boat or even the mast depth judjment is a lot easier.

+1 on the Bebi lights.