What do we think about flashing anchor lights?

Poignard said:
I thought it would have been clear that in my post I progressed from the particular to the general.
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English language is my first language and accordingly I certainly do not agree with your comment here.

I would normally make clear in a post the change OR better still make the change in a different post - to avoid confusion.
 
Goldie said:
I guess the majority of those advocating masthead anchor lights have not cruised in an area where the majority of those manoeuvring to anchor are either in a wheelhouse or under a Bimini; view forward is great, but the view upwards isn’t.
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Lets be honest - most people accept the lights as fitted to their boats when purchased ... its only when they 'stray' from their usual haunts and realise they need different that they would modify setup.

I agree that for many yotties - low slung anchor light is likely best seen .. but that can easily also be lost amongst shore lights ...

There is no perfect answer and because of my own travels ... I choose to cover all by the masthead light to avoid lost in shore lights if possible .. and a low hung camping lantern to cater for others ...
 
Two things that I think were not mentioned.
  • The light can be blocked by up to 6 degrees under COLREGS. This is in the annex.
  • Lights that can be confused with navigation lights are prohibited. In general, this rules our red and green, and also suggested that any color other than white could be a problem in poor visibility (color perception fades). This is a problem in some harbors, where mostly power boaters think that lighting up their boats like a Christmas tree is OK. You can't tell if they are anchored or underway.
 
thinwater said:
Two things that I think were not mentioned.
  • The light can be blocked by up to 6 degrees under COLREGS. This is in the annex.
  • Lights that can be confused with navigation lights are prohibited. In general, this rules our red and green, and also suggested that any color other than white could be a problem in poor visibility (color perception fades). This is a problem in some harbors, where mostly power boaters think that lighting up their boats like a Christmas tree is OK. You can't tell if they are anchored or underway.
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My pet hate are :

Strobes fitted by yotties thinking they are better lights ..
Quick flashing lights that don't mean a thing ..
 
Poignard said:
The same sort of selfish KH who parks like this

View attachment 197616[
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If you park like that in for example Riga - you are likely to find your vehicle not there when you return. It will have been trucked to a holding compound - where you pay fine, storage fee and cost of trucking.

First you have to find the person who has the info of where your vehicle has been taken to !!

Heppened to a couple of friends of mine .... 100 euros total for one guy .... other guy had a total of 200 euros ...
 
shanemax said:
A flashing white lights stands out far better than a solid white light. Take a look at cyclist. How many lives has that invention saved, plus I do not think you will be mixed up with a Norther cardinal mark.The whole idea is to be seen never mind what the rules say. You are allowed to shine a powerful light on to the bridge of a moving ship if necessary to show you are there.
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None, flashing endangers cyclists.
Even though a flashing light atracts more attention than a continuously shining one, it is much harder to determin its position.

Only strobe lights may be better in that respect.

All of my writing may be irrelevant if bicycles in the UK are only to be approached from behind.
 
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shanemax said:
A flashing white lights stands out far better than a solid white light. Take a look at cyclist. How many lives has that invention saved, plus I do not think you will be mixed up with a Norther cardinal mark.The whole idea is to be seen never mind what the rules say. You are allowed to shine a powerful light on to the bridge of a moving ship if necessary to show you are there.
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As an ex Bridge Watchkeeping Officer - with greatest repect - its this sort of thing that really annoyed ... OTW would be standing there looking out window and see **** .... WTF is that ??? Then you want to shine a light at him ???

The shine a light at the vessel is NOT steady light at bridge of the ship - you want to destroy the night vision of the OTW and the watchkeeper ?? The idea is to sweep the light across - not to blind .. The better action in fact is to shine on your sails or boat if motor.
AND its an action when all else seems to have failed ...

Stick to the proper lights and we all know where we are coming from / to ...
 
Refueler said:
.. The better action in fact is to shine on your sails
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Back in the day Bernard Moitessier's Merchant Marine pal reckoned that shining on the sails just created a dull grey blob that was difficult to interpret.

Maybe in the days of 2500 lumin torches it's no longer a problem. However, worst case, if the watch officers night vision has been wrecked he's going to have a very clear idea if which direction the danger is which is the objective of shining a torch.

So I'd always go for aiming at the bridge, and sincerely apologise for the dazzle later.

(As it happens I strongly doubt my torch is brighter than, say, a Nav Mark.)
 
I have one just like gem43 shows - already had the lamp, just a dusk to dawn sensor which works fine. I also have one of the Aldi/Lidl one which is adjustable brightness. Tested to see how long it stayed alight - 3 days which I thought was impressive.
 
Refueler said:
The better action in fact is to shine on your sails or boat if motor. AND its an action when all else seems to have failed ...
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If you have a flashlight in your hand and you need to be seen immediately, best to shine it in to someones eyes, where leaving their nighvision intact would be best. Shining the light in your sails is only usefull in close proximity, like within 500 meters or so, which may be too close anyway.

Shining your light in your sails will scatter it 360 degrees so the vast majority of the energy will not reach the intended person.

These methods together with some official lights were tested by Netherlands sailing magazine 'zeilen', if I recall correctly they were stunned by the poor visibility of 'sail lighting', but in hindsight not surprised.
 
shanemax said:
A flashing white lights stands out far better than a solid white light. Take a look at cyclist. How many lives has that invention saved, plus I do not think you will be mixed up with a Norther cardinal mark.The whole idea is to be seen never mind what the rules say. You are allowed to shine a powerful light on to the bridge of a moving ship if necessary to show you are there.
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Don't agree. Anchored near someone using a flashing light in Dale Bay - against a background of all sorts of flashing lights it didn't stand out as well as ordinary anchor lights. Pretty irritating too.
 
in the end, I got one of these instead 51COESD8yhL._AC_SY445_SX342_QL70_ML2_.jpg Solar charging and auto switching - but no flashing. Not sure it's very bright, but as I only intend anchoring close to the land, I recon that if anyone can't see that - they're likely to hit the shore anyway! I'm not sure about the hook, though - I think I'll tightly fasten a permanent loop of cord to it, then shackle that to a halyard and downhaul.
 
Keep the standard anchor light but add a flashing led at deck level to help ribs etc.
We mostly anchor in shallow waters where big vessels are no problem but ribs returning from the pub is different.
 
HunterWanderer said:
Keep the standard anchor light but add a flashing led at deck level to help ribs etc.
We mostly anchor in shallow waters where big vessels are no problem but ribs returning from the pub is different.
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How to confuse. Just use a standard anchor light in the fore triangle of the boat.
 
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