When should you use an anchor light?

[david_bagshaw]

Just to add another senario:-

Inland europe it is common practice & law for commercial boats to show a white all round light at the point of maximum beam, or on the wheelhouse for a barge when tied up on any quay. We at just under 5 mtrs wide have always complied with the requirement as well.

<hr width=100% size=1>David
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[Peppermint]

Re:Calshot Lifeboat

Shows an all round white on it's mooring.

I'd weigh it up each time.

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[ianwright]

Well,,,,,,

On someone else’s mooring or at anchor, if I feel I would rather not be run down, tramped under foot and drowned then I will use an anchor light. Why would I not? After all, I don't feel I'm giving up any remaining manhood by doing so, the lamp itself is one of those really good ones that Davys sold twenty years ago and is a statement of my good taste, and I like playing with matches.
Not only that "My Anchor Light was displayed Correctly and Burning Brightly" looks good on a claim form.
Or to put that another way,,,,,,,,,,,
What is it you all have against putting up anchor lights,? What can it hurt?
,,,,,,,And be warned, My boat is a very solid five tons, she is armed with a stout bowsprit surmounted by a 10 pound lump of bronze. Half an inch of GRP would not slow her down, much,,,,,,,,,,, and I have poor night vision. By the time you scramble out of your bunk and on deck I will have reversed out of your new porthole, switched off my nav lights and chugged off round Troublesome Reach, my way marked by the anchor lights of those boats whose owners DID bother, and into the night.
Go on, light the lamp, you know it makes sense.

IanW


<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by ianwright on 27/12/2003 19:40 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[PeterStone]

Re: Well,,,,,,

'half an inch of GRP' - where did you get that idea from? I doubt very much if you'd find the topsides thicker than one quarter of an inch on an average cruiser unless she is sandwich. I often read about how stoutly moulded yachts are - especially the old ones. I looked at a Contessa 26 transom the other day which had had a fitting removed - I doubt if it was much more than an eighth of an inch thick.

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[ianwright]

Well,Yes,,,,,

>'half an inch of GRP' - where did you get that idea from?<
I was understating my case, didn't want to panic the newer crowd, thought that the idea of a new porthole would serve my purpose better than 'cut in half with bobstay',,,,,,,, which did happen to a little plastic boat, without an anchor light, on a mooring buoy in Burnham some years ago.
IanW.

<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience

 

[halcyon]

Re: Not on a mooring

If talking about anchor lights, should you include a ball by day !!!!!!!!

Brian

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Re: portlight

Do you think it would make a nice round hole, could you get two quite close together do you think, I need to cut some holes in my transom for some lewmar ports, you will probably make a better job than me armed with jigsaw /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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[Mirelle]

Anchor balls...

Yes, and sometimes I actually do! If holed up in some tiny creek, probably not, but in a busy anchorage, for instance, inside Stone Point in Walton Backwaters in high summer, it can be hard for boats entering to tell which of the boats "coming towards them" are under way and which are at anchor, stemming the flood. So an anchor ball is useful, sometimes.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[peterb]

Re: Whilst we are about it....

There have been so many incidents of moored boats being hit by ships in the Orwell that Harwich Harbour Authority recommend that if you are sleeping on your boat then you should set a riding light, whether you are at anchor or on a mooring. Remember the Russian ship that hooked up an unlit boat on a mooring and dragged it down to Harwich Harbour?

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[Mirelle]

Re: Whilst we are about it....

I didn't know that. Thanks.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[PeterStone]

Re: Whilst we are about it....

"I didn't know that" and "Que scais-je?" - tautology from a scholar? Incidentally Michel de Montaigne 1576 - no wonder you're stuck in the past

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[Mirelle]

Re: Whilst we are about it....

Touche! ;-)

I've heard of these newfangled boats with alloy masts and glass fibre reinforced polyester hulls. Can't see it catching on, though!

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?