Where do you put your Anchor Light

VicS said:
The troubles with solar garden lights are:

They don't stay alight all night even if fully charged except during the height of summer when the nights are short.

If you are going to use one it has to be charged in advance, which basically means it needs to be out in the sun all the previous day. No good arriving in an anchorage late in the day and expecting to be able to get it out of a locker and use it that night.

Most are not bright enough or don't direct the light out in the right direction, although I fitted a reflector in one, which showed promise, to direct the light out side ways. I left it in the garden all winter and the frost got under the solar cell and wrecked it.
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Have you tried the new Aldi solar dusk till dan lights, they are brilliant!
 
I go the way of masthead all round led, a dusk till dawn light suspended in the fore triangle and two aldi led dusk till dawn lights on the push pit. Hopefully we will be seen.
The best I’ve seen is a new j boat anchored below Dittisham a couple of years ago who hoisted his dinghy out of the water then switches on his flashing yellow lights all the way around the boat. You couldn’t mistak his pride and joy anchored.
 
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robertj said:
I go the way of masthead all round led, a dusk till dawn light suspended in the fore triangle and two aldi led dusk till dawn lights on the push pit. Hopefully we will be seen.
The best I’ve seen is a new j boat anchored below Dittisham a couple of years ago who hoisted his dinghy out of the water then switches on his flashing yellow lights all the way around the boat. You couldn’t mistak his pride and joy anchored.
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robertj said:
I go the way of masthead all round led, a dusk till dawn light suspended in the fore triangle and two aldi led dusk till dawn lights on the push pit. Hopefully we will be seen.
The best I’ve seen is a new j boat anchored below Dittisham a couple of years ago who hoisted his dinghy out of the water then switches on his flashing yellow lights all the way around the boat. You couldn’t mistak his pride and joy anchored.
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I am not entirely sure if it is the best solution :-). Besides of the color, a flashing light normally means some fixed navigation aid. I almost fell in this trap a few years ago, when some genius fisherman marked his inflatable with a red (very bright) flashing light for bikes. Very visible, indeed... Unfortunately, at night on the water there is no way of telling the distance. As I was heading almost directly for this mysterious light, I studied the chart intently, but there was nothing there within any conceivable distance. As I couldn't see anything within 5 miles on the radar either, I dropped my guard. Wrong. I missed that thing by about 20 m and watched the skipper and his family waiving at me enthusiastically as they found a 40-footer sloop passing by at 7 knots an impressive sight. One of those moments one wants to forget...
 
+1

Seajet said:
I also use a masthead tricolour for sailing, and a dusk to dawn anchor job hung in the foretriangle when at anchor; not only is the lower light in the foretriangle more visible, it should traditionally give a clue as to the orientation of the boat and may hopefully even light up a white deck / coachroof, if at close range.

Also handy for crew going on deck at night while anchored.
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I have used one of these Decathlon 100lumen LED lamps for the past 5 or so years, hung in the foretriangle. Waterproof, pretty bright and still looks bright a few hundred meters away on shore and batteries last ages. I got 3? years out of the batteries I seem to remember - that was 3x2week cruises and numerous weekends at anchor.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/bl-100-camping-lantern-green-id_8331218.html
 
jiris said:
As for the anchor light: In Australia (and I guess everywhere else, because it makes sense) anchor light has to be visible over 360 dg radius - that means a full, uninterrupted circle. The only place that fits to this requirement is the top of the mast. Any other place is simply wrong. Period.
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Radar seems to work with the mast in the arc. any way your boat is rarely stationary at anchor & will swing to the anchor
 
sailorman said:
Radar seems to work with the mast in the arc. any way your boat is rarely stationary at anchor & will swing to the anchor
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Have you ever tried to explain it to an Australian policeman :-)? My first post was largely inspired by the event I described in my second post.
 
I have an LED one that hangs above the cockpit. I think it's as important that it lights the boat up so that anyone coming into the anchorage can see that you're there (after all, that's what an achor light is for).
 
Where do I put my anchor light ?

In the fore part of the vessel where it can best be seen; at the eye level of those most likely to collide with me :D
 
jiris said:
As for the anchor light: In Australia (and I guess everywhere else, because it makes sense) anchor light has to be visible over 360 dg radius - that means a full, uninterrupted circle. The only place that fits to this requirement is the top of the mast. Any other place is simply wrong. Period.
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A solution would be two lights (close together) fore and aft or abeam.

What about spreader lights? They would illuminate the deck and give a greater visible coverage. Would that be legal?

(Should have read #9 first!)
 
Anchor light is at the top of the mast.

Tri light used for sailing at night

Bi light, stern light and steaming light used for motoring.

I usually anchor in very quiet anchorages. Anybody who cant see the anchor light has very little "situational awareness", as our American cousins would say, and really should not be at the helm or should visit SpecSavers.
 
If you use a masthead anchor light with LEDs located alongside your VHF antenna, check it doesn't interfere with VHF reception and transmission. Some do, some don't.
 
Graham_Wright said:
A solution would be two lights (close together) fore and aft or abeam.

What about spreader lights? They would illuminate the deck and give a greater visible coverage. Would that be legal?

(Should have read #9 first!)
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While I believe it would serve the purpose, I am not sure if it would pass the legality test. I'd better to find out, as the LED in my top-mast anchor light is fading and needs to be replaced. As I am not entirely sure what type of socket it has, I intend to use some temporary solution for the period between removing the existing one and getting the replacement what may take 2 or 3 days. I was thinking about a LED strip I have around a TV antenna on the pushpit together with the steaming light - but that is, again, obscured by the furling headsail... The spreader light seem to be better, but that's 40 W - quite a load for the batteries. Anyway, after what I've seen here 2 years ago I don't want to leave anything to chance.
 
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jiris said:
Makes sense to me too :-). But as I said, the rule I posted applies in Australia
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Fortunately, none of the people suggesting anchor lights placed where they're most usefully visible, nor the OP who will hopefully apply their advice, are in Australia.

jiris said:
Just 2 years ago I witnessed a few skippers at the anchorage where I am now (Southport at Gold Coast) being raided by waterpolice and being fined obscene amounts of money for having anchor light somewhere in the rigging, on the pushpit, cockpit roof etc.
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Everything I hear about Australia's leisure marine regulations and their enforcement sounds overbearing, unpleasant, and sometimes illogical :)

Pete
 
prv said:
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Everything I hear about Australia's leisure marine regulations and their enforcement sounds overbearing, unpleasant, and sometimes illogical :)

Pete
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First thing first: I have to say my PERSONAL experience with Australian Police water or land was always positive and I have not a single complain.
As for the regulations, you probably have point. First, it is very hard to get a 100% correct information. The legislations are scattered over various brochures updated in irregular intervals and the rules are sometimes rather foggy. Gets worse: they differ from state to state. The result is a bit of jungle. The screaming example is the use of a VHF radio. According to the law, you should have license for using it. I know about 3 recreational skippers who have it... Licensed or not, nobody seems to know how to use it - that includes Coastguard or VMR people. On websites of these organisations you find instructions contradicting with the "Communication Handbook" what is the official "bible" for using marine radio. If you ever hear somebody folowing the rules listed there, it is either me or the navy :-). Very frustrating.
Anyway, Australia is not a bad place to be after all :-)!
 
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