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On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 19:14:03 +0530, Keith Williams wrote:

>This white light practice needs to be sorted out asap. It's stupid of us
>yachties to think we can wander around with lights which confuse the
>professionals, let alone each other.
>
>Why one earth would a sailor use solely an all-round white when
>underway? WE NEED THE COLOURED SECTORS - they tell other mariners who

I hope that my lighting maximizes the information available to other
mariners. I have a sailboat slightly under 1 m long, although its
lights are the size for over 12. The stock arrangement is r/g on the
bow pulpit, and white on the stern, with a steaming light about 30 feet
up the mast.

I have added a tricolor lantern with an all-around white at the
masthead. The tricolor can be used only when the engine is off. So the
stock motoring arrangement is invisible over a fairly near horizon. To
make the boat as visible under power as it is under sail when motoring
at sea, I replace the white stern light and the steaming light with the
all-around white that is 56 feet high.

Until the r/g bow lights, about 6 feet high, appear over the horizon,
this arrangement looks exactly like the single all-around white. I
suggest that a vessel that can only go 6 kts under power can reasonably
be regarded as overtaken by a fast-moving large vessel until the bow
lights become visible.

I ask the professionals in this discussion if there is any better
[legal] arrangement I could use.

I have seen others use the tricolor along with the steaming light.
Having the steaming light below the red/green is a violation of
ColRegs. If its directional information is of value to ships at a
distance, and there is no other mandated light array that might be
confused with this. perhaps the IMO should move for a revision of
ColRegs.





Rodney Myrvaagnes J36   Opinionated old geezer

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

   

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