Do you use a Daytime Black ball at Anchor?

[parkstone bay]

Or, as has been said before, a kiddies' beachball for around US$1.00 + a spirit pen/magic marker for the same sort of money. (if it's a big beachball, you might need 2 magic markers!)

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by seabum

Hate to tell you but my friend got boarded BECAUSE he was displaying a black upside down cone - not the same thing as the anchor ball but conceptually the same thing. They had never seen anyone here in the Pac.NW display one and they just had to board this boat that WAS displaying it!! Not saying not to use the black ball (attention all repliers), I'm just adding to the conversation with this anecdote. Carry on

We passed a USCG cutter doing some exercise with a couple boats in the water, and the cutter changed direction and did a fly-by - I was convinced it was to check out the cone we were flying; no boarding though.

[kmacdonald]

Does it have to be a round ball or can it be shaped like a football? (US style football)

[kmacdonald]

I see that a lot of you are displaying two circles joined together and not a black "ball". There is a difference.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Does it have to be a round ball or can it be shaped like a football? (US style football)

A sphere. Not an olive.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

I see that a lot of you are displaying two circles joined together and not a black "ball". There is a difference.

I think you are referring to the "crossed plate" form.

COLREGS only refers to the shapes: ball, cone, diamond.

Those shapes are also used as daymarks in the maritime buoyage system specified by IALA and supported by national (and in a small number of cases, international) jurisdictions.

IALA has done research on the precise best form for each shape (whether a dayshape used by a vessel or a daymark used on a buoy/AtoN). And also the colour.

IALA allows for the crossed plate form. And also the lattice form. I've attached - at least temporarily - an IALA graphic of the crossed plate forms for daymarks. Good enough for IALA topmark, good enough for your vessel's dayshape (unless your local enforcement agency says otherwise).

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

COLREGS only refers to the shapes: ball, cone, diamond.

IALA allows for the crossed plate form. And also the lattice form. I've attached - at least temporarily - an IALA graphic of the crossed plate forms for daymarks. Good enough for IALA topmark, good enough for your vessel's dayshape (unless your local enforcement agency says otherwise).

A lot of wiggle room there. Leaves room for interpretation and best of all, argument.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

A lot of wiggle room there. Leaves room for interpretation and best of all, argument.

The crossed plate form of daymarks and topmarks has been used for decades in many national and international jurisdictions.

So in legal argument - i.e. if your client were anchored and suffered a collision and the other party tried to argue that your client's vessel was not showing the appropriate daymark - you would argue that the crossed plate form was customary (and produce either an expert witness, appropriate technical documents, or legal case precedents in support of your argument).

IALA is an international body that has to accommodate many different national jurisdictions. And IALA is always seeking acceptance and agreement, even though that is close to impossible (e.g. IALA A and IALA B). IALA focuses on technical factors as a way of making and maintaining consensus across the maritime nations. That means engaging technical experts in the interested maritime nations and letting them sort out a consensus that then is put forward to the IALA peak decision makers and then back to the individual jurisdictions.

COLREGS is also a case of coalition building, but has fewer technical issues.

And in the end at the enforcement level, what constitutes a ball/cone/diamond shape in one jurisdiction depends on the local enforcement agency and individual LEOs. If a LEO is corrupt (or if corruption is part of the culture of a LEAgency) then what the LEO defines as a ball is up to the LEO and the LEO's desire to relieve you of your disposable income. Similarly, a LEAgency can decide to enforce (or not enforce) some regulation or practice.

To get back to IALA and topmarks, the IALA position is that balls, diamonds, cones and the other recognised topmarks should be in three dimensional form unless they can only be seen from a very limited arc of vision (15 degrees - as in the flat circles and triangles used as leading marks in a transit or range).

For the rest, IALA currently works with three forms of three dimensional topmarks (but always has committees considering something else).

The current accepted forms are:

* the compact form: the three-dimensional cone, ball etc. IALA recognises that the compact form is limited in use by size and weight (in other words, big cones, balls etc are problems because of their mass and windage). Also, the surface of a 3D ball does not look uniform because of shading (that's less of a problem with a black ball, cone etc).

* the crossed plate form: lower weight and easy to manufacture. (And - although not an IALA issue - easy to collapse and transport on a cruising sailing vessel).

* the lattice form: used in large topmarks to reduce weight and windage. IALA recognises that the lattice form has lower resolution (a limit of the human eye) at longer distances.

Among the IALA technical committees are one that has received submissions from national buoyage agencies such as the Swedish Maritime Administration that deals with the problem of icing on topmarks. The SMA has been experimenting with forms for topmarks, such as cones and balls made from plastic bristles, to cope with icing. So a new accepted form might emerge one day.

[kmacdonald]

I would argue that the IALA doesn't have an opinion on day anchoring graphics. They are interested in government maintained aids to navigation and universal consensus. If they were to review the "ball" vs "crossed plate" I'm sure the crossed plate would not suffice as a ball shape for anchoring purposes. The crossed plate looks like a radar reflector and this would cause confusion as to whether a boat is anchored or merely deploying a radar reflector.

[Montanan]

FYI.
Images of the mesh style of day shapes.

Advantages:

Low windage.
Ease of storage.
Can be reshaped, a ball can have half of the sphere inserted into the other half and then pulled into a cone.
May have potential for dual duty, modified into a crab trap or a laundry bag

Disadvantage:

Shape is a bit off.
Has comparatively low visibility.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

I would argue that the IALA doesn't have an opinion on day anchoring graphics. They are interested in government maintained aids to navigation and universal consensus. If they were to review the "ball" vs "crossed plate" I'm sure the crossed plate would not suffice as a ball shape for anchoring purposes. The crossed plate looks like a radar reflector and this would cause confusion as to whether a boat is anchored or merely deploying a radar reflector.

Have you even seen a crossed plate anchor ball? At right angles to one of the plates it looks like a ball and at 45 degrees to the plates it’s slightly oval but still obviously a ball shape.

At 90 degrees to a plate



At 45 degrees to a plate

[Lodesman]

Don't feed the troll.

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Have you even seen a crossed plate anchor ball? At right angles to one of the plates it looks like a ball and at 45 degrees to the plates it’s slightly oval but still obviously a ball shape.

At 90 degrees to a plate

Attachment 190495

At 45 degrees to a plate

Attachment 190496

What differentiates it from a radar reflector?

[fxykty]

It’s plastic and it has only two planes.

Radar reflectors are made of a reflective metal and have lots and lots of plates to create the inside corners that reflect and amplify the return beam.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

What differentiates it from a radar reflector?

can you show us a photo of a black, round, radar reflector. I've never seen one.