Extra Exterior Lights

[sailorboy1]

Those of us who sail outside at night have seen them. The big freighter, cruise ship, casino ship, or just party ship that looks like a christmas tree with so many lights. You see these things for hours and keep checking your charts to see if there is something out there, till you finally meet it and find it is a ship. There are some with so many lights on them that you can't even pick out the red/green nav lights.

So the question is for you rules experts; is this really allowed in the rules? Is it a "it doesn't say you can't" type of thing and as long as you have the required ones on it doesn't matter if you have extra?

I have blue LED rope lights on my lifelines I use at anchor to standout more. Is it aganist the rules to have them on in addition to my anchor lights (I have 3 anchor lights)? What about while underway, as long as I have my required lights on can I leave the blue LED lights on?

[zeehag]

more light more sight. can you miss these extra lighted things at sea??no. can you miss and hit a low level lit sailboat at sea?? hell yes. has been done. therefore.... guidelines are great. at anchor, use more light. sailing--use brightest appropriate lights.
i went a size up for nav lights. i make circles in water and light my sails with my nav lights, which are 10 ft above water level and spread out in the rig, old style. 12 ft apart. VISIBLE.
at anchor i found the little mandatory anchor lights not visible when entering a dark harbor at christmas in mexico. ok. add what is needed to be seen by an entering boat in darkness. is not the masthead level that works. is the cockpit lighted like a whore house or saloon on steroids. btw--whorehouse in mexico use blue lights.
make your boat visible to pangas and to other low level runners like dinghies... have you ever tried to see an anchor light on masthead when in a dinghy? closer you are the less you can see. use cockpit lighting. i have been squawking htis for 7 years now.
be SEEN.
the law guides for minimum lighting, not maximum.

[sailorboy1]

I agree those masthead anchor lights just add to the stars in an anchorage which is why I added 2 anchor lights to my arch, plus have the blue rope lights.

So no one feels there is anything in the regs about using more than the minimum lights while underway?

[StuM]

COLREGs Rule 20 (b)

The Rules concerning lights shall be complied with from sunset to sunrise and during such times no other lights shall be exhibited, except such lights as cannot be mistaken for the lights specified in these Rules or do not impair their visibility or distinctive character, or interfere with the keeping of a proper look-out.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by StuM

COLREGs Rule 20 (b)

The Rules concerning lights shall be complied with from sunset to sunrise and during such times no other lights shall be exhibited, except such lights as cannot be mistaken for the lights specified in these Rules or do not impair their visibility or distinctive character, or interfere with the keeping of a proper look-out.

Possibly the next most often violated reg other than speed limits on freeways! Essentially every cruise ship is lit to the point that sidelights and steaming lights are obscured, so it is fortunate that they have AIS. Prawn trawlers on teh east coast of Oz typically have such bright working deck lights that their running lights are equally obscured, and they usually do not have AIS. And they maneuver in totally unpredictable ways their miracles to perform... and never a lookout, as if they could see anything beyond their circle of brilliance.

So, SB1, no one is likely to object to your displaying the blue rope lights at sea, though I doubt if they add much to your detectability, and at anchor, where they might actually be of use, they are IMO both legal and socially acceptable, so have at it!

Jim

[JPA Cate]

Socially acceptable where he is, but in Mexico, if it is "blue light house" vs. "red light house," He may want to do something different.... Might attract traffic he does not want.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

Do have to be fairly clean so to see those blue lights. On a dark night I bet 1/2 miles and if it is a bright harbor with a lot of shore light closer.

[toddster8]

Last month, I mistook a tanker for the lights of the town I was headed for:roll eyes:
Most of the tugs around here have all their deck rights on all the time. It's usually impossible to pick out their running lights, but you can usually see the tow lights up on the mast. It's that tiny little dim light waaaay out on the end of the barge string that's important, anyway. Like trying to spot a firefly next to a disco.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by StuM

COLREGs Rule 20 (b)

The Rules concerning lights shall be complied with from sunset to sunrise and during such times no other lights shall be exhibited, except such lights as cannot be mistaken for the lights specified in these Rules or do not impair their visibility or distinctive character, or interfere with the keeping of a proper look-out.

Beat me to it.

[Simi 60]

Yellow flashers used on ferries in moreton bay

[a64pilot]

In busy places, I will turn on my deck light and or spreader lights cause I want to be seen. If sailing at night, the spreader lights, really illuminate the Genoa.
However this of course comes at the expense of some of your night vision, so it’s a trade off.
I doubt blue rope lights would degrade night vision by much though.