Alternative placement of anchor light (other than at the masthead)

[mako]

Hammer, I think it’s a good idea, especially on the backstay perhaps just 20-30ft off the water. At top of mast they become a star in the sky and people don’t usually look up, not as much as left-right.

Sure at the top it can be seen from parsecs away, but the threat of collision is close up!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Well, it depends, and there's more to the story. I presently have a slip on Lake Pepin, just outside the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I have family and friends in the area and anticipate that I will return here from time to time even if my travels take me farther afield.


Lake Pepin is on the Mississippi, and to go up or down the Mississippi requires passing under some bridges. The critical ones are the Hastings drawbridge, 60' above normal pool when open, at rm 813.7, and the Prairie du Chein bridge at rm 634.8, also 60' above normal pool. Lake Pepin is in between. To reach the St. Croix River, which has fantastic sailing, requires getting under the Hastings bridge. To reach the Tennessee River, the Ohio River, Cumberland River, Pickwick Lake, etc., requires getting under Prairie du Chein.


Now, on getting to and from the Gulf, I have several choices.


1) I can take the Mississippi all the way. As you allude to, the lower portion of the river doesn't make for a very rewarding journey, but it is feasible and reasonable to consider if approached as though it were a passage.


2) I can unstep the mast on Pickwick Lake, build cradles, and take the Tenn-Tom to Mobile, where I would then put the mast back up. While this is a much more rewarding and enjoyable route than the lower Mississippi, the cost, hassle, and risk of damage to a large keel-stepped mast are factors to consider. Like option #1, this requires ability to clear a 60' bridge, unless I take the mast down locally and carry it the whole way.


3) I can unstep the mast locally, motor to Chicago via the Illinois Waterway, and lock through to Lake Michigan where I can have the mast put back up, then proceed out of the Great Lakes via the Welland Canal and down the ICW to the Gulf. (This route makes more sense in the other direction)


The going rate for stepping and unstepping in Chicago is $16 a boat foot. I haven't looked for rates in Mobile but assume they are similar. For a ~40' boat that's $1300 to make the journey plus the cost of materials for cradles. Also a couple days fiddling in the yard, waiting for your turn on the schedule, and so on, at each end. I would like to have option #1 available as an alternative.

Okay, now I understand your plan a bit better.

I lived in Memphis for many years and also spent months in New Orleans. I also fished on the river just North of Memphis. Jug fishing for catfish.

One of the things I enjoyed doing since I was landlocked was hanging out at the river and watching the big tugs push barges upriver. Huge numbers of barges on one 3 engine tug

Both cities had tons of traffic but New Orleans is crazy with traffic.

I used to fish below the damn at Pickwick and for a break would visit the lake side where the sailboats were.......this before I owned a sailboat. (early 90's)

Once I spoke with a lady sitting on a sailboat (mast down) reading a paperback. The temperature was about 33 degrees that day but no wind and it was Sunny. She explained that they (her husband was below taking a nap) had come down from Chicago and would be taking the Tombigby Waterway the rest of the way.

Number 2 on your list

[zeehag]

i haveoversized nav lights mounted on light boards 12 ft above water. they ar ebright and have no problem being seen
my stern light configuration will be amn[ended once i get my davits and boom gallows etc sorted out and installed, so i will have a visible stern light.
my anchor lighti s an old re configured oil lamp with fresnel lens into which led light has been placed and which i hang in foretriangle per navregs and can be seen many miles. i use no masthead lights of any kind.
i augment my anchor light with bright lighting on my deck and in cockpit so boat is easily seen from pangas and skiffs. iff the gringo skiff zoomer actually has an eye open for lights while planing through the anchorage.
mexicans who use boats at night know where folks are.

[S/V Alchemy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the foretriangle. It used to be the preferrred location...at least, when anchor lights were oil lamps.

[Cheechako]

There's compliance and then there is safety. A light near the cockpit etc is safer. it shows the whole boat and doesnt blend in with shore lights so much. For those drunk idiots cruising through the anchorage at high speed at night.

[kas_1611]

Alchemy beat me to it

If you don't want your anchor light at the mast head then the best alternative is hanging in the fore triangle, although technically speaking it might not be 100% visible from dead astern. Unless you have a rechargeable battery lantern that you know will remain illuminated all night you will probably need to rig up a cable and socket arrangement which raises the question "is it worth the work for a couple of inches?"

Since switching to an LED anchor light my masthead is much brighter and obvious in an anchorage. To improve visibility but without lighting up the entire planet with lights I have stuck thin silver reflective tape around each stanchion on the guardrails (at toe rail level), on the tops of my bow and stern lights, on the kicker and boom and around my mast furler. These all help my boat's visibility by reflecting back other peoples lights plus if we are really concerned about visibility we can leave the aft cabin lights on all night (all LEDs) and we have a solar LED lamp we hang under the sprayhood to cast a nice glow for the bulk of the night (we don't rely on it of course).

My gut instinct is to remain fully compliment with the regulations but take all necessary precautions to avoid a collision, including putting out your fenders if you feel like it (reflective fender socks anyone??).

Just my 2p worth

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the foretriangle. It used to be the preferrred location...at least, when anchor lights were oil lamps.

funny how i mentioned that in comment above yours. is traditionally the place for this kind of light.
masthead is not required, but is favored by yachties who donot anchor out. they cannot be seen against a hillside town with well lit housing.

[CaptainGrey]

I'm down in the cockpit, looking ahead and trying to make out hulls in the black of night . . . . what good does a vessel's masthead light do me?
I have a brass kerosene anchor light with a fresnel lens which I hang either from the fore-rigging (on a line secured between the headstay and the mast) or from a thimble seized to the backstay. It illuminates the fact that there is a HULL, RIGHT HERE. That's what a tired mariner, arriving late, needs to know.

[sailorchic34]

I have my home brew anchor light has been mounted on the back stay roughly 12 feet above water (9 feet above deck), since about 2009. It's super bright, lights up most of the cabin top as well. It is only obscured by the mast for 4 ish degrees so meets requirements listed in appendix.

[contrail]

I use a masthead LED light, which is 72 feet up. In addition, I have two blue LED spreader lights, on the first spreaders, that make me very visible. Sometimes I add a cockpit light, particularly in the US, where people might be less accustomed to the beam of a cat. I am eternally amazed at those who have no lights, citing the US regulation that allow that in a designated anchorage. Since there are some moorings or other boats anchored, they then conclude it's a designated anchorage! I figure my lights are to protect ME and MY boat, so don't look for reasons to dodge the regs.

[BobFord]

It is easy to 'miss' a yacht anchor light if it is high and in clutter. My " scientific " solution is to add a string of white led christmas lights aro' the cabin top . A small duty to rig and roll up but it seems to create attention !

[Orion Jim]

I use my masthead anchor light (mostly just to be legal) and an LED lantern lashed in the foretriangle. If the anchorage traffic is especially heavy I have another LED lantern lashed to my topping lift to illuminate the cockpit. If the LED lanterns are set on the low setting the three D cell batteries will last 30 days burning continuously.

[Paul Howard]

For many years I have used a LED all round white light made for a small powerboat that I added a string tie at the top and a long flexible 12V cable. When I am at anchor I pull the light out of a forward locker through a dorade vent and hang it up on the rolled genoa sheets forward of the mast. It swings around as the boat moves and also lights the foredeck. It is easy to pick it out in a crowded anchorage. I have used this in at least 20 different countries and never had a problem. A bonus is that the light is not exposed to the elements or in the way when not in use.

[blueazimuth]

I have long thought that the masthead was a poor place to mount an anchor light. But the boat came that way, as do most. Mine worked fine, except at Columbus Day regattas and, on one July 3rd, after the mandatory visit to Miss Blue Bee’s bar on the eve of the Abaco regatta, when a good cockpit light, even partly obscured, would have been more useful.

Having a radar arch on the present boat the plan is to mount it several feet above arch. It will be 12 feet above the water, and well above the main cover, so will comply with the rules.

Late night sailors, in dinghies speeding back to mother, or puttering along at a safe speed, with or without medicinal fortification, tend to look ahead, and not up. A radar arch mounted 360 light would not only be legal, it would be better seen. And much easier serviced when it becomes necessary.

Shane

[roland stockham]

The reg say that the anchor light shhould be in the foretryange. Ideally on a yacht about 10ft up. If to high it can get lost against shore lights or stars. Easiest way is to install a 12v plug at the mast base then plug in an LED light that can be hauled up on a hallyard.