Who the Hell Turned Out the Anchor Lights in the USVI?

[justjohn]

I did some research on dock circumnavigation and found a few helpful hints. A steaming light for safety is very important. I here that the best are plastic garden nomes with solar garden light in them duck taped to ones head. A yellow flag to let the dock masters know your going to fallow the laws is a must. I here a yellow thong works as well. But I don't wear panties so I will have to get a set from my female mate for this trip. Good weather window is advised but not always a must. Stay in the center of the dock as to avoid cleats and badly stowed lines. Always be on the lookout for dock carts as they are hard on the knees and shines. But I have found that the reason most sailors fail in the dock circumnavigation is because of hot sailor chicks with rum. For this I have no answers but will try to circumnavigate next time I am on the dock. Also try to make it back on your own boat .... I here people get a little pissed when they find a sailor with a glowing garden nome duck taped to his head drinking a bottle of rum that he swears was his in a cockpit that could or could not be his but is pretty damn close!

Thanks for turning on your garden nomes at night


The Lady Euphoria

[maj75]

IMHO there is a distinction between "mooring" and "anchoring". If you are moored, that is a known and accepted location. Other boats should expect to encounter moored boats in that area. Anchoring is theoretically possible anywhere so you need to alert other boats as to your location.

The manual that came with the Voyage 45 we chartered in the BVI last month, stated that the anchor light was not required while on a mooring.

Makes sense to me. Like driving with your emergency flashers on... If you are sailing into a mooring field in the BVI at night, you should expect that they will be full. I fail to see how having a full mooring field with all the anchor lights on makes life any better. You still need to visualize the hulls of the moored boats and an anchor light 45 feet in the air won't help. If you are going to maneuver around looking for a free mooring ball, you are going to need a spotlight anyway.

If you are going to anchor, there is usually plenty of space around the perimeter of the mooring field.

[hellosailor]

The anchorage blackouts were formally requested by DHS, just like the Atlantic coastal blackouts in WW2. With airline security so impregnable, they're expecting new attacks by sea.

Sailors are advised to immediately call the USCG and report any sightings of small craft with camels aboard.

[justjohn]

Originally Posted by maj75

IMHO there is a distinction between "mooring" and "anchoring". If you are moored, that is a known and accepted location. Other boats should expect to encounter moored boats in that area. Anchoring is theoretically possible anywhere so you need to alert other boats as to your location.



The manual that came with the Voyage 45 we chartered in the BVI last month, stated that the anchor light was not required while on a mooring.



Makes sense to me. Like driving with your emergency flashers on... If you are sailing into a mooring field in the BVI at night, you should expect that they will be full. I fail to see how having a full mooring field with all the anchor lights on makes life any better. You still need to visualize the hulls of the moored boats and an anchor light 45 feet in the air won't help. If you are going to maneuver around looking for a free mooring ball, you are going to need a spotlight anyway.



If you are going to anchor, there is usually plenty of space around the perimeter of the mooring field.

Well there you have it folks. The reason to not turn of your anchor lights is because the manual for the Voyager 45 says you don't have to!!!! Are you kidding me Vern??? Spoken like a true twin screw renter.
dear chap have you ever tried to find an anchorage in bad weather with no gps and only paper charts? Perhaps carver has a section in the manual entitled " Your screwed because it's night and you have no GPS". We don't just sail in fine weather and in the light. We plan for the worst and pray for the best!! Any time you can help a fellow sailor in distress you should and turning on your anchor light to show the way home to a sailor is an awesome thing. I have been there before and I needed to see anchors lights that night. Thank God there where some. But you drive a twin screw once a year and have read the manual. I should hush now because I have yet to read it! Ggggrrrrrrrrr. I Love BVI "sailors"


The Lady Euphoria

[SV THIRD DAY]

Ready......Aim.......Fire....

[justjohn]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

The anchorage blackouts were formally requested by DHS, just like the Atlantic coastal blackouts in WW2. With airline security so impregnable, they're expecting new attacks by sea.

Sailors are advised to immediately call the USCG and report any sightings of small craft with camels aboard.

We have camels on board. But also Marlboro ..... Do I need to report that to? A blackout by DHS makes way more sense then the manual of the 45 voyager talking about a 45' mast and anchor light on a twin screw. I'm so confused now!


The Lady Euphoria

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by justjohn

Well there you have it folks. The reason to not turn of your anchor lights is because the manual for the Voyager 45 five says you don't have to!!!! Are you kidding me Vern??? Spoken like a true twin screw renter.
dear chap have you ever tried to find an anchorage in bad weather with no gps and only paper charts? Perhaps carver has a section in the manual entitled " Your screw because it's night and you have no GPS". We don't just sail in fine weather and in the light. We plan for the worst and pray for the best!! Any time you can help a fellow sailor in distress you should and turning on your anchor light to show the way home to a sailor is an awesome thing. I have been there before and I needed to see anchors lights that night. Thank God there where some. But you drive a twin screw once a year and have read the manual. I should hush now because I have yet to read it! Ggggrrrrrrrrr. I Love BVI "sailors"





The Lady Euphoria

The wreckers of the Cornish coast of England in olden times used to light beacons to atract their prey onto the rocks where they could steal the cargoes, is that the idea perhaps here?? didn't a previous post also say the Department of Homeland Insecurity wants lights kept off so terrorists cannot find their way, well maybe they should also remove all coastal road signs or rotate them like they did in England in WW2 in case the Germans landed spies ashore

However I like to see decent anchor lights in use, not to aid me finding the anchorage, but so I don't run into something on my way in, which means I prefer lower lights than masthead ones and not the garden path solar ones either. [/rant]

[JPA Cate]

[QUOTE=justjohn;1577345 Any time you can help a fellow sailor in distress you should and turning on your anchor light to show the way home to a sailor is an awesome thing. I have been there before and I needed to see anchors lights that night. Thank God there where some.


The Lady Euphoria[/QUOTE]

JJ et al,

We've been there, too, once. It is extremely considerate to turn on your anchor light if someone drags out of the anchorage.

It was calm. Don't know, really, why we dragged, both of us below, writing letters home (it was a long time ago). Jim went on deck to check around before bed, and everything was different! Our hanging rode snagged on the north reef, and the anchorage is on the south side. None of the lights was where it "ought to be." Little scary to shift the boat, but those guys saw us go, turned on their light, and it made it much easier to get back to a safe anchorage. That was maybe 20 yrs. ago, and I still feel grateful.

Ann

[Coops]

I have an important question. What is a "nome"?

Coops.

[justjohn]

It's short for gnome .... But the g should have never been there in the first place so it is a start at fixing one of the English spelling worlds greatest mistakes. Thanks for asking and letting me explain.


The Lady Euphoria

[Coops]

Excellent! Now we can get rid of those other unwanted and unloved 'g's hanging around cluttering up the language. Little pesky nats, nashing of teeth, narled old sailors and lastly that elegant elk like creature, the Nu. As always, if you end on the Nu's, the weather forecast is gnext.

Coops.

[justjohn]

RODL. YES 2. Finally someone else who understands how useless the silent g really is!!!


The Lady Euphoria

[maj75]

Originally Posted by justjohn

Well there you have it folks. The reason to not turn of your anchor lights is because the manual for the Voyager 45 says you don't have to!!!! Are you kidding me Vern??? Spoken like a true twin screw renter.
dear chap have you ever tried to find an anchorage in bad weather with no gps and only paper charts? Perhaps carver has a section in the manual entitled " Your screwed because it's night and you have no GPS". We don't just sail in fine weather and in the light. We plan for the worst and pray for the best!! Any time you can help a fellow sailor in distress you should and turning on your anchor light to show the way home to a sailor is an awesome thing. I have been there before and I needed to see anchors lights that night. Thank God there where some. But you drive a twin screw once a year and have read the manual. I should hush now because I have yet to read it! Ggggrrrrrrrrr. I Love BVI "sailors"




The Lady Euphoria

Big talk from an internet badass. I'm sure you are the terror of the high seas.

I was referring to the manual provided by the Charter company and addressed in the checkout, not the owner's manual.

This post was about the BVIs. Not strange harbors in bad weather. Go play badass which someone who is impressed.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

JJ et al,

We've been there, too, once. It is extremely considerate to turn on your anchor light if someone drags out of the anchorage.

It was calm. Don't know, really, why we dragged, both of us below, writing letters home (it was a long time ago). Jim went on deck to check around before bed, and everything was different! Our hanging rode snagged on the north reef, and the anchorage is on the south side. None of the lights was where it "ought to be." Little scary to shift the boat, but those guys saw us go, turned on their light, and it made it much easier to get back to a safe anchorage. That was maybe 20 yrs. ago, and I still feel grateful.

Ann

Wifey B: I say this with great hesitancy, Ann, but I find your story difficult to believe. Guess it's my age. Writing letters home? Two of you? Next you're going to tell me this was with pen and paper? Writing? By hand? Really? Oops.....have to ask my hubby about that as he's older than me. Nope. He's never done it either.

Next you'll tell me you read newspapers made out of paper and printed on.

Obviously, I'm teasing. Funny how things make you think. And neither of us has ever hand written a letter. So, inspired by this I polled the boat. Well, not the boat, the people on our boat right now. Thought it might all go by age but didn't. We have 5 out of 11 who have never hand written a letter. But it's not all divided by age as we have an 18 year old who has and a 52 year old who hasn't. So took it a step further. What about a personal letter, period. Excluding business correspondence and excluding email. 2 out of 11 have not even mailed a personal typed letter.

Now on the other side. Don't say the art of letter writing has died. I would say that because of the convenience of email there is far more "letter writing" than before.

As to the lights you mention, I don't get the hesitancy or reluctance to turn on lights. If someone is coming to visit my house there's no law that requires me turn on the front light, but I do so they won't fall. Have led lights and turn them on. Seriously. Err on the side of caution. You're not going to get ticketed for turning one on. You're not going to get run into because you had your light on. Seems so simple that it might help and won't hurt so just do it. I'm just missing something as I don't grasp any reason not to. And I'd do it in a mooring as well if like many moorings I've seen that are still you need to get through to get to docks and such.

[justjohn]

Originally Posted by maj75

Big talk from an internet badass. I'm sure you are the terror of the high seas.



I was referring to the manual provided by the Charter company and addressed in the checkout, not the owner's manual.



This post was about the BVIs. Not strange harbors in bad weather. Go play badass which someone who is impressed.

Again it was about anchor lights and the fact that you are to rude to turn them on because a manual said you didn't have to! And I do find it funny that you speak of 45' mast lights and you rented a twin screw.

I'm no badass. But I have been terrified more then once by stupid twin screw drivers for sure !!I'm a sailor who tries to look out for other sailors and stay safe and keep away from jackass weekend renters ..... if you fit that profile then I guess from you as well. And I've seen bad weather in the BVI's but I'm sure when you rent you get to pick the weather as well


The Lady Euphoria