Stern Light at Anchor

[Don1500]

You asked "Can I?" the simple answer is "Yes" you CAN do anything you like, but it wouldn't be legal. Think about what you would see on a pitch black night. The stern light is on, so it's a boat under way. But the anchor light is on so it's at anchor. Which light should I believe? Or is the anchor light just a light on that hill behind the boat? It could be a boat under tow. Or are there two boats? Why muddy the waters? Even if it was not wrong, do you want to be dead right? And I agree with Doug86, the consensus of the internet means nothing in court. Live by the rules, don't try to bend them.

[four winds]

I have considered a string of the strip LED lights outlining the pushpit, and another on the pulpit.

To me outlining these two rails would indicate a sailboat graphically and show orientation of the boat clearly showing where the anchor rode is located. Capped with the anchor light at the masthead I think it would be an effective display. Could easily serve as an aid to boarding also.

The lone anchor light seems inadequate to me on a dark night with no other boats around.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I come in to a lot of anchorages at night and personally I welcome a boat displaying additional lights. The single masthead light is not very effective in a small boat anchorage.
Rather than a negative and confusing additional lights, at anchor, are helpful.

I do agree that just solar garden lights are not enough on there own.

I really don't mean to be a jerk about it, but it's a navigational hazard and the coast guard / harbor police would be very much in the right to cite you for it. You should really be wary of any position you take when you feel that your own personal version nav lights are better than that of the internationally agreed upon colregs.

[rebel heart]

The "additional" lights that you're more than happy to display would be illuminating your decks. Any vessel is allowed to do that and larger vessels are required to.

[mrm]

All rules and regulations aside, if I may make a point..
Boarding platform lighting is a form of deck lighting. These are designed as down facing lights mounted above head height. This design is used for a reason, namely to avoid glare to human eyes, which would result in difficulty/inability to see details hidden in shadows. This in turn reduces safety, as it is easy to trip over some shadow-hidden detail.

I would opt for a low-power, warm white led strip of a weather-protected kind, glued to the underside of aft bimini beam or a similar structure.

[smurphny]

Rebel heart is right. Sometimes there are so many lights it takes a lot of concentration to discern what exactly is ahead of you while watching for depth, buoys, dinks, launch boats darting around, etc. This is especially true on those inky black nights with no moon that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. Even in harbors you know, it requires 100% attention. There's a lot going on. Anchor lights atop masts are adequate to show where sailboats boats are. Their movement usually gives them away. Near a channel or on a river, a light over light would likely make you wonder if you were overtaking a moving boat and cause you to alter course. Coming into an unfamiliar, pitch black harbor is definitely not one of my favorite things to do.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

The "additional" lights that you're more than happy to display would be illuminating your decks. Any vessel is allowed to do that and larger vessels are required to.

That is part of the dilemma. A deck light at the stern, on my boat, would have an angle of visibility, color and brightness very similar, possibly identical, to a stern light. A deck light is legal, even essential for a larger vessel.
It seems to me if I label the circuit breaker "deck light " its OK even encouraged, but the same light labeled as "stern light" will cause problems..

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by mrm

All rules and regulations aside, if I may make a point..
Boarding platform lighting is a form of deck lighting. These are designed as down facing lights mounted above head height. This design is used for a reason, namely to avoid glare to human eyes, which would result in difficulty/inability to see details hidden in shadows. This in turn reduces safety, as it is easy to trip over some shadow-hidden detail.

I would opt for a low-power, warm white led strip of a weather-protected kind, glued to the underside of aft bimini beam or a similar structure.

The stern light on my boat is in an ideal position to illuminate the stern platform. It is above head height when people are on the stern platform. I have got an LED light on the underside of Bimini. It illuminates the cockpit well, but not the stern platform which is in shadow because its lower.

From the perspective of a boat approaching the anchorage my Bimmini light and the stern light would look very similar.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Can I use a stern light at anchor as long as I also show an all-round white anchor light?

Thoughts anyone?

Good discussion. To help put this in perspective and try to assist the OP

The key legal issue is that;…. whatever additional lights you show “at anchor” must not be confused with Navigation Lights!

Nav Lights have specific “minimum” visibility ranges and arcs of visibility

"Sternlight", means a white light placed as nearly as practicable at the stern showing an unbroken light over an arc of horizon of 135 degrees and so fixed as to show the light 67.5 degrees from right aft on each side of the vessel. Visible at either 2 or 3 miles depending on vessel size.

However if Bullet proof legal correctness is your primary concern, then better study Annex 1 of the Regs to see if you comply.. or can produce the formal exemptions from your country of Registry…..

You will find that many pleasure craft do not comply, so it is fertile ground for lawyers (especially in the US) to find you in non compliance .
International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS)

In the real world outside the courtroom, a mariner just needs to be aware of a vessel to be happy, which is the real intent... so any light is a bonus, .

Like the OP, I also use my stern light to illuminate the stern boarding ladder and most importantly light up my tender (if it is still in the water) for security purposes.

It works great for coming and going as a safety light… also when my tender is brought up I keep it on as a bright security light (hopefully discouraging any late night boardings).

With the cut off angles it can not be confused as a 2nd all round masthead lights,..... but if you are concerned about someone steaming at speed into an anchorage assuming that you are more than 50 meters in length, then just fabricate a shade to direct the bright 2 or 3 mile stern light downwards….. to just illuminate your stern,

[SurferShane]

As a novelty and for practical purposes I do something similar. That is I hang a kerosene lantern off the mizzen mast where if anything goes wrong it is over the water and hanging far enough not too set the sail on fire. It is one of those nautical replicas and I find it uses very little fuel overnight. I just made a new mizzen boom and am going to put in a fitting so I can easily hang the same.

A mate over here said he had a talk to a Maritime Services Board officer and apparently it does not matter what type of light you use or wattage as long as it is 360 degrees and the appropriate height off the deck. Regardless, I have heard they frown on the use of garden solar LEDs. In the posters case I can't see the problem with the auxiliary light as long as the main anchor light is also used.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by smurphny

Rebel heart is right. Sometimes there are so many lights it takes a lot of concentration to discern what exactly is ahead of you while watching for depth, buoys, dinks, launch boats darting around, etc. This is especially true on those inky black nights with no moon that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. Even in harbors you know, it requires 100% attention. There's a lot going on. Anchor lights atop masts are adequate to show where sailboats boats are. Their movement usually gives them away. Near a channel or on a river, a light over light would likely make you wonder if you were overtaking a moving boat and cause you to alter course. Coming into an unfamiliar, pitch black harbor is definitely not one of my favorite things to do.

I get exactly what you guy's are saying. However, the other side of the coin is the fact you will at least be able to see something? Obviously you can then recognize exactly what it is by the mandatory anchor light?

[Kettlewell]

Just to give everyone the willies, I will mention an incident in the Bahamas. We were approaching Nassau on a black night and I could see what I determined was a tugboat approaching us--no visible navigation lights, but plenty of other lights all over the place. Blinding actually. He passed close in front of us. Realizing it was a tugboat got my Spider Sense tingling and I took evasive action heading off at a strong angle to his direction of travel. Sure enough, out of the blackness came a huge black barge with no lights whatsoever on it, probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile behind the tugboat on a long tow. I found out later that this was the water barge bringing over fresh water from Andros, and that was the way it always traveled. Within the U.S. I've encountered numerous commercial vessels not showing appropriate lights for what they are doing. So, basically at night you have to proceed with caution and avoid getting close to anything with lights, and don't expect them to be doing what their lights indicate.

[S/V Alchemy]

We encountered the same thing rounding the dark western end of St. Thomas, USVIs. Had the barge not occluded a couple of shore lights, it would have been quite difficult to make out, even nearby.

[markpierce]

Sounds like there is a need for a searchlight, particularly when entering unfamiliar ports/anchorages.

[wolfenzee]

Rules and Regs are put forth so everyone does everything in the same manner and recognizes everyone else's intentions, using navigational lights as a "porch light" is a deviation from this and can cause confusion, which leads to accidents, etc. Installing a guest light to flip on and off is not difficult an is fine.