Do you use a Daytime Black ball at Anchor?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

Since you asked for real life examples, here are three, all at anchor. The least recent one was that of a yacht anchored at “Gary’s anchorage” Fraser island Australia. A log barge towed by a tugboat struck and sank an anchored yacht and the yacht was found to be at fault at the enquiry because no shape was displayed.
The next one was just up the coast at Bundaberg where a trawler struck and partially sank a yacht (swanson 42) at anchor in the Burnett river near the sailing club. The trawler was found to be only partially at fault and that was for failing to stop( he went to sea for 3 days) and had a brief licence suspension of 14 days. The yacht had no lights or shapes on display.
And finally, the container ship Virginia at anchor was rammed by the ferry Ulysse... both vessels were found to be at fault and in all 3 instances the boards of enquiry pointed out the fact that no effective lookout had been maintained by the anchored vessels even though the Virginia did have a manned bridge but failed to signal or contact the Ulysse.

Thanks Pete, those are the kinds of examples I was looking for. The first one, in particular, sounds directly relevant. Do you have any links or references for them? My webslinging does not find anything, but I bet I'm just not hitting the right key words.

I think we've heard conflicting reports about how common anchor day shapes are in Australia. I have zero knowledge of your wonderful cruising area.

[Jim Cate]

Well what do you know? Two Aussies reporting that they have rarely seen a boat displaying the anchor ball... and we have anchored near both of them (Simi60 and chrisr) a fair number of times and we routinely display the dread day shape.

And one day in Towler's bay, a spot where Chris often anchored, there were no less than five boats with their balls shown (!). Three were visiting European boats, one other visiting Yank and ourselves. To be honest, I don't remember if Chris was there that day, so he is excused for not remembering the event.

But yeah, it ain't a common sight here in Oz.

Jim

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is an oft-repeated claim when these discussions come up. Do you have any references to examples of when this happened in court? Or perhaps insurance claim information? Maybe our resident legal expert, DH, can cite some (maybe he already did ... this thread goes back to 2019, and I recall it got pretty ...'interesting' back then).

As with black water dumping, I bet it is a rarely-invoked law that is used by law enforcement in especially egregious situations. Except in this case, I can't think what that would be ... anchored in a seaway? Just being an incredibly annoying twit?

Mike, this is where it often becomes discretionary based on local habits and more importantly the licensing qualifications of anchored vessel.

If you have a commercial license, there is no excuse and you will get punished for not showing the proper day signals. No excuses

But they are lenient towards yachties

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Mike, this is where it often becomes discretionary based on local habits and more importantly the licensing qualifications of anchored vessel.

If you have a commercial license, there is no excuse and you will get punished for not showing the proper day signals. No excuses

But they are lenient towards yachties

Yeah, I guess we're talking about recreational boaters here. You professionals are usually held to a higher standard than us folks. Not really fair, but that seems to be the case.

To be clear, it's simply not a thing in any of the areas I've cruised. Whether it's right or wrong is not the question. Much like the whole "where do you dump your poop?", there seems to be the law, and then there seems to be the general practice. And just like this, it seems to vary from location to location.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Exile

In early June I spent a couple of weeks anchored out in St. George's Harbor, Bermuda. Lots of different nationalities represented, with many Euro-flagged boats heading home from the Carib. I'd say roughly half the anchored boats displayed the black ball, which seemed to correspond with the nationality shown by their ensigns. Generally speaking the US-flagged boats did not display black balls, except for mine.

I was anchored in St. George’s Harbor from 6/11 to 6/24 and I had my black ball displayed at all times. I only noticed a couple others during my stay.
There were more visiting yachts then I was expecting but nothing like what I’ve experienced in the last several years.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

I was anchored in St. George’s Harbor from 6/11 to 6/24 and I had my black ball displayed at all times. I only noticed a couple others during my stay.
There were more visiting yachts then I was expecting but nothing like what I’ve experienced in the last several years.

I arrived on 6/6 and it seemed pretty quiet. But around the middle of the month (a couple of days before the Newport 1-2 boats departed) there was some unforeseen rough weather offshore, and suddenly the anchorage got more crowded. I heard that two sailboats were abandoned actually, with one solo sailor taken off by a tanker. Not sure what happened with the other one, except Bermuda Radio reporting it had also been abandoned and was adrift.

I thought I saw a larger number of anchoring balls being displayed than you mentioned, but maybe it was that I'm not used to seeing any in US waters so it seemed like more than perhaps it really was.

Truth be told I'm on a 12-step program to try and recover from being a bona fide WAFI in my newbie days. So I've been overcompensating for my past misdeeds by always displaying the ball at anchor, as well as the upside down triangle when motorsailing. I'm also more diligent about standing on under sail when encountering large commercial vessels, now knowing that the "law of tonnage" doesn't exist and there's no such thing as "right of way." Hey, it's a start.

But not to worry, I'm certainly not one of those ex-smokers who now scorns all those who smoke. I'm good with what anyone wants to do on their own boats, provided it doesn't put anyone else directly in harm's way. Can't see how the absence of the anchoring ball could possibly do that, even though it's required under the Colregs and therefore the better practice.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Well what do you know? Two Aussies reporting that they have rarely seen a boat displaying the anchor ball... and we have anchored near both of them (Simi60 and chrisr) a fair number of times and we routinely display the dread day shape.

And one day in Towler's bay, a spot where Chris often anchored, there were no less than five boats with their balls shown (!). Three were visiting European boats, one other visiting Yank and ourselves. To be honest, I don't remember if Chris was there that day, so he is excused for not remembering the event.

But yeah, it ain't a common sight here in Oz.

Jim

Well I guess that shows how ineffective they are as you guys aren't one of the three I was counting.
I have honestly never noticed a ball on yours.
I see your boat, I see you not moving and your chain down, I know you are at anchor.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Well I guess that shows how ineffective they are as you guys aren't one of the three I was counting.
I have honestly never noticed a ball on yours.
I see your boat, I see you not moving and your chain down, I know you are at anchor.

Thats it, the balls need to be bigger.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Well I guess that shows how ineffective they are as you guys aren't one of the three I was counting.
I have honestly never noticed a ball on yours.
I see your boat, I see you not moving and your chain down, I know you are at anchor.

That's the thing... I don't really understand the usefulness of the anchor ball, at least with regard to our relatively small recreational craft. I'm going to see your boat WAY before noticing the tiny black ball in the rigging. Once I see another boat, I'm making decisions regarding how to pass it based on what I see from its motion. In other words, I'm studying your boat's vector, and perhaps taking a sight on my compass if need be.

This is why I don't think the anchor ball is particularly functional for our small craft. I suppose it adds to the information available, but honestly, by the time I could see your little ball, I've already made decisions about how to safely pass you by.

[Jim Cate]

Guys, I've never said that I thought anchor balls were useful, just that they were legally required and very easy to use. Ours is a black basketball suspended in a webbing sling and hoisted on the pole lift, tethered to the foredeck rail... around 20 feet above the WL.

And as to size, well, ours is around a foot in diameter and we are 46 feet LOA. A big tanker's ball is required to be 0.6 meters in diameter and they are near 1000 feet LOA. Whose ball is more visible when the vessel first comes into view or when one gets into maneuvering range? (the rules do say that vessels <20 m in length can use smaller shapes, commensurate with the vessel's size)

Jim

PS Is now the time to add discussion of the requirement to maintain watch whilst at anchor? Hell of a lot harder than hoisting the dread black ball!

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

I've never heard of a "designated small craft anchorage" in North America. Can you point to a few ?

I can point to quite a few in US waters. Most of them are fields of mooring balls. Colregs 30(g) exempts vessels under 20 meters from anchor lights and shapes in these areas, but doesn't distinguish between vessels tied to a mooring and those at anchor in the same area. I keep my anchor light on in these areas, but never bother with the day shape. I'm pretty sure that Australia does NOT exempt vessels on moorings, not sure about Canada.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

PS Is now the time to add discussion of the requirement to maintain watch whilst at anchor? Hell of a lot harder than hoisting the dread black ball!

Don't forget the ringing of the bell every minute when the fog rolls in.

[C420sailor]

Yep, ‘special anchorage.’

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

.

And as to size, well, ours is around a foot in diameter and we are 46 feet LOA. A big tanker's ball is required to be 0.6 meters in diameter and they are near 1000 feet LOA. Whose ball is more visible when the vessel first comes into view or when one gets into maneuvering range? (the rules do say that vessels <20 m in length can use smaller shapes, commensurate with the vessel's size

Yep, went through Gladstone's mooring field several times over the last couple of months with a dozen or more big ships at anchor at any time.

Never noticed a ball but couldn't miss the huge ship and monster chain hanging from their bow.

[crankysailor]

*after collision* oh, I didn't see a black ball hanging off your bow I just assumed you were under power and would move before I hit you so I just kept plowing full power forward until I hit your big white shiny boat... So it is all your fault [emoji854]