Masthead Tricolour?

[micah719]

Thanks! Sounds like a cool feature, but it's still only as good as the person watching it...

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

The collision occurred in Fiji. Sailing boat was French registered, anchored boat British. Both insurance companies major European firms.

Not arguing it is definitive COLREGS interpretation, rather, it is a real-world situation many of us are more likely to encounter than Admiralty Court. For (pulling a number out of a hat) 90% of any problems like this that we may have it is far more likely that our insurance carriers will settle the matter than we end up in court.

And, as kmacdonald said, they then get to raise the rates on both boats. The sailor was expecting it - he didn't keep control of his vessel and ran into another boat. Pretty sure the anchored folks were not expecting an insurance claim and all the grief that goes with it.

I wonder if the anchored boat's insurance company figured a low cost settlement was cheaper than fighting it out in court. Or the converse the attacking sailboat's insurance figured they could easily extract a little based on the knowledge that it is cheaper than court for the other guy. A quick settlement.
Not sure where this incident would actually end up in court, Fiji, London, Paris? About the only boats I see with anchor balls in places like Fiji are UK registered with maybe a few German. Everyone else takes it a lot more causally.

[billknny]

From a conversation with a harbor pilot:

Deck level lights are MUCH easier to see in the harbor when looking down against the dark water.

Masthead tricolor lights are MUCH easier to see offshore where deck level lights get lost between waves.

Best Solution for a boat under sail: Deck Level lights with a Red over Green all-round masthead combination indicating a boat under sail. You have high up lights over the waves, and low level light against the water.

In the "old days" the red over green was reserved for large boats because if you used them you had a minimum of 4, and likely 5, light bulbs drawing power. With modern LEDs the power use is not a concern. We should see a lot more vessels lit this way.

Of course the average boat driver has no idea what lights to use anyway. The reigning strategy seems to be turn everything on and the other boat will figure it out.

It's amazing to me the number of catamarans delivered with ONLY a tricolor and a steaming light making it impossible to properly light the boat under power. Despite this, they still get a seaworthiness cert from the EU???? How's that work?

[Badsanta]

It's hard to get the 1 meter separation of the red over green mast top lights on small boats. The tri color is used when sailing only. Some day shape's are length dependent. So when coming into harbor I am under power and turn my tricolor off and my deck navigation lights on. I don't use a motoring cone because I'm only 30 feet long. But I do use an anchoring ball. Is that correct?

[El Pinguino]

OK so I am a bit slow on a good day but what does AIS have to do with the visibility of navigation lights?

Meanwhile, the view from my cockpit early this morning....

Anchor lights at the masthead that blend in with the lights on the control tower and the lights of aircraft on final approach?

Maybe not the best way of being seen....

[alctel]

Originally Posted by billknny

From a conversation with a harbor pilot:

Deck level lights are MUCH easier to see in the harbor when looking down against the dark water.

Masthead tricolor lights are MUCH easier to see offshore where deck level lights get lost between waves.

Best Solution for a boat under sail: Deck Level lights with a Red over Green all-round masthead combination indicating a boat under sail. You have high up lights over the waves, and low level light against the water.

In the "old days" the red over green was reserved for large boats because if you used them you had a minimum of 4, and likely 5, light bulbs drawing power. With modern LEDs the power use is not a concern. We should see a lot more vessels lit this way.

Of course the average boat driver has no idea what lights to use anyway. The reigning strategy seems to be turn everything on and the other boat will figure it out.

It's amazing to me the number of catamarans delivered with ONLY a tricolor and a steaming light making it impossible to properly light the boat under power. Despite this, they still get a seaworthiness cert from the EU???? How's that work?

I actually did this on mine.

I ended up using an aluminium 'rod' mount for the top red light, with the green at the masthead. Looks a bit goofy, but works. Running all the deck lights + the red over green takes around 0.5 amps. All lights are USCG approved LEDs.

Picture of them lit up is here
I talked about why I went this route here