Tricolor considered harmful; Red over green preferred

[Jammer]

In reviewing alternatives for reducing masthead clutter, I came across some posts on other forums indicating that there is a school of thought that holds that the masthead tricolor light is inferior in all material ways to red-over-green all around lights:


1) The tricolor was, according to some sources, originally an accommodation for sailing vessels with limited power, as during the incandescent lamp era it required only one bulb. In the LED era, this line of reasoning no longer makes sense, since any navigation lights now require minimal power.


2) Any ancillary benefits of visibility in heavy seas are better achieved by placing the sidelights and stern light high, or installing red over green all-around lights at the masthead, or both; as the tricolor being seen as only one light is difficult for other boats to use to judge distance and size



3) Similarly, the red over green more clearly and unambiguously identify the boat as being under sail and therefore entitled to appropriate treatment under the colregs


Your thoughts?

[alctel]

Red over Green is good cos you can run them at the same time as the deck level running lights, meaning you are more visible, even offshore.

I installed them for that reason - having said that, I am the only vessel I've ever seen using them so....

[Reefmagnet]

You can't have a tricolour by itself if you have an engine so in essence a tricolour is an adjunct and offshore light only. Certainly wouldn't have it on in a shipping lane, but for low traffic areas they keep light off the deck (and surrounding sea) which helps night vision. I prefer them for this reason alone.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by alctel

Red over Green is good cos you can run them at the same time as the deck level running lights, meaning you are more visible, even offshore.

I installed them for that reason - having said that, I am the only vessel I've ever seen using them so....

Red over green is so rare, I'd be worried some idiot would collide with me because they wouldn't be able to figure out if I was zigging or zagging!

[El Pinguino]

Yes the tricolour was introduced as a simple solution for small sailing boats...

The red over green - on the other hand - was introduced to help in the night-time identification of large sail training ships and the like that could be honking along at 15 knots and wanted something a bit better than showing just a red or a green to other ships.

Power isn't as much a problem when it comes to showing the red and green on small craft as the fact that there must be at least 1 metre of separation between the two lights... 2 metres if your yacht is over 20 metres...

If air draught is an issue for you maybe not so good... if not and you are using LEDs then probably a better solution than the trilight..

Alcatel...'Red over Green is good cos you can but you must run them at the same time as the deck level running lights, meaning you are more visible, '

They are not in lieu of side and stern lights but must be shown together with the side and stern lights....

[Don C L]

I must confess I have never seen red over green.

[MartinR]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Red over green is so rare, I'd be worried some idiot would collide with me because they wouldn't be able to figure out if I was zigging or zagging!

Actually, I encounter red over green quite a lot. All bigger sailing vessels use them. Have no worries there.

[El Pinguino]

I've never seen R/G on a smaller class of yacht... sub 50 foot... but I did watch a bloke make a 'purple' once.... red/green with absolutely zero separation.. he was a little unhappy when it was pointed out to him.. after he had gone to quite a lot of trouble

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I did watch a bloke make a 'purple' once.... red/green with absolutely zero separation.. he was a little unhappy when it was pointed out to him.. after he had gone to quite a lot of trouble

Hahahaha amazing....

[pwillems]

That's how I set it up. Red 360 at masthead with a 180 green on each side around a meter further down. Red and greens at the bow and stern light at the stern.

The brighter she is, the more likely I am to be spotted.

[noelex 77]

Red over green is a good option that should be considered more often. It is more visible than a traditional tricolour, with the advantage that while sailing, lights can be displayed at the mast top and deck level.

We almost ordered this with our new yacht, but in the end went for the more usual tricolour. The main reason was that the lower navigation lights can sometimes interfere with the helmsman’s night vision. The main advantage of red over green is that you can display upper and lower navigation lights is also a disadvantage in that you must always display your lower navigation lights.

Another disadvantage is that the red over green is slightly more complicated, especially if want to also include an all round anchor light at the masthead. There are more lights, more wiring and more holes in the mast. Not a big difference, but simple is good , especially at the top of mast where things are difficult to fix. The extra lights also create slightly more power consumption.

Finally there are few options for the lights themselves. The green light has to be at least 1m below the red so it needs 2x 180° lights. Only a couple of companies make suitable fittings. No one makes a combined 360° red and 360° white (as an anchor light) so these need to be two seperate lights if you want a masthead anchor light. With the tricolour option you only need one fitting at the top of the mast. This replaces the red light the two green lights and the while light.

So there are pros and cons using red over green v tricolour. There is no one correct answer. The greater visibility of red over green is an attractive advantage, although arguably this feature is slightly less necessary with a AIS transponder. The AIS signal will be seen over a greater distance than any lights. Some smaller vessels do not have an AIS receiver, but will these people understand red over green?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Your thoughts?

I am with Noelex, keep it simple with less lights and wiring.

We have I think a 25w bulb in the tri-colour. It stopped working just before Xmas so a trip up the mast is due, if I can remember how to open the tri-colour light

So on night passage with VHF, autopilot, instruments and GPS it does add up. I did think about LED but reports of poor light colours and interference with VHF means I will just be sticking an ordinary filament bulb in place.

[Doubloon]

If you don't care that other sailors won't understand your heading and as such won't take early actions to avoid a collision, then by all means use red over green.
I personally don't want to take the guess work out of collision avoidence.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Doubloon

If you don't care that other sailors won't understand your heading and as such won't take early actions to avoid a collision, then by all means use red over green.
I personally don't want to take the guess work out of collision avoidence.

Uh, I thought that's what sidelights and sternlight are for. Those all stay lit when you use red over green at the top of the mast.

[MartinR]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Uh, I thought that's what sidelights and sternlight are for. Those all stay lit when you use red over green at the top of the mast.

Correct