I encountered Elf in extremely thick morning fog a few years ago in
Fisher's Island Sound. No lights being displayed, and no horns. She came
close enough that I heard voices of her crew, which is what alerted me
to her presence. Visibility was probably 100 feet or so. I knew from
reading earlier, that she was on her way to Mystic Seaport for the
annual Wooden Boats event. I had my lights on, was giving proper horn
signals, and periodically announcing my position, speed, and heading on
VHF. Elf was quite a sight looming out of the fog.
For my dinghy, I simply carry some of those chemical light sticks in my
drybag, and hold one up as my "all around light". They are pretty
bright, and I can wave them around as needed to get more attention if it
seems needed.
Bill Bina
On 4/24/2013 1:56 PM, Della Barba, Joe wrote:
There **was** a legal case where a boat built in the 1800s was
anchored with a kerosene anchor light and hit by a powerboat. The
powerboat skipper blamed the sailboat for having an illegal light. I
think the sailors won in the end, but this was a long time ago. This
is the boat BTW (http://www.cyrg.org/elf.htm). Dinghy lights are kind
of a special case. The standard dinghy running lights are none. No one
likes dealing with the craptastic battery lights that fail and/or fall
off the mounts. I actually hit a dark colored inflatable on a dark
night leaving Annapolis. The dinghy skipper was pissed until I told
him the next boat to hit his unlit black rubber boat in the dark might
be going 50 knots instead of 5 knots. If you look at the dinghy lights
for sale, some say not approved as navigation lights AT ALL and the
rest are for speeds under 6 knots only. So seeing as how my dinghy
goes at least 20 knots, unless I somehow put real big boat lights on
her the USCG rules are not technically going to be followed. I'll post
a photo when I get it made, but I think my LED construction will be
better than the little flashlight running lights in both visibility
and durability. I am planning to cast these in clear urethane on the
end of a PVC pipe to get the lights a few feet in the air instead of
right at water level.
As for running lights on big boats, there are deck level and masthead
LED lights that say "approved" or "2 mile lights" or something like
that. They tend to cost a LOT more than the FleaBay specials and are
made with LEDs from the start. Trying to figure out if LED bulbs put
in where incandescent bulbs used to be are "approved" is a trick and
then some. Dr. LED (http://doctorled.com/crossref.htm) will say "2
miles" on their bulbs and SOME of them apparently have been tested to
USCG standards on SOME lights. The normal incandescent lights you
would buy are certainly not marked with any approval by the USCG or
the FAA (airplanes take the same little tail light bulbs).
I have a pet peeve where LED anchor lights at masthead level do a
really good job looking like stars, planets, or distant airplanes. On
a slightly hazy night they seem totally unconnected to the boats under
them. The old filament bulbs have a visible "size" to them that helps
you get an idea how close they are. The LEDs are more a pinpoint of
bright bluish white light.
*/Joe Della Barba/*
*/Coquina C&C 35 MK I/*
*/www.dellabarba.com <http://www.dellabarba.com>/*
*/CRYC/*
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