Being visible at night

[kthoennes]

Gee, I thought sailboats were always the stand on vessel anyway and you were also obliged to illuminate him with your searchlight and give way in any possible scenario on earth. One of these days I might mount a mast to my boat just to give myself free reign of the seas and make the Queen Mary move aside for me.

(Couldn't help it.)

 

[Capt GB]

I agree, excellent comment.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

The new AIS signature buoys are a pain in the ass! We don't need to know that the Ambrose chnl buoys are 99 NM miles away. Same with Chesapeake, Charleston etc.

 

[caltexflanc]

Gee, I thought sailboats were always the stand on vessel anyway and you were also obliged to illuminate him with your searchlight and give way in any possible scenario on earth. One of these days I might mount a mast to my boat just to give myself free reign of the seas and make the Queen Mary move aside for me.

(Couldn't help it.)

You have to be purely under sail to have those privileges. I suspect they were not under sail in your case Wayfarer?

 

[Lollygag]

In Mexico we had solar lawn lights all along the side rails. Anchoring with just the anchor light was an invitation to trouble. The anchor light is just lost with the stars at night and tired fishermen in pangas are not looking up.

 

[dhays]

Gee, I thought sailboats were always the stand on vessel anyway and you were also obliged to illuminate him with your searchlight and give way in any possible scenario on earth. One of these days I might mount a mast to my boat just to give myself free reign of the seas and make the Queen Mary move aside for me.

(Couldn't help it.)

Gee, and I thought that all power boats were incapable of throttle control and their captains used sailboats like autocross racers use cones (get as close to them as possible at the highest possible speed but just barely miss them)....


No excuse for any vessel to not display the required nav lights at night. For a sailboat, that includes a steaming light so you know that the vessel is under power, even if the sail is up.

While under sail, the sailboat is usually the stand on vessel, but not always. Most sailors do try to not inconvenience power boaters. I am also sure that most power boaters do their best to be courteous to sailboats. Unfortunately, it is the exceptions that stick out in our minds. It also doesn't help that most power boaters (this forum being an exception) are ignorant of the basics of sailing and sailboats so don't understand the issues sailors face, but that is because of a lack of knowledge not animosity.

I also assume that there have been times when my actions under sail have inadvertently caused inconvenience to power boats due to my own ignorance of the realities of running a SD or planing hull down the water way at full throttle while trying to get a blender to work for the next round of drinks.

(I could help it, but chose not to).

 

[Wayfarer]

The new AIS signature buoys are a pain in the ass! We don't need to know that the Ambrose chnl buoys are 99 NM miles away. Same with Chesapeake, Charleston etc.

Hm... I've never heard of those. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure what the point would be. I haven't had a lot of trouble finding entrance buoys lately. Have you?

You have to be purely under sail to have those privileges. I suspect they were not under sail in your case Wayfarer?

To be honest, I can't even say for sure. Despite the fact that he was only a few hundred feet from me, I never really did get a good look at him. By the time I saw him, we were already in extremis, and both of us were responsible for avoiding collision. All I really had time for was a quick danger signal and a bunch of hard right. I did flash him with the spotlight, but couldn't control the light and the helm at the same time, so I went with the helm. In case it wasn't clear, I was driving this when that happened:

I didn't mean to pick on sailboats specifically. In this case, it happened to be one, but I've seen many power boats do dumb stuff. I have no problem following the rules, and find myself adjusting my course to avoid sailing vessels on a fairly regular basis. I would gladly have altered my course in this case, had I seen him, which brings us nicely back to the OP. Please be visible at night. Thank you.

 

[sunchaser]

AIS
Bright running lights
Radar
Radar reflector as high as practical
Spotlight
Bright deck lights that can quickly be turned on from the helm when a vessel closes within a mile of you

Ted

Perfect listing IMHO.

We assume night travels are akin to running in fog and avoid the other vessels accordingly.

 

[sunchaser]

Gee, I thought sailboats were always the stand on vessel anyway and you were also obliged to illuminate him with your searchlight and give way in any possible scenario on earth. One of these days I might mount a mast to my boat just to give myself free reign of the seas and make the Queen Mary move aside for me.

(Couldn't help it.)

Nope, only when their engines are off and they are actually sailing - a rarity in the PNW.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Nope, only when their engines are off and they are actually sailing - a rarity in the PNW.

I think you guys are missing his sarcasm.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Hm... I've never heard of those. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure what the point would be. I haven't had a lot of trouble finding entrance buoys lately. Have you?
No trouble finding entrance buoys. My point is that there is noway anyone needs AIS signature from chnl buoys, especially when they keep showing up at 99nm.



To be honest, I can't even say for sure. Despite the fact that he was only a few hundred feet from me, I never really did get a good look at him. By the time I saw him, we were already in extremis, and both of us were responsible for avoiding collision. All I really had time for was a quick danger signal and a bunch of hard right. I did flash him with the spotlight, but couldn't control the light and the helm at the same time, so I went with the helm. In case it wasn't clear, I was driving this when that happened:

No trouble finding entrance buoys. My point is that there is noway anyone needs AIS signature from chnl buoys, especially when they keep showing up at 99nm.

I didn't mean to pick on sailboats specifically. In this case, it happened to be one, but I've seen many power boats do dumb stuff. I have no problem following the rules, and find myself adjusting my course to avoid sailing vessels on a fairly regular basis. I would gladly have altered my course in this case, had I seen him, which brings us nicely back to the OP. Please be visible at night. Thank you.

No trouble finding entrance buoys. My point is that there is noway anyone needs AIS signature from chnl buoys, especially when they keep showing up at 99nm.

 

[Hawgwash]

I think you guys are missing his sarcasm.

I read that bit several times, trying to decide if it really was sarcasm or not.

As someone said in another thread we are reading posts from unknown strangers...

 

[Hawgwash]

Nope, only when their engines are off and they are actually sailing - a rarity in the PNW.

Another rarity I have noticed is the lack of anchor lights.
I can easily see and count the boats in a popular nearby open anchorage. Last night before dark I counted 21 sailboats at anchor. 3 hours after dark I counted 2 anchor lights. This morning, still 21 boats.

 

[kthoennes]

Captain Bill was right, thanks Cap. I did think the sarcasm was obvious (esp with the Queen Mary reference) but maybe not. I'm sure we have seen both power and sail boaters do rude or dumb things, and I've certainly done dumb things by accident, but I do think in general you see more presumptuousness among sailboaters. The earlier post that started this discussion is a perfect example. I get that the logic of the rules are based on relative maneuverability of power and sail, and that certainly makes sense, but how many times do you see a sailboat stay nailed on a tack when even a few degrees move would resolve intersecting courses (and I'm not talking about a few degrees that would make the sailboat fall off in any way, I mean a few degrees that would barely budge a telltale).

Maybe it comes from my years as a teenager sailing a Bluejay on the Connecticut River and LI Sound, dodging barges and big boats constantly. I had a draft of a couple feet, while they had to stay in sometimes narrow channels, etc. To me the safer, less stressful habit was yielding based on relative maneuverability, not insisting that the entire merchant and power fleet give way to my pipsqueak sailboat simply because I was under sail.

 

[hmason]

A sailboat with engine running will still be stand on unless the engine is in gear. That's real hard to determine. A vessel that by nature of its size or draft cannot maneuver outside the channel is stand on over a sailboat (or powerboat) that can maneuver outside the channel. And, a vessel, engaged in commercial fishing, i.e., gear in the water, is stand on over all vessels.


It really pays to simply use common sense and stay out of each other's way.

Howard

 

[markpierce]

... And, a vessel, engaged in commercial fishing, i.e., gear in the water, is stand on over all vessels.

Not exactly:

"(d) The term "vessel engaged in fishing" means any vessel fishing with nets, lines, trawls, or other fishing apparatus which restrict maneuverability, but does not include a vessel fishing with trolling lines or other fishing apparatus which do not restrict maneuverability."
...

"(c) A vessel engaged in fishing when underway shall, so far as possible, keep out of the way of:

"(i) a vessel not under command;
(ii) a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver"

These people fishing on their boat does not qualify as a vessel engaged in fishing:

 

[ranger58sb]

Another rarity I have noticed is the lack of anchor lights.
I can easily see and count the boats in a popular nearby open anchorage. Last night before dark I counted 21 sailboats at anchor. 3 hours after dark I counted 2 anchor lights. This morning, still 21 boats.

19 of those might be folks who think that any popular anchorage must be the same as a specifically designated anchorage.

-Chris

 

[markpierce]

Most people don't seem to know the difference between designated general anchorages versus designated special anchorages.

Anchoring in designated general anchorage displaying the required day shape:

 

[dhays]

This has always been a question I have had. One on my favorite places to go on a weekend is a nice quiet bay surrounded by some private homes. It is a popular place to go so often has a lot of weekenders. It also has a number of local boats that are on private moorings. This is not a designated mooring field.

I always have my anchor light on, but I am am sitting between boats on moorings with no anchor lights. This is not unusual around here but I have never heard of anyone being cited for failure to have an anchor light.

 

[SaltyDawg86]

Lol seriously? Call an officer so he can call the captain to ask about a course change? This is what people think deep sea sailing is? I wish it were that easy!

 

[Wayfarer]

Lol seriously? Call an officer so he can call the captain to ask about a course change? This is what people think deep sea sailing is? I wish it were that easy!

If I called the captain in the middle of the night to ask him about making a course change, he'd do that Darth Vader chokey thing.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

This is what people think deep sea sailing is?

Apparently, yes. But I wouldn't do anything to dispel that notion. The more incompetent they wrongly think you are, the more likely they are to stay the hell out of your way.

 

[refugio]

I have a role of 3M SOLAS reflective tape - the same effect you see on offshore foul-weather gear. I've put it on some of our smaller boats but never the large one though if I were more concerned I'd certainly consider it.

 

[SaltyDawg86]

Apparently, yes. But I wouldn't do anything to dispel that notion. The more incompetent they wrongly think you are, the more likely they are to stay the hell out of your way.

Hahaha that's funny!!