Invest in a decent one
It’s amazing what’s happened to flashlights in just a few years. 500 lumens from a tiny flashlight for under $50 is really something. I use to pay more than that for the big bulky Q-beams.
My go to is a 150 lumen aluminum flashlight from Magellan (academy sports) for $15 but I do my moonlight paddles where I am not likely to encounter other traffic anyway. I have a 350 lumen that lights my boat up like a Christmas bulb if I drop it in my lap.
Again, I haven’t seen anyone cited
There is a good reason for it, discussed in another thread. Red/green signals to other boats that you are a craft under power and someone in a power boat could assume you have that kind of ability to get out of their way. Strobe signals distress and an educated boater is supposed to come and check it out.
Reflective lines are always good.
But a lot of people including enforcement types are not sure what they are officially supposed to do with lighting on paddle craft. So they get happy when they see a bright array of it.
Ooops
Shoulda specified that I was responding to kayamedic’s statement that they had a lighting encounter in CT. Sorry about that.
The encounter
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was a check at night by the CG..Its not unheard of for the Coast Guard to check on kayakers. I never said anyone was cited. We get checked for safety equipment in Maine too. We welcome that.
As a matter of fact this thread is totally unnecessary.. Want to know the regs for lighting? Ask you local Coast Guard.
Yes they do public relations work.
Used to work with them
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on safety and rescue issues when I was president of a large sea kayak club here. We had them give talks, and be present at safety and rescue clinics and such. They even shot video of me and two others doing a safety/rescue presentation and demo that they liked. Lighting specifics never came up.
Anyway, I was just curious.
Does not work inland
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As well anyway.
We have a slight CG presence in the Albany area due to their running the ice breaker up the Hudson to the Port of Albany and once in a while they show up at the first lock on the canal system, in Troy. But the local office for our region is in Portland Maine.
They are nice folks and would likely answer a question about lights needed of Saratoga Lake. But if I get stopped by a county sheriff on Saratoga Lake they are the people to whom I need to be attentive. They don't care about CG requirements, unless they have gotten some younger ones in with a broader viewpoint, and they are the enforcing authority.
Not everything works like salt water or the Great Lakes.
Yup, but it is a huge improvement
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The CG has been trying to get NY and other states to require a basic boating safety course for all motor boat operators for a very long time. Why NY took so long is beyond me, since it represents an obvious revenue stream of possible fees. Now if they would just stiffen it up for renters and new purchasers... there was no such grace period for me when I took the course at under 18.
It probably escaped attention here, but an elderly man running a boat with more power than he could manage killed a kayaker on Lake George a few years ago. I had known the paddler for over two decades. Of course it was blame the victim per statements from the county sheriff's department, the authority for boating issues on Lake George, and by a highly rated BCU coach who didn't know the lake or the area for squat.
They were both wrong. Pete was a prudent person in all aspects of his life. It was reported he did everything someone in a boat can do short of abandoning his boat, waved his paddle etc. And this happened in a spot where a prudent operator would not have been coming in hot.
Could this have been avoided by a safety course? Probably not. But with a provision like that in play, may have been some arguments available to do something. As it was the whole thing was dropped, no charges whatsoever. Just a ruined family.
NYS Boating Guide
ATV, Snowmobile, and Boating laws fall under parks and recreation as opposed to penal, V&T, and other areas. Here is from a guide to boating laws published by NYS regarding kayak lighting. Buffalo also has a Coast Guard station and a phone number that you can call. I have called them a few times over the years and they will answer your question.
http://www.nysparks.com/recreation/boating/documents/NYSBoatersGuide.pdf
Recreational vessels must display their required navigational lights at all times between sunset and sunrise, and during periods of restricted visibility.
Sail vessels less than 7 meters (23 ft.) in length as well as manually propelled vessels may carry, in lieu of fixed lights, a lantern with a white light which can be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent a
collision. Law enforcement vessels may also exhibit a blue flashing light.
Wasn’t in the law
I think I said that above. It was in some further writeups about boating laws that enforcing officers may be following as guidance.
Escaped Attention Here?
Are you sure about that? Aren’t you the one who led three or four long discussions about that very incident? Or was it another accident on that same lake?
SEEN BY
– Last Updated: Jul-07-16 2:31 AM EST –
implies 360
In fog
During a gale at night
if the 'body of water' uron experienclocust plague migrations the during...
The law think Canal traffic was
Written covering EVERYTHING even Teslas.
The Wslmart or Nebraska crew is gonna start whinning 'but not us'
Ignoring the facto the light or sign was there supporting VISIBILITY
Read thus there is a serious across the board problem here ...
I didn’t lead any discussions but…
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I don't think. I would have weighed in on them, and it is possible I have forgotten that I had. A few things have happened inb my life since then.
Or I wanted to forget. Reading the sheriff's department and hearing the current North American head of the PNA/BCU blame someone I knew for their own death did not make my day. (Yeah, this continued after I told him I knew the paddler long time.)