This rule is the best!
Rule 2
Responsibility
(a) Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master, or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.
(b) In construing and complying with these Rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances, including the limitations of the vessels involved, which may make a departure from these Rules necessary to avoid immediate danger.
In a nutshell - your primary concern is avoiding immediate danger. If avoiding immediate danger requires departure from the rules, let it be so.
Actually, not much departure, since:
Rule 25
Sailing Vessels Underway and Vessels Under Oars
…
(d)
(i) A sailing vessel of less than 7 meters in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
(ii) A vessel under oars may exhibit the lights prescribed in this rule for sailing vessels, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
Since at hand needn’t be taken literally and the sufficient time is not defined, I can pretty much rig a white light on a 3ft extension and argue vessel limitation and safety concerns.
A bit of history - some dude was trying to cross Lake Erie some time ago. Here is his account http://www.seakayakermag.com/1997/aug97/erie.htm
Please follow to the end for the interpretation of his situation.
I think in high traffic areas in urban
environs one could argue for surinam's point. So many vessels, you are in a constant state of warning.
I doubt seriously the CG is going to get super literal with kayakers, but I know one Eddyline employee who was taken aboard and hauled in by the CG with a warning for not having a light ready to shine.
Another thing to consider is no matter what your lighting, against a heavily lit urban background you will be very hard to see. So many lights it's difficult to interpret things. Many large vessels do not enter busy ports at night for this very reason.
Lights, no lights, whatever, the big question is using good judgement and not willfully putting yourself at risk in high traffic waters at night. Lots of options. And btw, power vessels really do not want to hit you or anything else.. $$$$.
In low traffic areas much of this is irrelevant.
AND, for those intent on constant lighting why would you not use a combi light? You will have to mount your all round white high enough on a post of some sort for it to be "all-round" soooo why not just employ a combi light??? You'd be completely in compliance, would not be blinded by a bright white glow!, and other vessels would actually know your heading, and that you were in motion...
And I disagree that the Rules are poorly written. The more you understand the more they make sense. It's a complex system and what may be stupid to someone with little maritime experience makes perfect sense in the big picture. I believe we as paddlers have a responsibility to be good mariners.
Regarding 135-degree coverage:
Check that more closely and see if there's an additional white light required in that case. Every diagram I've seen showing 135-degree visibility of the stern light shows an additional white light positioned more forward, which is visible within the "dark area" of the stern light. In other words, there is still a requirement for 360-degree white-light visibility regardless of what amount of coverage any individual white light provides. Any diagram I've seen so far showing the legal use of just ONE white light at the stern shows it to be a 360-degree light. I see no evidence that the rules allow anything less than 360-degree visibility of white lights.
Here’s my version
Accomodates C-light or glo-stick
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558917191SxHfjK
eel/salty/leeG - thanks
Thanks for the clarification.
I agree completely with this post, Salty
Lighting in higher traffic areas makes some sense and also to follow the rules. However, if people expect someone several feet or several meters above them to see a few pin pricks of light with an urban lightscape all around them they are on quaaludes. Sorry, but if my glass in the wheelhouse is full of 1000 watt high pressure sodium lamps from the local port facility the little Firefly I bought at Kayaks R Us will not register much, LED or not.
The proposed lighting also needs to overcome 2 issues regarding “perception”; 1) you are not “expected” to be out there; and 2) if seen, you may appear to be further away than you really are.
Dogmaticus
were in the same boat of confusion
Seems to me that salty should be able to clarify this. I find that a 360 white coverage is somewhat impractical given the reduction in night vision if it’s deck mounted and inconsistancy of projection if on ones head. I interpreted the same lighting as a sailboat for the reason that a sailboat wouldn’t be as fast as a motorboat, as a kayak would be.
salty
please clarify something. Is there or is there not a required set of options for running lights on a kayak?
Is it a 360white plus red/green or is it 135stern plus red/green? Can it be either one?
Rules are clear on this
A vessel under oars may exibit the same lights prescribed for sailing vessels. Nowhere in the Rule specific to sailing vessels is there mentioned an all round white light option, (unless vessel is at anchor). An all round white in combination with side lights is applied to power vessels less than 12 meters in length per Rule 23 International and Inland.
Above someone posted Rule 25. If you study it it’s clear.
Practically speaking I doubt the Coasties will give a damn if you have an all round white with running lights, and my guess is they would prefer that over just an all round white?? But again, why why why not a simple combi light which solves the whole issue and doesn’t blind you?
When in doubt consult the Rules, and or local laws which may trump the Colregs, and if still in doubt call the local authorities. If USCG jurisdiction they will go by the Colregs and will be very clear on that.
All this lighting is actually a language. If a knowledgeable operator sees an all round white and running lights he/she will assume small power vessel. If they see side lights and stern light, or depending on orientation just stern, or running lights they will assume a sailing craft, or oar powered craft exibiting “their option” of running lights. Which makes more sense… I’d choose the lighting that gives the other guy as much accurate info about me as possible.
Good day.
check, that’s what I thought
same as a sailing vessel, not a motor vessel.
My problem with the combi lights is that they require a position above ones head to not be blinded by ones torso for anyone looking to you straight on. The tek-tite is nearly flush and won’t get knocked off and most closely reflects the regs for position of the running lights relative to the center of the kayak. The stern light, while not preciseley 135degree can be approximated well enough with any one of the number of waterproof LED lights such as the broad beamed Princeton tec 4AAA 3LED light pointing aft.
I’ve seen a low cost combi LED light but the spillover from red/gree/white is pretty bad and one color is significantly brighter than the other.
The teck-tite is uniformly bright. The standup combi-units I’ve seen on dighies aren’t as waterproof or long running as the tek-tite.
here
(ii) A vessel under oars may exhibit the lights prescribed in this rule for sailing vessels, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
Makes sense Lee
I would think any all round style light has to be propped above head…otherwise it isn’t an all -round light!
Thanks for the discussion
Lots of good info and insights in this thread, thanks!
It comes at a good time for me, since I am getting to the point where (I think) I have the confidence to go on solo night paddles. But living in the so-called boating capitol of the world (and probably the drunk-boating capitol as well), I haven’t yet done so because I haven’t got the lighting quite worked out yet.
One issue that’s been mentioned that I would like to see more discussion on is distance recognition. Because of the height off the water and the short distance between the lights from bow to stern, it seems to me that a kayak with “R/G running lights and white stern light” will often be mistaken to be a small fast-moving boat that is far away, instead of a slow-moving boat that is much closer. That sounds like a recipe for some close calls.
Now here’s where I’m at so far: I’ve got a yellow poly Dagger Specter 15. I also have a suction cup mounted light from Seattle Sports that can be used as either a 360 white with 1/2/3 LEDs, a red/green running light, or a flashing emergency strobe.
One of the things I had considered doing was to take advantage of my yellow poly boat and light the interior of the stern from inside the rear hatch, so that the entire stern would be illuminated sufficiently to leave little doubt what type of craft I am, and how far away I am. (I haven’t experimented with this yet, so I don’t know how doable this is.) Of course I would also have a handheld light to use when necessary, and/or I could also use the R/G setting on the Seattle Sports light on(near) the bow.
Good ideas or bad ideas? Any input appreciated.
my $.02
I know the seattle sports combo is a good value but it isn't submersible is it? The other problem I have with the ones I saw was that the red/green were much different intensity. Also there's the obvious decision, in front or in back. Any position fore/aft has to be far enough from your torso to be visible over or to the side of your torso. If it's in front you're night vision is screwed, if it's in back you don'tknow if it's working unless you twist around and in rescues it'll be knocked off.
I wouldn't bother trying to light up the kayak like a lantern. Anything that approximates the colregs is better than something that looks like an unknown or hazard inviting inspection. I think if you want do illuminate yourself then getting a $18 Princeton Tec 4AAA 3LED light is very versatle. Put a lanyard on it and configure your aft bungies so that it can be pointed onto your back or towards the stern. Pointing it back is close to a 135degree stern white light and it'll illuminate your boat or any reflective parts. Also in any rescues, it's still there. It's bombproof and waterproof. I've put lithium disposables in them and had a useful flashlight two years later. It'll also 'burn' for a couple days non-stop.
In every pfd I"ve had one of those and a whistle. Long shelf life lithiums and bombproof construction make it a good minimal light for a lot of uses.
The foreward red/green is up to you. The Tek-tite seems expensive but it lays flat and won't go anywhere during a rescue or rolling.
regarding the concern that a kayak with running lights will be misinterpreted as a boat far away,,the thing is the kayak is lower than all those boats so those boats you are worried about will identify you as something below the horizon and smaller than them than you would down low trying to differentiate a row of multi colored lights near or above the horizon. Like radio transimission a few feet in altitude makes a BIG difference. A person on a sailboat could easily be 6' above the water, a motor boat even higher.
I've expereinced exactly what you are talking about, depth perception is awful on the water at night. It's worse the lower to the water you are and better the higher you are .
yep
so you have a choice. It’s either paddle dark and shine a light as needed to prevent collision,which in my experience is not adequate warning for 1000lb-500,000lb vessels traveling 10+mph.
Or, you have red/green/135 degree stern light for constant running.
a 360 white light constantly on is not a running light. A 360 white light randomly (from a distance) going on and off according to the PADDLERS perception of a collision course could simply look like a random white light,which will draw attention but doesn’t really communicate anything about your vessel.
But it does look like a nice white 360 light that would be more effective than a flickering ACR light. My worry is what happens in a rescue or rolling situation to alight up on a pole.
Night vision and lights
I included this in one of my other posts (of which there are too many), but based on the number of comments regarding how any functional placement of lights will blind the paddler, it won’t hurt to say it again. There is no reason for any of your lights to shine “at you” and therefore blind you. All they need to do is shine away from you. The simple solution is to use two lights, with both of them shielded so they don’t shine at you and blind you, yet at least one of them will be visible from any direction. Put them wherever it makes sense to you. If you want to use red/green lights too, put a shield on them if necessary, but it’s usually not necessary becauase the portable red/green lights designed to be used on small boats usually don’t shine toward the rear anyway so your whole cockpit will be in shadow.
The glare issue is so easy to solve. The tough issue is what do you do about those swarms of insects that hang around your boat when the lights are on? It’s honestly difficult to avoid inhaling them and keeping them out of your eyes. If I had a greater need to keep lights turned on for lengthy periods, I’d probably mount it/them on the top of a medium-length fishing pole. That wouldn’t work for kayakers because it would screw up rolling, but on other boats it should reduce the density of the insect clouds (and there’d be no need to make glare shields either).
here’s a good blinding light
not a nav light
http://www.uwkinetics.com/product/4
the LED version has a funny on/off switch and not twist bezel as I'd prefer but it's the flattest very bright long burning LED light I know of. There are other ones with larger lenses but if you wanted to illuminate something 100' away it's a good one.
The 4c cell version makes a good kayaking equivalent for the big bright cheap lantern battery 6v lights.
Good input, thanks
I like the looks of that TekTite Navlight, if I go with R/G running lights, it would definitely be that. The Seattle Sports light is “waterproof to 50’” but wouldn’t work well on the bow anyway, though the suction cup works really well and it has a tether too.
I like the idea of shining the Princeton Tec light on the exterior of the bow rather than trying to illuminate the interior.
Regarding distance recognition, it seems to me the fact that a kayak is so low to the water is one of the reasons that it could be mistaken for a faster boat that is farther away - a low light could be mistaken for something out far on the horizon instead of something much closer. That’s why it seems to me to be prudent to attempt to clearly identify yourself as a small, slow moving paddlecraft that could easily be much closer than it would appear when just using standard lights.
My take on the Nav Rules lighting reqm’t
Rule 25 of the Navigation Rules provides two alternative lighting requirements for a vessel under oars (if you agree that the option of lights exhibited at the top of the mast does not apply to kayaks):
Alternative One
“. . . have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.”
Alternative Two
“. . . the lights prescribed in this rule for sailing vessels” which would be sidelights and a sternlight.
With respect to Alternative One, “. . .an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision” does not state that the torch has be turned off or that the lighted lantern must be hidden when a collision is not imminent. There is little risk involved in an ambiguity about whether the vessel is at anchor or under oars compared to the risk of an overtaking vessel approaching an unlighted kayak unseen by the kayaker. The overtaking vessel could be under sail, have a quiet engine or its engine noise could be masked by other ambient noise. At night I like to display a white light to my rear (unless I’m paddling with other paddlers whose night vision would be compromised by my sternlight) and have a bright flashlight ready to shine on my deck, waive around, or if the approaching vessel continues to bear down on me, shine at the approaching vessel.
With respect to Alternative Two,” “Sidelights” means a green light on the starboard side and a red light on the port side each showing an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 112.5 degrees and so fixed as to show the light from right ahead to 22.5 degrees abaft the beam on its respective side.” On a vessel less than 20 meters in length the sidelights can be combined in a single fixture. ““Sternlight” means a white light placed as nearly as practicable at the stern showing an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 135 degrees and so fixed as to show the light 67.5 degrees from right aft on each side of the vessel.”
I have several problems with using the sidelight/sternlight alternative on a kayak. First, a battery powered light illuminating a 135° or 112.5° arc is not likely to be very bright. Rule 22 specifies that, on a vessel of less than 12 meters in length, the sidelights must be visible at a range of 1 mile (whatever that means; moonless, starless, completely unhazed night?) I wouldn’t count on the helmsman of a vessel inside a pilot house seeing these dim lights, especially if there is significant background light. Second, the sidelights are likely to compromise the paddler’s night vision. Third, sidelights mounted on the deck of a kayak are only a few inches above the surface of the water and are likely to be masked by waves.
Spliting down the middle
My torso converts my 360 white into something more like a 290. Twice as good as a 145, right? L