Re: [Cal_Boats] running light combinations (Jerry, In closing ...)

First, I agree with a poster a day or two ago who alleged that to continue to beat this dead horse could expose us to a charge of animal cruelty. Having said that, however... Second, communication works better when all involved use the same language. Will the nuance of an additional white light get you killed with any level of certainty? No. Will communication be enhanced if we all use the standard (COLREGS) language. Yes. Third, did I ever tell you the story about my first trip in a 20 foot swing keel sloop through Hell Gate (where the East River, Harlem River, and Long Island Sound meet). I was a novice sailor and had a reading knowledge of the conditions at Hell Gate. Everything I read told me that you simply could not go through other than at slack current. This was well before the web so my investigation was anything but real-time. So I called the local USCG unit to see what they had to say. The Coastie on the phone reiterated that I must, under no circumstances, make any attempt to go through Hell Gate other than at slack current. He was further quite specific about where there were "bollards" on Roosevelt Island that I could pick up if the current was pushing me through. Unfortunately, none of the info was correct. Having made this trip numerous times since, I now know that the Coastie had no personal knowledge of the Gate. He was probably relying on the same antiquated info I had. Indeed, last year I was coming up the East River, toward Hell Gate, with the current, when I experienced engine trouble. I managed to sail the East River from below the Brooklyn Bridge, through Hell Gate and out into LIS. Precisely what I was told was impossible to do even under power. Please don't take my comments as any indictment of the USCG. I have nothing but respect for the USCG having worked closely with them to develop electronic security measures a few years ago. However, it is unfair to assume that every Seaman Recruit on phone duty is an expert on COLREGS or has specific local knowledge. The guy was wrong in my case and in your's. No biggie. It happens. Regards, Wayne From: Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> To: "Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thu, May 26, 2011 7:33:54 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] running light combinations Wayne, I'd probably be safer not turning on that extra white light, since I was tooling along at 4 knots anyway on the way home, just that the sailing rules for the race down to San Diego from Marina del Rey specified a steaming light should be used if a cruiser class boat is using his motoring allowance after dark...and I had called the L.A. Coastguard office a week before the race, and the guy I talked to could see no good reason not to do that on a 24' boat. Also, my stern light was one of those Davis low draw hang up style anchor lights that was vastly weaker in intensity. Jerry From: Wayne Gillikin <wa… [at] yahoo.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 7:01 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] running light combinations Specific light combinations are intended to convey specific information about the nature and operation of a vessel that can not be seen. If you didn't comply with COLREGS rule 25 for Sailing Vessels underway and added a 135 degree stern light you would actually have 2 white stern lights, one higher than the other. A knowledgeable mariner seeing this light combination would assume that he was seeing the light pattern for a 50+ meter Vessel at anchor under the requirements of Rule 30. The knowledgeable mariner would likely not assume he was seeing the small boat underway and captained by a skipper who decided to throw up whatever light pattern struck his fancy. Vessel light patterns are intended to be meaningful and COLREGS are the law under Title 33 of the United States Code. Violation of COLREGS on the high seas doesn't carry any penalty as enforcement would be impossible. They do, however, carry great weight in Admiralty Courts. Inland there is a $5,000 fine per violation. Regards, Wayne From:Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 1:14 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] running light combinations I'm a firm believer that you should be able to to use a tricolor with a stern mounted all around for motor sailing at night, even if no one agrees with me except a coastie who I queried in San Diego a dozen years ago, by phone. Now I will once again dodge any water balloons tossed my way. As far as the tri color getting lost in coastal light color, that's why I sail at night with a shortened mast, apporpriately shortened for a 24' boat. I say, what else could a tricolor with a small stern all around light be, but a sailboat sailing under steam? Now, if my sails were down, maybe that would be different. Right now my tri color blulb is dead, till I get around to deciding if I want to ditch it, or drop my mast and replace the bulb with an LED, meanwhile I'm using a pulpit mounted bi-color with a pushpit mounted all around, for nite sailing. Still illegal? woops. Maybe I'd better fix my old tail light then. Mainly, there's hardly anyone out there at night, at sea, any way; just a handful of commercial squidders with lights so bright you can see them ten miles away. Oh, and one or two Japanese U boats that don't know WWII is over. Those are the guys that really worry me. The only time I once got into trouble is when I sailed into MdR at midnight with a dead battery on a just bought Cal 25 using a flashlight to illuminate the sails. The Harbor Patrol didn't approve of it, as my boat was two feet too long for this too pass, especially if you have a beard, long nose, and a towel draped over your head. Oh. Did I leave out the part about this patrol boat coming along side of me, with a friend of mine that was handcuffed in the back, begging ME to try to talk them into letting him go? I thought so. Like, I was really in a position to try that? Jerry