rhys wrote:

Here's how I "get attention" on Lake Ontario if I see I am closing
with a lake freighter at night.

1) Running lights are always on at dusk.

2) Mast top trilight is on, too, although I am only obliged to have
one or the other.

I don't want to be a hard case on this, but the fact is that you are
required to have one _or_ the other, and there is no room for
experimentation.

We have had discussions here in the past about this type of thing. I call
it "improvisational lighting" and I don't see any difference between making
up the lighting rules as one goes along, and making up the crossing or
overtaking rules as one goes along.

This kind of thing is largely why most commercial operators have such low
opinions of recreational sailors.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/