Both Wayne and Brian brought up some good points. The red over green
masthead with lower sidelights is simply the ideal combination from the
point of view of commercial shipping, which is the only point of view I
know, having never sailed offshore in anything but freighters. As these
two gentlemen pointed out, the idea may have practical problems that I
don't know about.

If you were forced to choose between deck level lights alone or a
tricolour masthead, then go for the tricolour masthead, because it's
the most visible of the two. If you can get around the practical
problems, I maintain that my original suggestion is safest, because
more lights are better, and more distinctive lights are better.

LED lights may deal with the problem of extra power drain. As far as I
know, with LEDs, you can put up a whole christmas tree for the same
power draw as a few incadescent bulbs. For the 1m seperation problem, I
guess that depends on your boat. They don't necessarily need to project
1m above your mast; you can have the red all-round at the very top, and
mount the green on the mast proper, 1m below. The rules allow for that
light to be "split" into two seperate lights on either side of the
mast, should you wish, as long as they look like a single light at a
distance of 1 mile. That way, they won't both be obscured by the sails,
won't foul the jib and you wouldn't need a 1m light(ning) rod
projecting from the top of your mast as in Brian's document.

Criticism, praise and refutals welcome.

-max

Wayne.B wrote:
On 20 Oct 2006 16:18:09 -0700, "max camirand"
wrote:

Do yourself a big favor and DO NOT opt for the tricolour mastead light
allowed under colregs Rule 25b, especially if you plan to go offshore.
The problem is with visibility to other ships. Sure, they're easier to
see because they're high up, but on a dark night, where a watchkeeper
on a cargo ship may be judging your distance by the light's height on
the horizon, he may think that you're far away while you're almost up
against him.

I disagree based on my own experiences sailing at night in the
proximity of commercial shipping.

Before we got the masthead tricolor commercial ships acted as though
we were totally invisible, and probably we were. After getting the
tricolor it became clear that we were not only being seen, but the big
guys were actually making course changes to avoid us.

By all means get the tricolor. Your first goal is to be seen by
others, then they can figure out the distance.