Hmmm. I wonder if we will ever see approved all around red and green
LED lights?

I ask because these are not yacht applications (except red over green,
which we agree is a very small market) -- they are almost entirely
commercial and military (red for NUCs and fishing, green for fishing
and mine-clearance). Almost all fishboats and most smaller commercial
boats squeeze a penny until Abe screams -- for example, I regularly
saw home circuit breaker panels on them while we were looking for
Fintry. I can't see them buying expensive wrap-around LED lights when
two ordinary 360 degree lights on opposite sides of the mast do the
job both legally and practically. Only yachties are concerned about
power consumption -- the working guys typically run a genset 24/7 when
away from shore power.

Further to our earlier discussion, I note that the latest version of
the Colregs (which this thread forced me to buy, thank you), Annex I
9(b)(ii) explicitly allows using two lights when needed under both
Rules. There is a note on the Inland page that two lights 1.28 meters
apart will show as one light at one nautical mile.

I wonder where they got this? A web search came up with the standard
that normal vision will resolve two sources that subtend one arc
minute. That would be a separation of 0.54 meters at a mile (1852
meters).

Jim Woodward
www.mvfintry.com

(Lee Huddleston) wrote in message . ..
Jim,

Thanks for your responses. The consensus is pretty much what you
said, don't trust anyone including "professionally" manned ships to
pay any attention to your lights or even your existence. But, some
will notice and try hard to avoid you or give you your rights.
Therefore, it is worth trying to be more visible while at the same
time knowing that you have to be very diligent to stay out of other's
way.

As you indicated, the Annex to the regs provides for lights of the
same color on each side of the mast that appear to merge into one at
the distance of a mile.

The better solution, however, is now becoming LEDs. They can be built
in a ring around a central stalk or pole and thus be 360 degrees with
no blockage. There are none available commercially yet because the
process of approval from the Coast Guard takes a considerable amount
of time.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove