Anchorage identification and boarding techniques

It used to be that an LED anchor light would be scarce enough (and
much brighter among all the incandescents) that finding our boat would
be a piece of cake. That's no longer the case, at least in the
anchorages we were in this last 7 or so months - LEDs are now
predominant.

However, we used some of (we had to buy an entire reel) the red LED
rope lighting we have throughout our boat to illuminate the cockpit.
We'd originally thought of it for under-way use, but it's far too
bright for that application, red or not. It's impossible for anyone to
mistake this for a navigation light, as it forms an arc (~18" tall) on
the binnacle. It isn't a 2-mile visibility item, in any case, but it
does show up from perhaps a mile away as a very faint line (getting
brighter as you approach, of course). So, not only is it unique
(well, our cruising buddies who liked the idea so well they did it,
too, aside), it lights the cockpit as we board. Its overhead (recall
my electrical post budget/list) is all of 0.1A, just like our anchor
light, so we usually leave it lit all night when we're at anchor. It
helps us find Flying Pig, but also provides some deck-level lighting
for those in close range and impaired, assisting in avoiding (yes, I
know they're making better idiots every day) us, helping identify that
there's a boat there, even if they fail to notice the anchor light.
Those same red lights below tend to make the windows (well, ports!)
show up a bit better in the dark, too, helping us and others identify
the presence of Flying Pig!

To assist our boarding we have a remote-control LED stern deck light
(11x9 array - extremely bright, used in billboard illumination in
remote areas where batteries and solar panels power the lighting -
overhead 0.6A) which we activate as we approach, bathing our platform
and stern in visibility. That same light, if spreader lights and
foredeck light were not enough to highlight our presence to large
traffic which somehow didn't see us, could be aimed forward to our
sails...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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