On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 20:44:07 -0500, rhys wrote:

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 17:08:21 GMT, otnmbrd
wrote:

A great secondary ID method for sailboats at night is lighting up your
sails with a flashlight, etc..
Generally this will give a brighter target without destroying visibility
of your running lights.

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.

3) If under power or motorsailing, I have the steaming light on at the
spreaders.

4) If I detect no change, I will hail the ship on 16. If no response,
I will hail them on 13, which is sometimes monitored more closely in
my area. If I get a response, I will give my position in lat/lon and
my bearing to them, my speed and my suggested reciprocal bearing (Uh,
on the port quarter and closing, Skipper...that's me!)

5) I will shine a million candela spot on my sail if sailing or down
my deck if under jib alone and/or under power. I will flick my anchor
light. I will fire a bloody flare at them, duck their stern and report
them to the Coast Guard, giving time, lat/lon and other details.

Only some of the above have ever been necessary, but I have gotten to
within two NM before being seen on light air nights with a full moon,
and have not shown well on their radars...basically, I had to give
them a vector to follow to see me.

None of the above would be possible were I below not keeping a watch.
"They can't see you" is my default assumption. COLREGS might help my
widow get a better settlement, but I will get out of the way of
shipping unless I have positive proof they've seen ME.

It does give me a huge appreciation for WWII destroyers that sank
surfaced U-boats at a couple of thousand yards at night in the
Atlantic. The conning tower of a U-boat is a much worse target than a
white decked sailboat.

Rhys,
Why on earth do you bother with all that? I too, sail Lake Ontario, out of Port
Credit. I merely follow two basic rules of my own, one is, "Might is right" and
the other is, "Don't play with the big boys." This applies both by day and
night.
Procedure is simple, identify lake freighter, not too difficult, determine
course of lake freighter, again, not too difficult, and, if necessary, adjust my
own course to take me astern of lake freighter. I don't really care whether or
not they see me, if I can see them, I'll stay out of their way. The crews of
the lake freighters are, after all, making their living by sailing that ship, I
on the other hand, am merely playing around. Also, my vessel is far more
maneuverable than theirs, so it's easier for me to take avoiding action.
I agree whole-heartedly that keeping the proper watch is of prime importance,
the absence of such watch keeping could be fatal.
Destroyers, frigates and corvettes that protected the convoys, always fired
star-shells first to illuminate the target. To hit a U-boat whether by day or
night was a matter of superb gunnery plus an inordinate amount of luck. The main
purpose was to drive them back into the depths where they could do little harm,
slow them down and go in for a depth-charge attack to keep them down.
On the radar that was in use then, a steel sub would show up much more clearly
than any sail-boat, with or without radar reflector.
Jan
"If you can't take a joke,you shouldn't have joined"