night time safety

[benno573]

I headed out down the pin on saturday arvo with the old man, dropped the pots in, pumped some yabbies and fished the incoming for a few whiting. Ended up having a crack up cobby passage on dusk, only undersized fish unfortunately but two nice big bucks in the pots! :woohoo:

When we left to drive back it was about 8pm and being a new moon was pretty dam dark out. So we navigated out of cobby passage (which is unmarked) carefully and then were following the markers back to jacobs well, keeping an eye out for floating debris - which thankfully there was little of.

There were quite a lot of boats out and I was quite disgusted with how many were showing incorrect lights or worse still no lights at all!

I was getting towards the end of the 6kn zone in mackenzies channel heading for whalleys gutter and I saw a boat with only red/green nav lights (no all round white) on so I altered course to avoid them - only to work out when I got closer that they were at anchor and fishing right in the middle of the channel near the yellow X. being a very dark night with distances hard to judge due to lack of reference points and especially anchored where they were this seemed a bit thick to me.

On the rest of the trip we saw countless more boats anchored with nav lights on, nearly ran into a tinny that had no lights on, however, he flicked a torch on when I was getting close (again anchored in the middle of a channel) and saw several boats on the move with no all round white light on. Coming into the boat ramp I saw the outline against the lights and avoided two kayakers who were paddling in the middle of jacob's well channel with no lights on whatsoever.

I just wanted to re-iterate - at night time your lights are not only a legal requirement, they let other boats around you know what you are doing and how they can best avoid you. You wouldn't generally indicate left and then turn right - it's the same sort of thing on the water.

Rules for most boats people on this site own:

When at anchor - all round white light ONLY

When moving - all round white light (or masthead/stern light combo) and nav lights.

See the full list at: http://www.msq.qld.gov.au/Safety/Navigation-lights.aspx

I would hate to think that someone doing the right thing could have a collision (or worse) on their conscience based on someone being too lazy to show the correct lighting.

Sorry for the rant... :blush:

Benno

[Cheyne_jones]

Awesome post mate.

Its just straight up stupidity to run with no lights after dusk. It will cost you less than $100 to get the right lights, and they can save your life, makes you wonder what these people have going on between their ears... Probably better off out of the gene pool...

[tomca]

If there was an actual police presence at night down there I bet there would be more compliance.

[ghendoaus]

Thanks for the refresher on lights Benno - I know that it's easy to forget the rules after a time. :dry:

[Binder]

You do not need to display an all round white light while under way.

PS - I'll leave that there because it obviously caught me, but it would appear they have changed the rules and you must display a mast head and stern light, or an all round light now.

Used to just be stern light. Stupid rule change - Going to cause a lot of accidents as an all round light flooding the boat with light is going to take away your night vision and you wont see squat in front of the boat.

[rayke1938]

If I come across someone without nav or all round white I light them up with my spotlight so that i do not run into them. Also if you hand is a little unsteady and the light dances around a lot it may help them see what is around them and it may also attract some fish :evil:

Cheers

Ray

[tyrion]

Unfortunately this happens a lot more than it should i understand that it is easy to make a mistake or forget to switch your nav lights back on after pulling anchor and moving spots or heading home . But I don't think I could recall a night trip anywhere in the bay on a Saturday or Sunday night without coming across this same problem. It's not a problem that's easily fixed though a larger police presence may help.

[tyrion]

While on the issue another problem is the moored boats around the bay not showing the correct lights. There are a few on the western side of Macleay island and also a few at Vicy point that have no lighting and can not be seen while heading in certain direction with limited light. Unless you know that they are there and are looking for them there's gonna be a problem.

[kmcrosby78]

You do not need to display an all round white light while under way.

PS - I'll leave that there because it obviously caught me, but it would appear they have changed the rules and you must display a mast head and stern light, or an all round light now.

Used to just be stern light. Stupid rule change - Going to cause a lot of accidents as an all round light flooding the boat with light is going to take away your night vision and you wont see squat in front of the boat.

I think in previous threads on this topic people have suggested taping a plastic ice cream lid or something just under your white all round light so it can still be seen by others the full 360 degrees but does not shine down into your eyes.

[benno573]

You do not need to display an all round white light while under way.

PS - I'll leave that there because it obviously caught me, but it would appear they have changed the rules and you must display a mast head and stern light, or an all round light now.

Used to just be stern light. Stupid rule change - Going to cause a lot of accidents as an all round light flooding the boat with light is going to take away your night vision and you wont see squat in front of the boat.

Mate, this is the reason for my post. When I did my licence course 12 years ago I was told all round white while underway at night, or the masthead/stern combo. Not sure when it changed.

I am sure the vision argument is why people fish with no light on. It is usually only open tinnys that i see doing this. I have an all round white mounted on the rocket launchers which does not affect night vision at all whether anchored or underway. I'd suggest you mount your light a little higher up if it is affecting your vision. Perhaps some sort of "guard" under it to stop the light flooding down might help, perhaps an ice-cream bucket lid or something? And definitely if possible mounted behind where you sit to drive. My biggest problem is I installed LED nav lights about 2 years ago, the green can be a little distracting as it is pretty dam bright so I just put a small strip of leccy tape along the top to stop it shining in my eyes.

[crazywalrus]

While on the issue another problem is the moored boats around the bay not showing the correct lights. There are a few on the western side of Macleay island and also a few at Vicy point that have no lighting and can not be seen while heading in certain direction with limited light. Unless you know that they are there and are looking for them there's gonna be a problem.

Hey tyrion I have encountered the same boats on Macleay as well but i am pretty sure when anchered in an anchorage as is the case here a all round light is not required.

[bommie2]

the problem is if your watercraft is not registrable then legally you do not need lights(4hp or under on a tinny does not require the safety equipment eg. nav. lights, that other registered water craft do),,,, this needs to change

[tikki169]

Waaaaaay too many times have I nearly run someone over around Whites Island cause there are always idiots fishing with no lights on, 90% of the time they are right in the main channel into the river.

Around the back of Green to at night people drift along with no lights on and when you are just about to hit them they'll turn a light on and scare the cr@p out of you.

Anyone fishing with no lights on is just asking for trouble.

[benno573]

While on the issue another problem is the moored boats around the bay not showing the correct lights. There are a few on the western side of Macleay island and also a few at Vicy point that have no lighting and can not be seen while heading in certain direction with limited light. Unless you know that they are there and are looking for them there's gonna be a problem.

Hey tyrion I have encountered the same boats on Macleay as well but i am pretty sure when anchered in an anchorage as is the case here a all round light is not required.

Hey ted, any vessel that is anchored does need to display an all round white regardless of where they are anchored. the exception you speak of is for vessels that are tied to a dept of transport swing mooring or in a marina.

I agree with ray's method of "encouraging" people to put lights on. works nearly every time too... most of the time they yell what i can only assume to be thanks at you as you go past as well...

Bommie - personally, I think every powered vessel should be required to display lights and carry all proper safety equipment. for kayaks an all round white (that sits higher than the kayaker and is visible 360 degrees) should suffice.

[Binder]

I was just doing my semi regular troll through the rules (as they are prone to change without notice) when I discovered another little anomaly from our friends at maritime safety.

The general rule for lights at night now state all vessels except boats under oar or sail boats must display an all round white light (or mast / stern combo) whilst underway. Which obviously includes unregistered vessels.

However their FAQ on lights still states unregistered vessels do not need to display lights.

I think I'll play it safe and make sure the lights on my unregistered boat are compliant, although obviously my kayak still doesn't require lights. I wonder if a Hobbie does though, as its not "under oars". :whistle: :evil:

[Dubbzy]

alot of people still think they need to turn the all round white light off when moving.

[benno573]

I think a lot of people need to think about "what is safe" as opposed to "what is law"...

I wouldn't be out in any vessel after dark whether it be powered, sail, row boat, kayak, inflatable sheep, registered or unregistered without some sort of light on it whether required by law or not. I'd rather spend a few $, get a light and not be turned into a speed bump for a larger vessel.

On my yak, I purchased an LED all round white light on a plastic pole from whitworths/bias which runs on two "C" cells, cost me about $40 or so. I then got a piece of 40mm pressure pipe which fits perfectly into the rod holder behind me to attach it to the yak as well as raise the height a bit. I joined the two together with some structural electric tape and it now sits about 30cm above my head when i'm in the yak and can be seen easily from several hundred metres away.

[fifis101]

I was fishing off the beach at Bribie on Saturday night just gone and there were multiple boats that only had their white stern light on, no navigation lights at all and a few that had no lights on what so ever! This was on the full moon so I could see them and visibility was pretty good but that's no excuse, it's just stupidity.