anchor light, 1200 mile trip

[Phantom Jim]

My kerosene anchor lamp.  The Fresnel lens makes the difference.

[Phantom Jim]

Another view of the three anchor lights.  Masthead: 12v incandescent; Forestay: kerosene lantern; Main topping lift: Davis 12v LED anchor light.

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

No arguing the Davis is definitely brighter :)

[w00dy]

We had one of these on Mona, at the masthead. I don't think I ever saw a brighter anchor light and we had no problem picking our boat out of a crowded anchorage. It had the tricolor and a strobe function as well. Not cheap, but high quality and made in the USA.

https://orcagreenmarine.com/recreational-boat-led-lighting/


That said, I think it makes sense to have some sort of deck level anchor lighting for redundancy. All too often the lights on shore can camouflage even the brightest anchor light. If you have two lights, vertically separated by 30+ ft, one of them is more likely to be seen if the other is hidden.

[CapnK]

One thing I have always liked about a low-hung light is that unless in is dead calm, it will move, and that movement, especially if lighting the deck or other gear, makes it much more likely to be seen an interpreted correctly by someone approaching the boat.

[curtis]

Best IMHO is a bright anchor light on top of the mast for the occasional anchoring outside of a harbor (weather permitting) and then have a not very bright light as a spreader light or something that lights the cabin top (but not the cabin or someone else's cabin nearby) for the benefit of anyone coming into a mooring field or anchorage after dark.  Nantucket is like that with a harbor that easy to enter at night (ranges, lighthouse) but then darkness approaching the mooring field and anchorage area and plenty of boats arriving at all hours.  Its hard to tell how far away a boat is based on the light way up but if you see a cabintop dead ahead that's a potentially important clue.

Curtis