No Stern light boats

[upthesaukee]

Keep your eyes peeled when out on the lake at night. Saturday night on my way back from the Alton Fireworks to West Alton, I came up on a boat with no stern/white light. Only thing I saw was the instrument cluster and wondered what the heck those lights were. I lit up the boat with my 1.5 Million candlepower spot, and saw it was a boat. Then, and only then did they flash a flashlight at me, but did not leave it on.

Then coming back from Wolfeboro, while still in the bay, I saw two boats without white lights. (All boats mentioned were power boats, if there was any question, and none of them were "offshore" boats.).

Hard enough to keep track of the other boats that you can see, and look for markers, and glance at the GPS and charts, without being suprised by a boat in front of you without the proper nav lights lit. What could they be thinking about???????

[Belmont Resident]

I keep a spare bulb for both bow and stern on my boat.

[meredith necker]

That sort of thing scares the heck out of me. Sometimes someone will go out for a paddle in the dark - no lights. Back when my husband and i went out quite a bit in the dark, he drove and I stood and searched with out spotlight - just to make sure, but then I'm a defensive driver too.

[Winnipesaukee Divers]

All last Saturday evening I sat on my boat and watched Alton Fire Boat parade through the hundreds of anchored boats with just his green starboard lit. I'm glad to see they were setting a good example for all there guests in the bay.

It was a real zoo on the ride out of the bay.... I had to post a lookout on the bow, plus one on each side just so I wouldn't be a doing a Littlefield...

[madrasahs]

Last year, two boys in two boats (one rowboat, one canoe) passed by here in the late afternoon. The boats were roped together and both boys were paddling.

Hours later, about a ½-hour after sundown, I was surprised to see them returning! This time, just the older boy (about 10) was paddling -- with one oar -- and they had no lights at all. I called the MPs, as my only powerboat was out of commission.

I never did see the MPs go by -- and it's just as well.

(As kids, and weeks before Dad got the family boat in for the season, my sister and I used to push our wooden raft into the lake and paddle it around. Sometimes...it got pretty dark).

Even as I post this, my neighbor's tenants just returned in a canoe! (At 9:17 -- it's dark).

Somebody posted this nugget a while back. It sure expresses the right sentiments for a increasingly-crowded lake at night -- with boats travelling at high speed:

"In boating at night, you are sharing a highway without lines and curbs, and your headlights are out".

[Coastal Laker]

"23' Maxum Runs over 25' Baja" (but it thankfully didn't happen)

Saturday night I was on my return trip from the Alton fireworks and briefly (and I mean briefly) saw a shimmer in the water dead ahead of me. I strained my eyes and slowed down to wait and see if it would appear again and it did. It turned out to be the stern light of a boat that was mounted low on the transom. As I went around it I could see that there was no masthead light (to complete the required 360 degree arc of white light). Just red and green in the front. Basically it was showing the light scheme of a sailboat, not a powerboat and with no aft visibility.

Had I not seen the highlight in the water, I would certainly have parked my boat in their cockpit.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

What are people thinking? Good thing you were on your toes Coastal Laker!
Sunday night on the way back to the island it was dark enough that there was no question that navigation lights would be needed. We saw a boat cruising by with its docking headlights on and nothing else. They were going pretty fast, so maybe they were caught unaware that their nav lights were not functioning. At night it is a good idea to have your spot light on the ready. Just in case.

[Paugus Bay Resident]

Had a similar situation out by Governors around 9:30 one night. I thought I saw something floating between the wave crests. Turned out is was 2 (dark blue) kayaks. I approached them and gave them a "lecture". All they said in return was if I knew how they could get to Meredith

Interestingly, when I do vessel saftey checks, the most common failure I see are with nav lights.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Originally Posted by Paugus Bay Resident

...... All they said in return was if I knew how they could get to Meredith

How about North on 11B for a mile to Weirs then follow Rt3 to Meredith.
It seems hard to believe that people would put their lives at risk by being on the water at night with no way to be seen. Many years ago when I owned a boat I wanted people to clearly see where I was and where I was headed. Is it possible that being on a lake somehow makes it seem the rules are less important than if they were on the ocean?

[upthesaukee]

Prior to going out in the boat, if there is even a hint of being out past dark, I check my lights to make sure they are functioning, kinda like a "pre-flight" check on an aircraft. Also check for gas and oil in the external tank for the Optimax, life preservers handy, GPS up and running, maps handy, paddle still there, usually test the horn simply because it is next to the light switch and I almost always hit the wrong one ...

It certainly was a dark ride home on Sunday night from Wolfeboro, and I was glad to have my wife keeping an eye out, and she even asked if I knew where I was at one point!!!!! Thank god the answer was YES!!!!! I think she started to relax once we passed the infamous and hard-to-see black marker SE of treasure island and could see the flashing light outside WAM. I keep wanting to make my own waypoint mark for it, but forget about it during the day.

I enjoy watching fireworks by boat, and would go to the Weirs, but I'm just not sure I want to get in that much traffic that late at night after others may have been imbibing for most of the day and evening. Bottom line, be defensive to the nth degree, and when in doubt, throttle back and light it up!!!!!!!

[Silver Duck]

upthesaukee

I think that you're referring to marker #75 (the flashing light outside WAM). If so, the coordinates I use are N43 32.831', W71 17.593; they can be entered manually.

There's a wealth of waypoint info on the back of Bizer's map of the lake. It's well worth the time it takes to enter key waypoints into your GPS; or, you can buy an electronic waypoint file from them at a very reasonable price and save the manual entry time!

Silver Duck

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Coastal Laker

{snip} It turned out to be the stern light of a boat that was mounted low on the transom. As I went around it I could see that there was no masthead light (to complete the required 360 degree arc of white light). Just red and green in the front. Basically it was showing the light scheme of a sailboat, not a powerboat and with no aft visibility.

I've seen this at least 3 times this year. I don't know if the fools think the aft light is sufficient or don't realize that the all around light isn't on (duh, I pushed the switch with the light logo on it). It doesn't bother me so much that I don't have a visible white light when the nav lights are visible but, depending on the trim and speed, the aft light is often obscured by the wake and not visible even from directly behind the boat. So much for the 1 meter rule !

[Navman]

WELL WELL WELL Maybe Mr.Littlefield is not such a bad guy after all. I personally sit beside Paugus Bay atleast 3nights a week watching boats. Atleast 1or 2 every night comes through without a stern light. This is a huge problem Folks!!! Unfortunatley for Mr. Littlfield he did not have night vision goggles on. This same situation can happen to anyone of us. If it does, Hopefully the MP wont try to trump up the charges against us. As we can see for ourselves the jury didnt listen to the MP's BS!!! However, Mr Littlefield was held responsible for someone else not having there stern light on? Go figure.

[gtpelletier]

Poor example.
It seems you forgot the fact that he hit a 20+ ft. boat and left the scene.
Although he wasn't charged, it is fact he was drinking since noon and (my opinion only) if he had hung around he would be facing much different circumstances.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

I thought that subject had been pretty much beat to death in a previous thread. I presume anyone with factual knowledge made that information known to the proper parties in the case so it could be presented to the proper forum, a court of law.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Navman

WELL WELL WELL Maybe Mr.Littlefield is not such a bad guy after all. I personally sit beside Paugus Bay atleast 3nights a week watching boats. Atleast 1or 2 every night comes through without a stern light. This is a huge problem Folks!!! Unfortunatley for Mr. Littlfield he did not have night vision goggles on. This same situation can happen to anyone of us. If it does, Hopefully the MP wont try to trump up the charges against us. As we can see for ourselves the jury didnt listen to the MP's BS!!! However, Mr Littlefield was held responsible for someone else not having there stern light on? Go figure.

IMHO the the problem with Littlefield's defense re: no stern light is that he lacked credibility. He claimed no light but the victims claimed it was on. He left the scene, for reasons we can speculate on, claiming the "bump" was so minor he thought it was nothing. This latter assertion seems unbelievable. (and lets not forget the 3'rd boat trial baloon) So I'd guess that when the jury was asked whom to believe re: the stern light, they judged this claim along with the others and found it lacking as well.

[upthesaukee]

Silver Duck -- Thanks for the coordinates, but I did already get the electronic waypoint file from Bizer, which is excellent. I especially like the "safe area waypoints" such as east of Little Mark, off echo point, off the east end of Rattlesnake, etc.. The marker I'm refering to is off the "Alton bay" side of Treasure Island, and is a black marker. It is actually quite a way off the island, and at night can be troublesome to spot.

It's just that during the day, I see the marker and don't give it a thought. Later on that night, however, I'm asking myself "Self, why didn't you mosey up to that black spar and make a waypoint??????" Self says I don't want to know why!!!!!

Anyway, thanks for your comments, and safe boating to you and everyone else.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

{snip} It's just that during the day, I see the marker and don't give it a thought. Later on that night, however, I'm asking myself "Self, why didn't you mosey up to that black spar and make a waypoint??????" Self says I don't want to know why!!!!!

I know this "Self" guy. He says pretty much the same things to me, and he's none too polite about it either. This is probably as good a time as any to suggest to Bizer that he might consider making his marker locations available, for a fee TBD, as a file like he does his waypoint file. Then those of us deprived of C-Map (or even chart plotting) capabilities could at least have accurate locations for the non-lighted nav-aids. I can't imagine this would be much of a competitive disadvantage IP-wise as I'd think the marker locations are all well known by all the chart makers by now. Could be a win - win situation; we get to tell "Self" to shut up and Bizer gets a few more $$ to pay for gas. How about it Bizer ?

[Mee-n-Mac]

Thanks for the link. I had 36 mins to kill so I listened to it and I must say my initial reaction was to think that the inmates are running the asylum. There was 1 judge who admitted to knowing nothing aboout boats trying to adjudicate something wherein knowledge of boating was important. There was 1 judge who was trying to figure out if any & all cases wherein a boat collides with another would be considered criminal negligence by the state.
The attorney for the prosecution seemed to stumble upon the crux of her argument on this point but then seeming forgot about it to continually plead/whine about someother (IMHO) unimportant, or at least non-relevant, point. The defense attorney was, well what can you say, a stereotypical defense attorney. Not exactly a cogent, rational discussion on whether the trial was flawed or not.