On 7/30/07, Noel Davis <noel.davis_at_gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Well I have been just carrying a flashlight to "show" to other traffic > as is required. But when I get home I am going to dig out my white > light on a pole and make sure I can mount it behind me in my boat and > start using that in addition to the flashlight. You might want to rethink this. First of all, I am not a lawyer. However, I was a merchant marine officer. A white all-around light is legally displayed by an anchored vessel and if you show this light on a moving kayak and there is an incident, the other person will have grounds for shifting his liability to you. If I were another boat in a collision with you I would claim that I thought it was a stationary anchored vessel and the fact that it was actually moving was not obvious until it was too late to maneuver to avoid a collision. I would also point out that the operator of the kayak did not use a flashlight as the USCG regulations stipulate. I'm thinking I'd get off. Kayaks are vessels and subject to the Rules of the Road. You can choose to mount traditional running (navigational) lights or carry a white light to be displayed to ward off a collision. No other *legal* nav light system is available to you and using anything else may increase your liability. There is another good reason for not doing this. I think everyone has had the experience of taking a compass bearing, determining a course, and marking it with a building, a mountain top, or a tower and using that as a guide rather than continuously watching the compass. In fact, the Boy Scouts recommend and teach this method. But a fast-moving powerboat at night can quickly overrun a slow-moving kayak. If the operator has mistaken a steady light on that kayak for something on shore and used it as a temporary guide, then the powerboat may be upon the kayak faster than the operator expected. Even a sober operator can be caught unawares by this. Certainly, having "tail lights" on a group of kayakers makes it easier to keep track of them. But I would *never*, under any circumstances, install and show an all-around light from my kayak. Especially in an area populated with powerboats. I would be too afraid it would make me a target. Instead I would make sure I had a legal light, stay as close to shore as possible, and remain as alert as possible to the movements of boat traffic. Craig Jungers Royal City, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jul 31 2007 - 08:25:30 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:25 PDT