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Originally Posted by Kamper
I'd change it to one of those yellow bug-light bulbs. So far as I know, a constant yellow light has no navigation meaning.
Good luck!
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Close, but solid yellows are used, too.
I already typed this once but for some reason it wouldn't post and I lost it (censorship?
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Quote:
270-D:7-a Shore Lights. – No person shall display, at any point on the shore visible from the water, any lights that resemble in color or configuration the required navigation lights of any vessel.
Source. 2006, 283:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2007.
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"Any vessel". Hmm, what about vessel engaged in towing? I'm sure you won't really see it on Winnipesaukee, but white, red, green, amber, and yellow lights are all used as "navigation lights" on vessels.
So this overbroad law makes all those lights illegal. Examples: any lighthouse, ironically; any light that isn't pink or purple (?) that is on land but visible from the water; Weirs Beach pier; Glendale/NHMP docks.
I am not a waterfront landowner, MP says that they will be enforcing this law? Exactly how so? Does an MPO who believes he sees a light in violation (and he is given a LOT of discretion with this law) think he can tie up to a landowner's dock, walk on his property, knock on the door of the house, and issue a citation? This seems to me to be well out of the jurisdiction of the NHMP. Sounds to me like an unfunded mandate. What if a landowner relies on a set of lights on land to safely navigate back to his docks? Maybe as compensation for shutting them off, the landowner would be given a chartplotter?
I've done a lot of boating at night (maybe...400 hours?), and I have never mistaken lights on land for lights on water or vice versa. Never any close calls, either. The key is knowing the waters one is operating in, slowing down if one sees anything abnormal or questionable, proper use of a compass vs. chart vs. sharp eyes that have had time to adjust to the dark, and doing all of this sober (last but definitely not least...). It really is not that hard.
Quote:
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The Marine Patrol would also remind boaters that any light being exhibited in addition to the prescribed navigation lights for their vessel is also illegal.
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Are you saying that the use of a spotlight is illegal and will be enforced as such? I have to strongly disagree. While a spotlight can be abused and blind an operator--like what a MPO did to me last summer when he pulled me over, then expected me to safely operate immediately after, I digress--it is an invaluable tool to have at night while navigating.
I think instead of giving waterfront owners these ridiculous mandates, we should be asking boaters to know where they're going. Why is everybody so happy to hear this news? "baaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"