Portable emergency nav lights - don't leave shore without them!
by Grant Headifen on 18 May 2010
Portable navigation lights - make sure you have them on board SW
I recently received a request from a student to point out more, throughout our courses, the need to have on board emergency portable battery powered navigation lights in case of electrical failure – and we couldn’t agree more.
An acquaintance of mine was nearly run down by a high speed ferry in the middle of the night in the cold waters of the Solent in the south of England. He had an electrical fire and had to shut down the breakers AT NIGHT.
Emergency portable white, red and green navigation lights are an essential safety item needed on board. If you own a boat then these should be on and checked for operation before the next time you go out. If you don’t own a boat, forward this message to friends that do.
Portable Navigation Lights are relatively inexpensive and a quick search on Google for portable navigation light will locate them or just visit to your local chandlery who are more than likely to have them in stock.
Some have suction mounts, as pictured, others have c-clamps and some mount on the pulpit railing.
This is just one of those 'durrh' things that we all tend to not think about, but it's always possible on a boat to have an electrical failure, and the chances of being hit at night when you are without lights are so high it’s a shudder to contemplate the consequences.
This 'Tip of the Week' was brought to you by Grant Headifen, from www.nauticed.org!Nauticed, the online sailing school. Check it out!
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