Wingsails and nav lights
Been thinking.
For a sail driven proa I had settled pretty much on a masthead combination of two tricolor lights and an all around anchor light made up with appropriate leds and resistors. The three modules could be operated with a four wire cable and was the simplest solution I’d come up with. BTW use flat top leds, they have a better beam spread for this application.
Such an approach won’t cut it for a wingsail. Best that I’ve come up with so far is an anchor light at top of wing with battery and switch at base of wing. Running/stern lights mounted at each bow, on a pedestal in Nomad’s case to be above the rudders.
Would be open to any suggestion to simplify the setup.
Cheers,
Skip
Two factors:
- Being seen.
- Complying with COLREGs
To be seen, a very good all-round white on the masthead. (which complies if less than 7m long)
for COLREGs, 2 sets of red, green & white lights. Or one set of battery powered moveable lights.
I have a strip of several very bright LEDs, red, blue and green, set close together (1/4”?) I have a controller box as well. These cost me less than $5 online. I can set the controller box to manufacture any perceptual color, just like a television or computer screen (white is an equal combination of all 3 colors)
Why not mount and marinize three of these assemblies, facing right, left and aft, then automate it to remain aligned with water flow—only the light colors rotate as appropriate, the physical device is affixed to the wingsail and can point anywhere it likes?
Dave
Clever!
Probably over-simplified, but having played with proas since the 1970’s, I’ve wrestled more than once on the whole “Which side gets the green light? Where does the registration go?” etc.
I decided that the named parts of the boat shouldn’t change when you shunt for safety reasons (when you yell at the crew to do something, it should be unequivocal), while at the same time the system should conform as much as possible to “conventional” nomenclature. —Oh, and nav lights should work as expected—see green on a dark night and know what the other boat is doing, etc. 😉
Through trial and error (and endless discussions with others, both before and after the Internet came into being), I decided that the coordinate system ought to be pilot-centric. In a conventional boat, the pilot usually faces the pointy part of the boat, towards the typically oncoming water. In a pacific proa, the pilot usually faces to the leeward side, and still watches water coming toward him, from further “forward.” In both cases he swings his head to observe his boat and environs, but nominally, they sit at right angles to each other.
OK, so I therefore define “forward” as directly in line with the pilot’s body, at right angles to the vaka, looking out to sea amidships. I define “after” as the opposite, thus perpendicular to the ama, off in that direction. Neither of these terms have anything to do with how the boat is moving—just like any other boat—when my “conventional” boat backs up, does the “forward” part of the structure suddenly become the “after” part? Does the “bow” become the “stern” just because the water flow is reversed? Of course not. So it is with proas; these are coordinate axes, not directions of motion.
I know that this makes no sense in the parlance of what “is,” rather it makes sense in terms of what “ought to be.” Had Polynesians learned to smelt bronze before Eastern Europeans did, we’d all be doing it this way.
Observe some consequences:
The “starboard bow” is on my right while I am facing “forward,” and is in fact functioning as the bow when I am on starboard tack. Perfectly logical. The “port bow” is on my left, and is similarly logical.
The nav lights are set as you’d expect—at 90 degrees to “conventional” boats. Sighting a green light on such a boat from a distance gives me the same navigational information I expect from every boat—that boat is moving from my left to my right, and is approaching me. A white light visible from that same boat informs me that he is moving away from me.
And where does that pesky reg sticker go? Why, on the “forward” side of both the “port” and “starboard” hulls, just as as the law demands—meaning on the leeward side of both bows. “But the cop can’t see it from the entire windward side of the boat!” you say? Isn’t it the same way now—you cannot read a boat’s reg number—and the owner has no requirement to make it readable—from astern.
OK, if you don’t enjoy conversations with water police, put 4 reg numbers on the boat—but make sure to put that license sticker on the “forward” side of both bows! 😉
Dave
I have a strip of several very bright LEDs, red, blue and green, set close together (1/4”?) I have a controller box as well. These cost me less than $5 online. I can set the controller box to manufacture any perceptual color, just like a television or computer screen (white is an equal combination of all 3 colors)
Why not mount and marinize three of these assemblies, facing right, left and aft, then automate it to remain aligned with water flow—only the light colors rotate as appropriate, the physical device is affixed to the wingsail and can point anywhere it likes?
Dave
Thanks Dave, that was the lateral thinking I was looking for, had faith that it was there just couldn’t find it myself. Think it may end up as one circular loop on top of wing with micro controller coupled with a position sensor at base of mast. Most interesting.
Skip
Probably over-simplified, but having played with proas since the 1970’s, I’ve wrestled more than once on the whole “Which side gets the green light? Where does the registration go?” etc.
I decided that the named parts of the boat shouldn’t change when you shunt for safety reasons (when you yell at the crew to do something, it should be unequivocal), while at the same time the system should conform as much as possible to “conventional” nomenclature. —Oh, and nav lights should work as expected—see green on a dark night and know what the other boat is doing, etc. 😉
Through trial and error (and endless discussions with others, both before and after the Internet came into being), I decided that the coordinate system ought to be pilot-centric. In a conventional boat, the pilot usually faces the pointy part of the boat, towards the typically oncoming water. In a pacific proa, the pilot usually faces to the leeward side, and still watches water coming toward him, from further “forward.” In both cases he swings his head to observe his boat and environs, but nominally, they sit at right angles to each other.
OK, so I therefore define “forward” as directly in line with the pilot’s body, at right angles to the vaka, looking out to sea amidships. I define “after” as the opposite, thus perpendicular to the ama, off in that direction. Neither of these terms have anything to do with how the boat is moving—just like any other boat—when my “conventional” boat backs up, does the “forward” part of the structure suddenly become the “after” part? Does the “bow” become the “stern” just because the water flow is reversed? Of course not. So it is with proas; these are coordinate axes, not directions of motion.
I know that this makes no sense in the parlance of what “is,” rather it makes sense in terms of what “ought to be.” Had Polynesians learned to smelt bronze before Eastern Europeans did, we’d all be doing it this way.
Observe some consequences:
The “starboard bow” is on my right while I am facing “forward,” and is in fact functioning as the bow when I am on starboard tack. Perfectly logical. The “port bow” is on my left, and is similarly logical.
The nav lights are set as you’d expect—at 90 degrees to “conventional” boats. Sighting a green light on such a boat from a distance gives me the same navigational information I expect from every boat—that boat is moving from my left to my right, and is approaching me. A white light visible from that same boat informs me that he is moving away from me.
And where does that pesky reg sticker go? Why, on the “forward” side of both the “port” and “starboard” hulls, just as as the law demands—meaning on the leeward side of both bows. “But the cop can’t see it from the entire windward side of the boat!” you say? Isn’t it the same way now—you cannot read a boat’s reg number—and the owner has no requirement to make it readable—from astern.
OK, if you don’t enjoy conversations with water police, put 4 reg numbers on the boat—but make sure to put that license sticker on the “forward” side of both bows! 😉
Dave
I think you are correct regarding the sense of position for proas. Less sure about the nav lights, forging new pathways thru bureaucracies not my bag.
BTW you would have enjoyed the rather terse conversation with a boatload of Texas game wardens a few years ago on Aransas Bay regarding the lack of registration numbers on P52. I claimed ignorance, my 24’ canoe didn’t need numbers and this was an experimental boat ( a claim hard to deny). In the end I promised to register the boat as soon as I got off the water, which I did. I was at my dead level politest during the encounter, the lead game wardens body language made it obvious that he really wanted to set me in the Rockport jail if I gave him the least little excuse.
Skip