Best Navigation Lights Set Up for a 12 metre Sailboat - from Lopolight

Best Navigation Lights Set Up for a 12 metre Sailboat? © Lopolight

When operating between sunset and sunrise, or in low visibility conditions, navigation lights are essential for every seagoing vessel. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS for short) are the rules governing what lights are required on your vessel under different sailing conditions.

In this article we focus on an economical setup for boats between 7-12m (23-40ft), featuring Lopolight LED navigation lights.

Lopolight's LED navigation lights are designed to be fitted and forgotten, thanks to their durability, reliability and long lifespan. All Lopolights are finished to the highest specification, are type-approved and come with a 2.5m cable as standard, so it can be connected to your main power system, in a dry location. All lights are available in either silver or black finish and come with a range of mounting options

They have a huge collection of dedicated and combined lights for lighting applications on boats large and small, and for both commercial or private vessels.

The COLREGS for boats from 7-12m

The primary rules for sailing navigation lights are contained in Rules 22, 23, 25 and 30 of the COLREGS. The following is a simplification of the full rules to cover sailing vessels between 7-12m :

• 22 - Visibility of lights: The range of all lights should be 2 miles, except for sidelights which can be 1 mile
• 23 - Power driven vessels less than 12m shall exhibit an all-round white light and sidelights (red/green)
• 25 - Sailing vessels Underway shall exhibit sidelights (red/green) and a white sternlight
• 30 - Anchored Vessels under 50m shall exhibit an all-round white light

So those are the basics of which lights are needed for a boat under 12 meters. While it may seem like you will need to kit out your boat with a load of new electronics, that doesn't have to be the case! Lopolight has found the perfect solution for getting a safe and legal lighting set up, with just two navigation lights!

Masthead all-round white light

These LED navigation lights are designed to be fitted and forgotten, thanks to their durability, reliability and long lifespan - photo © Lopolight

For the mast head, Lopolight recommends the masthead mounted all-round white light (ref: 201-030), which emits light in 3 sectors - two forward and one aft. This is a very versatile 2m range light with two operating modes. It can provide either a stern light on its own, or a full 360 degrees white light. We will come on to why that is so useful below.

Sidelights

These LED navigation lights are designed to be fitted and forgotten, thanks to their durability, reliability and long lifespan - photo © Lopolight

For the sidelights, Lopolight recommends their 2m range combined red and green sidelights (ref: 101-004). This can be mounted on the pulpit but Lopolight suggests it should be positioned as high up on the mast as possible, however it must respect a rule that it should be at least 1m below the masthead light. This location helps to reduce glare on deck and improves visibility for other vessels.

How the two light combination works

So, say for example you're out for the day sailing in unclear conditions and need to turn on your sailing lights. In this sailing mode, COLREGS specifies that you need a stern light plus sidelights. Therefore, you can use the masthead light in sternlight mode, and your side lights.

The wind drops and you need to fire up "the donkey", so now you need an all-round white light and sidelights. All you have to do is switch the masthead light from sternlight mode to 360 degrees all-round and, with your sidelights still on, you immediately conform to the "vessel under power" regulations.

Once you reach your mooring destination, switch off your sidelights and you can rest easy knowing that Lopolight has you covered, with your all-round white anchor light.

Summary

There are many different ways to setup your navigation lights, for boats between 7-12m (23-40ft). By keeping it simple and using the two-light configuration described above, you are able focus on quality rather than quantity, with Lopolight's robust LED lights!

If you'd like to read more about other products in the Lopolight range and the company itself, see our blog on Lopolight.

If you have any questions about COLREGS or Lopolight products, please feel free to contact us by mail at , or click the link below to see our full range of navigation lights!