Anchoring Ball - Day Shape

[Alex F]

After all the years I’ve never carried and used one. I’ve seeing probably a handful one being displayed on mega yachts, but never on any recreational vessel.

However, after reading some stories and being in a situation I thought that might be a time to look in to this a bit deeper.

Quick Story #1.
A couple is enjoying their stay at anchor. Another power boat cruises on plane, the captains doesn’t pay attention and crashes into the anchored vessel. The power boat which crashed into the anchored vessel had causalities. A couple in the anchored vessel sustained minor injuries. As the lawsuit is unfolding, the couple from anchored vessel are spending their money on attorney fees and are concerned as they’re being held liable, based on the argument presented by plaintiff’s attorney, that they’ve broken a rule 30 and didn’t display their Day Shape Anchor Ball.

Quick Story #2 (I’m copying this from another board).
“…..a cruise ship lost it's steering and ploughed into several sailboats in the designated anchorage. The only one that was compensated was the one flying a day anchor signal. I have used one ever since…”

My personal experience:
Many of us have seen or were involved in a situation of someone running our anchor lines. This season, we were involved in situation when while anchored in a raft (at night), a group of drunk men were running on plane in the total darkness, no nav lights. As they zip around and head toward our raft, they came very close and while cruising very fast on plane, they’ve collided with our stern anchor line and came to a complete stop. Luckily, no one was injured and the bunch of drunken idiots just jumped back on plane and went about their business.

This incident had me thinking about lots of “what ifs” and while we were 100% compliant (at least to my knowledge) by having anchor lights along with some other deck and cockpit lights on, the first two stories got me really thinking about the compliance during the daylight.

So, the question is, do we continue taking the chance or should we start displaying Day Shape Anchor Ball?

Any thoughts?




The size of the ball is regulated...following from CFRs (inland rules)
§84.11 Shapes.

(a) Shapes shall be black and of the following sizes:
(1) A ball shall have a diameter of not less than 0.6 meter;
(2) A cone shall have a base diameter of not less than 0.6 meter and a height equal to its diameter;
(3) A diamond shape shall consist of two cones (as defined in paragraph (a)(2) of this section) having a common base.
(b) The vertical distance between shapes shall be at least 1.5 meter.
(c) In a vessel of less than 20 meters in length shapes of lesser dimensions but commensurate with the size of the vessel may be used and the distance apart may be correspondingly reduced.

 

[Pietro]

Sometimes I actually bother to exhibit the "ball", sometimes I'm just too lazy.

But it's mandatory and I know people who have been fined for not complying... that's the Med!
There are also lots of even lazier sailors that forget to stow the ball away once they are back underway :smt021

Good point in case of an accident though!

 

[Henry Boyd]

Alex,

With the exception of anchoring where there is commercial traffic, there may be no real safety advantage. After all, a day marker is only going to be of value if viewed by people who know what it is, and what it signifies. As Forrest's Momma used to say, "You can't fix stupid".

While the two stories seem frightening, I'm not sure how accurate they are, particularly the second. In our little town we probably have somewhere around 2000 moorings located in several designated mooring/anchorage fields. None us are required to display anchor lights (although many us of do when we are aboard at night), or day markers. A couple of years ago, a boat broke free of its mooring at the local yacht club and bounced off a few other boats in the mooring field, including a friend's tuna boat. The collision sprung the rub rail joint on my buddy's boat, ripped off a custom made spreader, and trashed one side of the tuna tower. The runaway boat owner's insurance paid for everything without contest. Granted, if you are anchoring in a non designated anchorage area it may be a different story. My thought is that displaying an anchor day marker may not help prevent an accident, but certainly can't hurt and goes a long way to showing diligence on your part.

Henry

 

[Alex F]

Yes, I've heard that in Europe it's enforced and many do their duty and display it. Unfortunately, here in US it's being ignored. I've never heard of it being mentioned in any classes I took. It just seems like it falls in to a category of "nothing is being done until there's an accident with casualties".

 

[lawndoctor]

Seems like cheap insurance in case something bad happens and someone raises it as a legal issue. http://www.westmarine.com/buy/plastimo--folding-anchor-ball--217559 But where exactly do you put it?

 

[Alex F]

Alex,

With the exception of anchoring where there is commercial traffic, there may be no real safety advantage. After all, a day marker is only going to be of value if viewed by people who know what it is, and what it signifies. As Forrest's Momma used to say, "You can't fix stupid".

While the two stories seem frightening, I'm not sure how accurate they are, particularly the second. In our little town we probably have somewhere around 2000 moorings located in several designated mooring/anchorage fields. None us are required to display anchor lights (although many us of do when we are aboard at night), or day markers. A couple of years ago, a boat broke free of its mooring at the local yacht club and bounced off a few other boats in the mooring field, including a friend's tuna boat. The collision sprung the rub rail joint on my buddy's boat, ripped off a custom made spreader, and trashed one side of the tuna tower. The runaway boat owner's insurance paid for everything without contest. Granted, if you are anchoring in a non designated anchorage area it may be a different story. My thought is that displaying an anchor day marker may not help prevent an accident, but certainly can't hurt and goes a long way to showing diligence on your part.

Henry

Henry,

I totally agree with you.

The story #2 did sound a bit conflicting with the following section of Rule 30:

(g) A vessel of less than 20 meters in length, when at anchor in a special anchorage area designated by the Secretary, shall not be required to exhibit the anchor lights and shapes required by this Rule.

However, the biggest issue is that very often (or even most of the time) people anchor in non-designated and officially charted anchorage zones. So for this reasons it's a good habit to develop.

You're that most likely, this won't provide much of extra safety. Quite frankly, if one crashes into anchored vessel by not seeing it, obviously he won't see the ball either and will have zero clue what it is.

On the other hand, the main purpose (as I understand it) of displaying the day shape ball, is to alert those captains (those who know it's meaning) that a vessel is not underway, as it's anchored or grounded. But, as implied in my original post, the reason #1 is to be compliant with the Nav rules to avoid being held liable in the event of an accident.

 

[Alex F]

Seems like cheap insurance in case something bad happens and someone raises it as a legal issue. http://www.westmarine.com/buy/plastimo--folding-anchor-ball--217559 But where exactly do you put it?

You're not kidding, this is the best $15-$20 a boater can spend in case there's an issue.

Where to place it, is the question I was looking to discuss as well. It's not a 30 seconds event to jump on the radar arch of an express style cruiser, so getting on the top of a bridge boat is even more challenging. So, I was thinking of two possible places:

1. Attach some kind of a short post on the ball and attach it to the very end of the bow rail (for the lack of better term), where we fly burgee.
2. Use the same short post and attach (with some quick release method) to VHF antenna.

If you guys have better ideas, let's hear them.

 

[2000SR380]

We have not used ours on the 380 yet, but on our sailboats we were religious about the 'anchor ball' (Day Shape) if anchored during the day. Once at KFOG Kaboom, we were in the boat soup, so bad you could almost jump from boat to boat. There were still idiots sailing or motoring through the fleet. We left the engine running, and several times had to back down, taking the slack out of the (all chain)rode, or move sideways to avoid collision. Even though we were obviously anchored, in a sea of obviously anchored boats. And showing the correct Day Shape! We witnessed several collisions, had two really close calls, and could not find one other anchor ball. The VHF was alive with profanities. My observation is that Marine Law likes to divide responsibility. As was mentioned in the OP, if they can find you did something wrong (ie not fly the correct day shape, not sound a five blast warning, not have proper lookout, whatever) then they can assign some percentage of the blame to you. We had a sailboat hit us, in our C36, while we were drifting (not enough forward momentum to steer). The guy just rammed us because we were the 'give way vessel' and he was on Starboard Tack. Apparently he had never read rule 17. Other boats in the vicinity called us at fault. What saved us was the person sitting at the helm of my boat at the time of the crash was a fully certified, accredited sailing instructor! Kevin is just a good friend, but he was loaded with paper that said he knew what he was doing. Also, I was the one who radioed the Coast Guard and our boat had gone through the annual CGA inspection so all our ducks on-board were in order. After all that, the Coast Guard still assigned us like 10 percent of the blame (maybe because we chose to leave the dock that day? Not sure). We were running the chart plotter and (even though I could not show what the other boat did) the recorded track was enough to confirm our course and speed, and show the other sailor's story was 'incorrect'. All said, we paid our own deductible and fixed our own boat. For another interesting read of skewed maritime justice, check out (http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/justice.asp). The moral of the story is get an anchor ball and use it when you are on the hook. It marks you as a savvy mariner, to other knowledgeable captains, and is one small point in your favor if your boat gets rammed by some moron, while you are having lunch.

 

[Sea Gull]

I attach mine to the bow rail. Admittedly it's invisible from behind the boat, but it's the most convenient place for me. The best place would be from a yardarm or staff on the hard top.

 

[Alex F]

I attach mine to the bow rail. Admittedly it's invisible from behind the boat, but it's the most convenient place for me. The best place would be from a yardarm or staff on the hard top.

That's where I saw a mega yacht flying their ball while it was docked in Newport with anchor down securing the bow.

 

[katricol]

Good post Alex