Do I need to display an anchor light while moored in a Mallorca mooring field?
I'm spending the night on a mooring buoy in a managed mooring field in Mallorca. Do I need my masthead anchor light on, or does being in an organised field make a difference?
Answer
Yes, normally you should display your all-round white anchor light overnight while lying to a mooring buoy in Mallorca. An organised mooring field does not, by itself, provide an exemption, so leave it on from sunset to sunrise unless you have confirmed that a specific local provision applies.
Check the field's instructions
Read the booking conditions, arrival instructions or notice supplied by the mooring operator. Establish whether you are on a swinging buoy in open water, within a harbour subject to particular directions, or secured to a pontoon or quay. The requirements can differ.
A buoy booking, a fee and lights along the shore do not mean your boat can remain unlit. Nor does the fact that neighbouring yachts have switched their lights off.
Ask the operator whether a specific harbour or maritime authority instruction covers overnight vessel lights. If they say no light is required, request the written provision. An assurance that "nobody bothers here" is a poor reason to switch yours off. If the position remains unclear tonight, display the light.
Collision rules and anchor lights
Start with Rule 30 of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, usually called COLREGs. For an ordinary cruising yacht or motorboat treated as lying at anchor, the usual arrangements are:
- Under 50 metres: one all-round white light where it can best be seen may replace the two-light arrangement required for larger vessels.
- Visibility: the anchor light on a vessel under 50 metres must be visible for at least two nautical miles.
- By day: the anchor signal is one black ball where it can best be seen, subject to applicable exceptions.
The lighting rules apply from sunset to sunrise. The prescribed lights must also be displayed in restricted visibility during daylight. Do not assume that a boat on a swinging mooring has the same status as a yacht berthed alongside a marina pontoon.
Rule 30 provides a limited exception for vessels under seven metres, but only when they are not in or near a narrow channel, fairway, anchorage, or waters where other vessels normally navigate. A busy mooring field is a poor place to assume that exception applies.