StormJib said:
Once you learn to use night vision and your ears. You will be safer with those lights off. At night in the anchorage it is always best to stay clear of the other boats using your night vision and your ears. Once anyone turns on a white flashlight you are blind and that is why you are missing the moorings and need the light to try and search for them in the dark. Yes, you can have the light ready to turn on to alert another boat only when you must. Once someone powers up a flashlight it will take you a long time to get any night vision back. The way to go is to keep a proper lookout with the handheld blinding lights off in a dinghy.
I disagree. Maybe back in the day when you rowed your dinghy ashore it was safe without a light using your ears and night vision. Today there are other boats moving fast through the anchorages including ferries, go fast boats and dinghys. Yeah, your keen night vision might detect them while they are bearing down on you but without a light they can't see you and in the event of a collision you will be found negligent. Plus, the outboard from your dinghy makes it difficult to hear approaching boats. We put a person on the bow with a flashlight pointed forward scanning the anchorage in front of us.
