Harbor Navigation Lights MKII Version 1.0

Calling at the harbor at night

As a skipper, maintain your clarity and energy to be sharp at the end of the trip. Calling the port is often the most difficult part of the journey! Lampposts and other background lighting on the shore make it difficult to recognize the lights of the harbor.

Use the detailed map

Only the detailed maps provide sufficient information about the lights in the port. If you see a light that you cannot find on the map, there is usually a map with even more detail.

Light line

At larger seaports there is often a line of lights: two lights that you have to keep directly underneath each other to follow the channel to the port. With our 'small' flat-bottomed boats we deliberately sail slightly next to the lights line, to stay out of the waters of ferries and deep-sea vessels.

'Red on red' and 'green on green'

The red and green harbor lights are always 'fixed lights', i.e. without flashing. These are sometimes difficult to find among all the other fixed lights on shore such as lampposts or abundant work lighting in the port.
Once you have found the harbor lights, check whether you are approaching from the right side. Maybe there is another dam that you have to go around to enter. When entering, you always have the red harbor light on your 'red side', i.e. on your port side. You then sail 'red on red' and 'green on green'. If you see the lights the other way around, you first have to go around a harbor breakwater.

In the harbour...

When entering, keep a close eye on the other lights in the harbor to orient yourself. Choose a clear and easy mooring place and don't forget to turn off your navigation lights!