Visibility is a big issue on any cruising boat. And of course it always takes on more importance at night or in bad weather. A freighter or a fishing boat is something that you really want to keep at a distance if possible.

Our radar reflector is permanently mounted to the front of the mast just above our radar antenna. We have checked on our radar return with freighters occasionally and have always gotten a good report. If you were wondering how you might go about getting a report from a freighter, here is our method. We determine a few miles out how best to identify the freighter so they know we are calling them, usually by pinpointing their location. Then we put on a deep voice, grab the VHF, and say something along the lines of "southeast bound ship near xxx light, this is the sailing catamaran Zia on your port bow, do you copy?" When they come back we ask for a frequency change usually to channel 68 so everyone on 16 won't be forced to listen in. Then, after some small talk, we ask, "How are you painting us on radar, Captain?" Usually this is answered with a "We're paintin' you nice and bright, Captain". We don't always get a response but more often than not we have ended up chatting for a while with the freighter.

We have both masthead and hull navigation lights for extra backup. We generally sail with the masthead light since, due to its 80 foot height, it is visible from farther off. We have an anchor light with an energy saving LCD bulb that is both a blessing and a curse. It is great on the energy budget but it is only slightly brighter than a star so we are thinking of changing it back to a brighter bulb.

On top of our Tricolor masthead light is a strobe light. We have heard that these are illegal in the US since they may resemble a navaid light. We will only use it when we feel that someone is not seeing us and we want to be sure that we stand out. It is like a constant flashbulb going at the top of the mast and it works great.

On a moonless night passage from Anguilla to Guadaloupe, we had a visibility incident precipitated by a real "bonehead". We were sailing along at 0300 in the morning in great winds. I was really enjoying the ride on my nightwatch until I spotted a masthead light coming from my port side on a collision course. We were the stand on vessel by any standard so I held my course as this boat made no moves to keep clear. It seemed obvious to me that either the guy was asleep, crazy or playing some kind of game of chicken. As he got close and closer, and I got angrier and angrier, I decided to turn on my strobe light to maybe wake him up. As I reached to turn on the strobe and to my horror I discovered that my nav lights were OFF!! I have no idea how that may have happened but I immediately clicked them on. I must have looked like a Klingon ship just coming out of hyperspace or something. The poor guy on the other boat suddenly saw lights appear out of nowhere and he did a wild turn to change to a clearing course. Oddly enough, I think I might have heard a shouted "bonehead!!" float across the distance from his boat. I guess I really deserved that and since that pathetic performance, I have always double-double-checked my navlights with the word "bonehead" rattling around in my head.