Pilot Vessel Lights — Rule 29

What the rule requires

A vessel engaged on pilotage duty exhibits two all-round lights in a vertical line at or near the masthead, the upper white and the lower red 33 CFR §83.29. The International text reads the same COLREGs Rule 29. A question headed "(Both International & Inland)" on the identity lights therefore carries no trap; answer it identically whichever regime the stem names.

All-round means an unbroken light through 360 degrees 33 CFR §83.21. There is no arc to reason about on the identity pair. You see white over red from ahead, from the beam and from the quarter, which is why the rule sites them at or near the masthead.

White over red, pilot ahead. The words of the mnemonic run in the order the lights read, top down. Reverse the order and the display is no longer a pilot vessel under Rule 29.

Everything else in the rule turns on three conditions :

• Engaged on pilotage duty, underway. Identity pair, plus sidelights and a sternlight. That is the complete list; no masthead light appears anywhere in Rule 29, whatever the vessel's length.
• Engaged on pilotage duty, at anchor. The identity pair stays up, and the anchor light, lights, or shape prescribed in Rule 30 are added to it. Sidelights and a sternlight are tied to the word underway and belong to that condition alone.
• Not engaged on pilotage duty. She shows the lights or shapes prescribed for a vessel of her length, and the white over red comes down. A pilot boat ferrying crew, shifting berth after her last job, or steaming home for the night is an ordinary vessel of her length until she takes up duty again.

Read the condition in Rule 29(a)(ii) closely. It reads underway, with no qualification about making way through the water. A pilot boat lying stopped on station off the sea buoy, waiting on an inbound ship, keeps her sidelights and sternlight lit.

She anchors to wait out a delayed inbound ship. Which of her lights change?

Sidelights and sternlight are extinguished, since those are prescribed only when underway. The white over red remains, and the Rule 30 anchor light, lights, or shape are added . Both halves are required for the point. A distractor offering anchor lights alone, or the identity pair alone, fails on the same sentence of the rule.

When the lights must be shown

Between sunset and sunrise the prescribed lights are mandatory, and during those hours no other lights may be exhibited unless they cannot be mistaken for the prescribed lights, do not impair their visibility or distinctive character, and do not interfere with keeping a proper lookout 33 CFR §83.20. Two further provisions in the same section are examinable: the prescribed lights, if carried, must also be exhibited from sunrise to sunset in restricted visibility, and they may be exhibited at any other time deemed necessary. A deck floodlight that washes out the lower red light is a Rule 20 failure, not simply poor seamanship.

Rule 29 prescribes lights for pilotage duty and prescribes no day shape.

Navigation lights and shapes may be lowered if necessary to pass under a bridge.

Ranges she must be able to be seen at

Minimum visibility ranges are identical under both regimes for every light Rule 29 puts on a pilot vessel 33 CFR §83.22, COLREGs Rule 22. Work from the length band the question gives you.

• 50 metres or more. All-round 3 miles, sidelight 3 miles, sternlight 3 miles.
• 12 metres or more but less than 50 metres. All-round 2 miles, sidelight 2 miles, sternlight 2 miles.
• Less than 12 metres. All-round 2 miles and sternlight 2 miles, but the sidelight drops to 1 mile. That is the single figure across the three bands that falls out of step with its neighbours, and examiners build options around it.

These are regulatory minimums tied to luminous intensity. Nothing in them can be worked out at the desk; they have to be carried in.

Where the two regimes actually diverge

Rule 29 is common ground. The divergence sits in the annex that spaces the vertical pair.

Inland, on a vessel of 20 metres or more in length, lights carried in a vertical line are spaced not less than 1 metre apart, with the lowest not less than 4 metres above the hull 33 CFR §84.02. International Annex I requires not less than 2 metres apart on a vessel of the same length, with the lowest again not less than 4 metres above the hull COLREGs Rule 38. Below 20 metres the two agree: not less than 1 metre apart, lowest not less than 2 metres above the gunwale.

Siting counts as much as spacing. All-round lights must not be obscured by masts, topmasts or structures within angular sectors of more than 6 degrees, and where a single light cannot achieve that, two suitably positioned or screened lights may be used so as to appear as one at a minimum distance of one nautical mile 33 CFR §84.15.

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Telling it apart

Three cases, sorted by one question: is she engaged on pilotage duty, and if she is, is she underway or at anchor? Length and propulsion do not enter into it.

• Engaged, underway. White over red at or near the masthead, plus sidelights and a sternlight. Commonly misfiled by adding a masthead light to a large pilot vessel on the grounds that she is power-driven and over 50 metres.
• Engaged, at anchor. White over red, plus the Rule 30 anchor light, lights, or shape. Two ways candidates go wrong here: carrying sidelights and sternlight over from the underway case, and treating the identity lights as a substitute for anchor lights instead of an addition to them.
• Not engaged. Lights or shapes for a vessel of her length, and nothing at all from Rule 29(a). The rule keys on the duty, not the hull.

You sight, at night, two all-round lights in a vertical line — white above red — with no sidelights and no sternlight visible from any bearing, and an anchor light. What is she?

A vessel engaged on pilotage duty, at anchor 33 CFR §83.29. The missing sidelights and sternlight confirm the identification rather than contradicting it. Those lights are prescribed when underway, and their absence alongside an anchor light is precisely the anchored pilot vessel display.

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Working a question

You are operating a 16-metre pilot boat. It is 30 minutes after sunset, you are on station off the entrance, and you are about to work an inbound ship. Establish what you must exhibit.

1. Is she engaged on pilotage duty? Yes, which switches Rule 29(a) on. Two all-round lights go up at or near the masthead, white over red 33 CFR §83.29.
2. Underway or at anchor? Underway, even lying stopped waiting for the ship to close. Sidelights and a sternlight are added.
3. Does a masthead light belong in the answer? No. Rule 29(a) enumerates what she exhibits and a masthead light is not in the enumeration. This step decides the question, because an option reading "masthead light, sidelights, sternlight and white over red" will be sitting there looking complete.
4. Are her lights of adequate range? At 16 metres she sits in the 12-to-under-50-metre band: all-round lights 2 miles, sidelight 2 miles, sternlight 2 miles 33 CFR §83.22.
5. Is the vertical pair spaced correctly? Under 20 metres, and under either regime, not less than 1 metre apart, with the lower light not less than 2 metres above the gunwale 33 CFR §84.02.
6. The ship is delayed two hours and you anchor. Sidelights and sternlight out, white over red stays, Rule 30 anchor light added.
7. Pilot delivered, you are running back to the station and off duty. White over red comes down, and from that moment she shows the lights prescribed for a vessel of her length.

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Where candidates lose the point

Colour order accounts for more lost marks on this topic than anything else. The pair is routinely offered in both orders within the same question, so a candidate who memorised two colours without the sequence is guessing. Fix the sequence, not the colours: upper white, lower red.

The masthead light distractor works because the reasoning behind it sounds correct. The vessel is power-driven, she is underway, so masthead lights follow. Rule 29(a) does not follow that logic. It lists two all-round lights, sidelights and a sternlight, and a candidate who treats the list as exhaustive cannot be drawn.

The last common failure is collapsing "at anchor" and "off duty" into one idea. Anchoring adds anchor lights to the identity pair; going off duty removes the identity pair altogether. A related slip on the same stem is quoting 3 miles for the all-round lights of a small pilot boat, when 3 miles belongs to a vessel of 50 metres or more.

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Check yourself

(Both International & Inland) At night, a vessel engaged on pilotage duty and underway must exhibit which lights?

Two all-round lights in a vertical line at or near the masthead, upper white and lower red, plus sidelights and a sternlight 33 CFR §83.29, COLREGs Rule 29. No masthead light is prescribed.

(Both International & Inland) A vessel of 30 metres engaged on pilotage duty is underway. What minimum visibility range is required of her red all-round light?

2 miles. She falls in the band of 12 metres or more but less than 50 metres, where a white, red, green or yellow all-round light must be visible at 2 miles 33 CFR §83.22.

(Both International & Inland) A pilot vessel on pilotage duty shows sidelights and a sternlight when?

At any time she is underway. Rule 29(a)(ii) attaches those lights to the condition underway without qualification as to making way, and prescribes nothing of the kind for a vessel at anchor .

(Both International & Inland) It is 1000 in dense fog. Your pilot boat is on station, on pilotage duty and underway. Are you required to exhibit lights?

Yes. The prescribed lights, if carried, must be exhibited from sunrise to sunset in restricted visibility 33 CFR §83.20. White over red, sidelights and sternlight all go on in daylight fog.

(Inland Only) Your pilot vessel is 24 metres in length. What is the minimum vertical spacing between the white and red all-round lights?

Not less than 1 metre, with the lowest of them not less than 4 metres above the hull 33 CFR §84.02. International Annex I would require not less than 2 metres between the lights on the same vessel COLREGs Rule 38, and this is the one place a Rule 29 question turns on which regime applies.

(Both International & Inland) Your 45-metre pilot vessel has finished for the night and is no longer on pilotage duty. What must you exhibit while returning to your berth?

The lights or shapes prescribed for a vessel of her length . The white-over-red identity lights must not be shown, because Rule 29(a) applies only while engaged on pilotage duty.

(Both International & Inland) You are approaching a berth and see white over red at or near the masthead, sidelights, a sternlight, and a bright deck floodlight illuminating the after working area. Which part of that display is a compliance problem?

The floodlight, if it impairs the visibility or distinctive character of the prescribed lights or interferes with keeping a proper lookout. Between sunset and sunrise no other lights may be exhibited except those that cannot be mistaken for the prescribed lights and do not impair them . The navigation lights themselves are the correct display for a vessel engaged on pilotage duty, underway.