Use of Proper Lights

BIAC's Rules REQUIRE use of lights when it is dark. Good lights are tremendously important for safety in dark and low-light conditions.

BIAC provides access to commercial boating lights for both coached programs as well as ad-hoc use by members, the latter on a first-come basis. You must use lights on both the bow and stern for safety and as required by Coast Guard requirement. The diagram below shows the US Coast Guard lighting requirements.

Shell Lighting - Get Effective Lights!

BIAC's rowing program prefers RowKraft Beacon lights, available online through RowKraft. These large lights are rechargeable, are waterproof, and mount using bow number clips or a suction cup. Nearly all BIAC rowing shells have bow number clips installed both bow and stern for this purpose. Suction cups work well on sweep shells but are less effective on the more delicate and often angled or curved decks of smaller shells.

For team rowing, coxes or bow rowers are responsible for their boat's lighting. We keep lights for teams in the main boathouse. Please remember to a) Turn on and secure your lights to the shell before leaving the dock and b) Turn off and return the lights to the boathouse, use care to keep the internals dry, and plug them in for recharging..

Scullers, BIAC has lighting sets available near the sign-in sheet locker. There are a limited number of sets, note that many scullers choose to purchase their own lights to control the availability and maintenance of their lights. BIAC lights are on first-come basis, and snafus with recharging can inevitably occur with publicly available lights.

An alternative brand of small boat lights that is bright and effective is NaviSafe, which sells their lights with a variety of mounts. The suction mount Kayak and SUP Kit comes with both bow and stern lights mounted via good suction cups. These can usually be found on Amazon or other online merchants (though the link changes frequently enough it is not included here - Google is your friend).

Note that many other small lights are less visible. Small blinking lights are not enough, and many bike lights don't comply with Coast Guard coloring or angular visibility requirements. 

Please use good lights! Safety requires all of us seeing each other!