LED Lighting Goes Beserk

Super Yacht Savannah Lights Up The Harbour, Nicely

This year in the Caribbean I've often been delighted, though more often offended, by the incredible displays of light pumped out of sailing and power vessels at night time. It seems that the energy efficiency of LED lamps has launched boat owners on a new quest to throw light into the water and the sky.

While Savannah did it in a classy way - a silky curtain of white light below the waterline, in a perfect 360 degree arc around the vessel - others were less tactful.

This catamaran owner obviously spent a lot of money installing a large number of LED lights, however the color scheme was kind of  off-putting, or as cruising friends said, "Oh Puke"! It would be cheaper and more honest to simply paint the side of the boat with "Look At Me!".

While the big boats lead the pack in this new trend, even smaller cruising vessels are starting to compete. In Trinidad we berthed next to an older Beneteau 37, a lady of a "certain age", that had applied new make-up. She had (wait for it) blue underwater LED's in an arc around the stern, plus recessed LED strip lighting along both sides of the salon, which changed color every minute or so. Yep, one minute the interior was green, next minute it was red, then blue and so on - all it needed was a shiny pole and some dancers to complete the picture. Please, spare me.

OK, enough griping - we're off to Cuba today, 570 nautical miles West North West and downwind all the way, we hope. Our next post should come from Puerto De Vita on the north coast of Cuba, if we can find some internet there.