Beacons lighting and jumpinpin

[thesimmos]

Went out to Jumpinpin from Steiglitz.
Started with it pouring down but was lucky to be able to hide in my cabin while driving. Had a friend with me helping while we used beacon to beacon.. looked easy enough..

first few beacons where somewhat easy then it got worse and worse having to spend alot of time searching with 150 watt spotlights for 5 minute intervals, or heading in hopefully the direction to the next beacon turning on and off our search lights hoping to have a glimpse of the faded reflectors on the marker we where looking for..
eventually we would find the next..

Now and then we would see the odd boat heading back at amazing speeds conscidering how fine these channels where and shallow.. Along with it being so dark.. Even if i knew the area like the back of my hand i couldnt go that fast... I did note alot didnt even have lights except for a torch.. so if i didnt use my own spot lights to show them up and they didnt have noisey little 2 strokes pushing them along then it could have been a rescue operation....

Ended up finding one of the last X markers...this is the one where u turn left then head on towards the pin.

To my suprise as i got closer i noticed a very very dim light right against it ... ended up being a beautiful nice black impossible to see riviera anchored right up[ near this channel marker..

bugger me!!!..

He couldnt have been closer to the marker or any further in the channel his boat was nose near the X marker and the tail almost near the shore... yes a big boat... anchored for the night in the wrong place...

As i went along further i noticed a huge wharf in front of me!!!! I hadnt seen this last time i was out here... (disorientated)
I motored slowly closer to 40 by 15 foot pontoon.. with a solar garden light on it. It had a small shed a fire bin (not lit) along with some fishing rod holders...

Amazing!!!....
amazingly dangerous that is!!!
Ghost ship??
a few stunned F words came from us both...

after this we motored along to the pins X mark to find a small tin boat who ever so kindly turned on his torch just as I was about to run into him...If you where him your an idiot...

Went around him and parked just back fromn the X mark leaving my anchor light on and lighting up our fluro lantern

as we heard each boat come down the river we would hear slowing down and then a spot light shone on that barge... I could also hear people saying similar to us..

"what the f is this doing here?!?!?"

in summary..
**a few even solar lights would be nice mounted on these beacon markers as dim as they are they are better than reflectors. I think i saw 6 for $25 the other day at bunnings.

**If you have a boat at night when your underway make sure you are well lit so other boaties can see you... your risking my life not just yours.. You have no idea how angry you idiots make me feel...

** If you own that black riviera dont park right on top of channel markers or beacons... next time you may find some empty stubbies being hurlled from 100 meters to help wake you and remind you...

**fishing pontoon has anyone seen this before?? Who owns it??? why is it there?? If you know who owns it please ask them to light it up alot better... otherwise i am sure some curious guys like the ones i saw the other night might find it funny to sink it or put petrol on it to keep it nicely lit until it sinks.. I have seen it done and at least it removes the problem not that i agree with the idea..

Fishing was crap by the way... got 1 small flat head.. a small whiting.. a tiney ray and a shovel nose, all where returned to the deep...

[thesimmos]

Also forgot to mention lines of crap pots in the channels... I am wondering if there is any law from me collecting these since they are illegally placed... if not i may conscider just cutting the float and tossing it to the side.... I too like to crab but i dont put them in the channel!!

[Angla]

I have lit my boat up like a christmas tree when travelling , just so I can see those IDIOTS. 50 watt search light + 2 x 50 watt side spot lights, fluoro deck light and the standard navigation lights.

They are everywhere aren't they.

Angla

[seatime]

It's a real shame this sort of stuff is still so common. The total disregard for everyones safety! They can't be oblivious to the dangers, just pig ignorant. Not so sure if the non-displacement mode at night is a good idea in the pin area anymore.

[Blackened]

G'day
this happens everywhere and it's downright dangerous. You can only enforce the law further with the aid of fisheries and the water police.... but good luck in getting them down there.
Dave

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

when you left steiglitz, I assume you went north, around the back of Short Is.

Can you place the position of that pontoon ?

From your desciption it seems to be east of Mackenzies channel, between Short & Crusoe.

My personal favourite at the pin (in addition to small tinnies with even smaller torches) is big offshore yaghts with 40 ft masts & a single dull anchor light on the top that looks just like a little star.

chris

[Gbanger]

can be concerning around there at night...

[fish2eat]

If you take the "main" channel past Jacobs Well, the beacons are lit, then you only have to go thru Whalleys Gutter and McKenzies to get wherever you are going at the pin. The lesser channel beacons are not lit, don't know why with all the traffic an huge boat rego fees, they should be.

It has always been a bugbear of mine tha people put crab pots in the middle of the channels. Hard to see by day, impossible at night. I wonder how many come back the next day and recon someone stole their pots.....they were just run over by someone who couldn't see them.

There is NO excuse for boats with no lights, yet every night I'm out there are heaps. Enforcement only ever seems to happen in daylight. Unfortunately, we can whinge on here all we like but nothing will change, especially with this Beattie government

[SeaHunt]

I was down there Sunday and noticed that fishing platform pontoon thing.
It looks like it has on outhouse on it. It was Anchored in the main traffic area off the Northeast tip of Crusoe not too far from the special mark (yellow X).
Surley that peice of shit is not registered, maybe it does not have to be with no motor on it.
I wouldn't travel around down there much at night, can get in plenty of trouble during the day. Is it illegal to put crab pots in shipping channels.?
The cops are quick to fine you for having flares that are a month out of date, they could make more money by pulling all the crab pots up from the channels and sending a fine to the name and address on the tag, confiscate the pots and give the good ones to the VMR to sell at their boaties markets.

[dorado]

Years ago I spent many times trying to navigate around that area at night. Some of those beacons had piss-poor reflectors on them then and it's sad that it seems that they still do so now. It's always a challenge for me navigating that entire estuary system, day or night. I very much agree though that there are many ignorant boaties out there who do not have regulation safety gear and or nav lights fitted or care at all. I reckon the water police and or boating & fisheries boys would make a killing in infringement fines out there at night!

[Sea-Dog]

when you left steiglitz, I assume you went north, around the back of Short Is.

Can you place the position of that pontoon ?

Pontoon was anchored just about 20 - 30 Metres NorthWest of the channel junction marker (Yellow X) near the tip of Crusoe Island. In the Beacon to Beacon (edition 6) Map 89 G5 .

The piddling little light on the pontoon seemed to be running off a battery that was on its last legs - only just visible - More like the luminous glow of the hands on a watch, than a proper anchor light.

Should have been reported as a hazard to shipping and the owner prosecuted.