Anybody run Navigation lights?

Aside from a white 360 light on a pole, does anybody run navigation lights?  (Port/Starboard red & green lights).  If you do, what do you use?

You might want to check Northern California Kayak Anglers (NCKA).  I believe lights are required for kayaks in California and there have been several discussions about lights and rigging them.

Lights are first and foremost a communication device.  A headlamp or a 360° white light tells everyone around you “I’m a slow moving kayak or small sail boat.”

Running red/green nav lights tells everyone “I’m a boat under power”.

You would be communicating bad information, and failing to manage the expectations of other boat traffic as to your maneuvering capabilities is dangerous.

Nav light look cool though, and I’ve seen some that run under the water line that also serve to attract fish.  If you’re just tooling around on a local small lake fishing perch, crappie, bass, etc. then you’re probably fine.  I wouldn’t recommend going on to any big water looking like a power boat when you aren’t capable of acting like one tho.

Lights are first and foremost a communication device.  A headlamp or a 360° white light tells everyone around you “I’m a slow moving kayak or small sail boat.”

Running red/green nav lights tells everyone “I’m a boat under power”.

You would be communicating bad information, and failing to manage the expectations of other boat traffic as to your maneuvering capabilities is dangerous.

Nav light look cool though, and I’ve seen some that run under the water line that also serve to attract fish.  If you’re just tooling around on a local small lake fishing perch, crappie, bass, etc. then you’re probably fine.  I wouldn’t recommend going on to any big water looking like a power boat when you aren’t capable of acting like one tho.

I only use a single white 360 degree light on my kayak, for the reasons stated by Crash.  Some kayakers have mounted strip lights in whatever color they think looks cool on their kayaks.  I think that is a bad idea, and is likely to create confusion.  It's like replacing the red tail lights on a vehicle with green lights, or with yellow lights, which would be confusing to other vehicles.  If confusion creates a crash between a motorboat and a kayak, the kayak and the kayaker are going to get damaged, and the motorboater can argue that the kayaker was negligent to put lights other than a single white light on the kayak.

Aside from the other reasons already stated, you need to check on your Canuckian and BC regulations.

I know they are not required for a kayak (even if we have a sail).  At a minimum, all that is required is a watertight flashlight, compass and pea-less whistle.

The 360 degree light is more than the required flashlight and many use a 360 degree light...  This made me wonder if others are also stepping up to port and starboard lights.  I've never "seen" anyone do it but that doesn't mean that people are not doing it.