I find myself sailing in the dark in the sometimes highly-busy San Francisco /San Pablo Bays pretty often. This body of water is relatively BIG and I sail from one end to the other often...
Keep in mind that navigation lights are not like headlights; you do not use them to 'see' your way through traffic. And they are not very bright even on the biggest ships. Navigation lights are meant to be seen from specific angles in a particular way in order to enable others to tell the relative 'attitude' (direction of travel) of a ship solely by the scheme of lights that are visible at any one time.
I think that the LEDs provide MORE than a bright enough light source so that they meet the typical requirements (visibility at 2 miles) even in hazy weather. I usually stay out of ship’s traffic when they are in the channel, but out at sea, or when ships are at an intersection/convergence zone in the bay, I’ve not had any issues ‘signaling’ larger vessels for a clue on their intended course, or to let them know about my intended course simply by showing them a shift in my navigation lights.
It is often that the other vessel signals me first... (in the case of the smaller commercial vessels such as tugs, workboats, sailboats. (it is always a toss-up with recreational powered boats...)
The 'signaling' is done either by pointing straight at the vessel where he sees BOTh red & Green (when approaching close to dead ahead) and letting him pick his course, or by shifting course clearly and letting him let me know via his course change (or quick horn blast, in the case of bigger ships) about his preference. I find that this works very well and is much quicker and easier than a hail on the radio.
Because of the ease of this communication I am confident that my navigation lights are quite effective despite being so small and not too bright (They are much brighter with the LEDs now).
I completed my LED installation a couple of weeks ago. This was only one day before departing to the south bay on a Friday afternoon for a regatta. This 30 mile+ windy, dark & foggy trip in heavy traffic, provided clear affirmation that my lights are nicely visible even in adverse conditions.
(More details and pictures on the trip and regatta on the 'Mephisto Cat' thread shortly)
Picture: Bright LED at mid-day. Note that the image does not EMIT light so the LEDs appear less bright. In person, they are so bright that the light seems almost like a single point of light.
This picture is taken at a 45 deg angle off the bow.
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