Dinghy Safety After Dark: Be Seen, Go Slow

The ride home is the riskiest part of the day

Spend an evening in any busy BVI anchorage and you’ll see it: a dinghy zipping back from the beach bar with no lights at all, or with one crew member holding up a phone flashlight. It feels fine from inside the dinghy. From the helm of another boat, that dinghy is close to invisible until it is right in front of you.

We’ve been lucky most of the time. Not always.

What happened at Saba Rock

Late on a dark, moonless night in November 2024, a dinghy carrying six people was struck by a larger RIB tender in the channel between Saba Rock and the Bitter End in North Sound. The dinghy’s operator, a well-liked charter captain, died from his injuries.

The RIB’s operator was charged with manslaughter. In June 2026 a jury in the BVI High Court found him not guilty. At trial, the prosecution argued the RIB was going too fast at night to keep a proper lookout, and a marine surveyor testified that 15 knots in the dark was not a safe speed. The defence argued that the dinghy did not have compliant navigation lights and could not reasonably have been seen.

We’re not here to re-try the case. The point is that both arguments were about things every one of us controls on every dinghy ride: whether we can be seen, and how fast we’re going.

It isn’t only the BVI. In May 2026, on the last night of Carnival in St. Thomas, a dinghy operator was killed in a collision with a patrol boat near Haulover Cut.

What the rules actually say

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) apply to every vessel, and yes, that includes your dinghy. What you need depends on how fast it can go:

Power-driven dinghies that can go faster than 7 knots (about 8 mph). This covers most charter dinghies with a 15 hp or bigger outboard. You need red and green sidelights plus an all-round white light (Rule 23). The white light must be mounted at least 1 meter higher than the sidelights (Annex I), so it isn’t hidden behind them or behind the people on board.
Power-driven dinghies under 7 meters that can’t exceed 7 knots. At minimum an all-round white light, and sidelights too if practicable.
Rowing. Keep a flashlight or lantern ready to show in time to prevent a collision (Rule 25).

A phone screen or a flashlight pointed at the water is better than nothing, but it doesn’t tell another skipper what you are, which way you’re heading, or how far away you are. Proper navigation lights do.

Getting lights for your dinghy

Ask your charter company. Many will provide a dinghy light kit if you ask before you leave the base. If they don’t, ask them to.
Bring your own. There are several types on the market: battery-powered clamp-on or suction-mount sidelight combos for the bow, and pole-mounted all-round white lights that clip to the transom or outboard. They pack small, run on AA batteries or USB, and are worth every dollar.
Test them before sunset, not when you’re paying the bar tab.

Keep it under 5 mph in the bays

Lights are half of it. Speed is the other half.

In every mooring field and anchorage, we ask everyone to keep their speed under 5 mph. Bays are full of swimmers, snorkelers, paddleboarders and other dinghies, many of them low in the water and hard to spot, especially after dark. Going slow gives you time to see them and gives them time to see you.

It also keeps your wake from rocking every boat on the mooring field while people are eating dinner in the cockpit. Your neighbors will thank you.

Before you head out tonight

Lights on and working, white light up high
Under 5 mph in the bay
Know where your boat is. The BoatyBall app and BoatyAlarm can show your location relative to your mooring, which helps a lot in a dark, crowded field
Designate a sober dinghy driver
Kill cord attached to the driver

For more on how to behave in a mooring field, see our mooring etiquette guide. And check the Daily Briefing each morning for wind, swell and what’s happening in the bays.

Let’s keep everyone safe out there.