Kayak Navigation Lights: What the Rules Actually Require
If you paddle at dawn, at dusk, or after dark, you've probably wondered whether a kayak needs navigation lights. The short answer is that the rules ask for less than most people expect, but what they do ask for matters, because a low kayak is very hard to see from a powerboat.
This guide walks through the parts of the Navigation Rules that apply to kayaks, canoes, rowboats, and other small hand-powered boats, quoted from the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center (NAVCEN) Navigation Rules handbook.
The short answer
Minimum under the rules: keep a white flashlight or lantern ready at hand and show it in time to prevent a collision. Optional and better: show the same lights as a small sailboat, meaning red and green sidelights and a white sternlight, which can be combined in one lantern.
A kayak is a vessel
Rule 3(a) says the word "vessel" includes "every description of watercraft" used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. A kayak, canoe, or paddleboard fits that description, so the Rules of the Road apply to you just like they apply to a ship.
The rules don't name kayaks or paddles. The lighting rule written for small hand-powered boats is the one for a vessel under oars, in Rule 25(d)(ii), and it's the one paddlers usually work from. If your kayak has a motor running, it's a power-driven vessel instead, and if it's sailing, it's a sailing vessel.
What Rule 25(d) says
Rule 25 covers sailing vessels underway and vessels under oars. Paragraph (d)(ii) is the one for rowing and paddling:
"A vessel under oars may exhibit the lights prescribed in this rule for sailing vessels, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision."
Rule 25(d)(ii), International
So you have two choices:
- Show sailing vessel lights. That means sidelights (red to port, green to starboard) and a white sternlight. Rule 25(b) lets a vessel under 20 meters combine them in one lantern at or near the top of the mast, which is why tricolor and combination lights exist.
- Keep a white light ready. An "electric torch" is just a flashlight. The key words are "ready at hand" and "in sufficient time to prevent collision." A light packed in a dry bag in the hatch doesn't meet that.
The Inland Rules add one more option. In the 2022 NAVCEN handbook, Inland Rule 25(d) also allows a vessel under oars to "exhibit an all-round white light" instead of keeping a torch ready. Many paddlers use a pole-mounted all-round white light for this reason.
A small sailboat under 7 meters gets the same deal under Rule 25(d)(i): show the sailing lights if practicable, and if not, keep a white light ready.
Anchored or stopped
If you anchor a kayak to fish, Rule 30(e) helps you out. A vessel under 7 meters at anchor, "not in or near a narrow channel, fairway or anchorage, or where other vessels normally navigate," doesn't have to show the anchor light or the anchor ball. Anchor in a channel or where boats normally run, and that exemption goes away.
Sound signals for paddlers
Rule 33(b) says a vessel under 12 meters isn't required to carry the whistle and bell from Rule 33(a), "but if she does not, she shall be provided with some other means of making an efficient sound signal." For a kayak that's usually a whistle on your PFD.
In fog, Rule 35 lets a vessel under 12 meters skip the full fog signals, but if she doesn't give them, she "shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes."
Practical tips that go beyond the minimum
- Mount a light where it can be seen. A light low on the deck is often hidden by your body or by waves. A light on a short pole or on the back of your PFD is easier for others to spot.
- Keep the flashlight on you, clipped to your PFD, so it really is "ready at hand."
- Point the light at your boat or the other boat's bridge, not into the other skipper's eyes.
- Don't use red or green as a single light. Colored lights have specific meanings under the rules, and a lone red or green light could be read as half of a sidelight pair.
- Check your state's boating laws. Some states set their own requirements for paddle craft on state waters.
Exam practice questions
These come straight from the USCG question bank used in COLREGS Prep.
Practice question 1. BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND Which statement is TRUE concerning a vessel under oars?
- She must show a stern light.
- She is allowed to show the same lights as a sailing vessel.
- She must show a fixed all-round white light.
- She must show a day-shape of a black cone.
Show answer
B. She is allowed to show the same lights as a sailing vessel.
Practice question 2. BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND A lantern combining the sidelights and stern light MAY be shown on a __________.
- sailing vessel of 25 meters in length
- 20-meter vessel engaged in fishing and making way
- 25-meter power-driven vessel engaged in trolling
- 6-meter vessel under oars
Show answer
D. 6-meter vessel under oars
Practice question 3. BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND At night, a vessel which is less than 7 meters in length and anchored in an area where other vessels do not normally navigate is __________.
- not required to show any anchor lights
- required to show a flare-up light
- required to show one white light
- required to show sidelights and a stern light
Show answer
A. not required to show any anchor lights
Studying for a captain's license? Practice every lights question in the USCG bank, with diagrams and missed-question review, in COLREGS: Rules of the Road for iPhone and iPad. Download on the App Store
Frequently asked questions
Do kayaks need navigation lights?
Under COLREGS Rule 25(d)(ii), a vessel under oars may show the sailing vessel lights (sidelights and a sternlight), but if she doesn't, she must have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light, shown in time to prevent collision. Your state may add its own rules, so check those too.
Is a flashlight enough for a kayak at night?
Under the International Rules, a white flashlight or lantern kept ready at hand and shown in sufficient time to prevent collision meets the minimum of Rule 25(d)(ii). The 2022 U.S. Inland Rules also allow an all-round white light instead. State law may ask for more.
Does a kayak need an anchor light?
Rule 30(e) says a vessel under 7 meters at anchor, not in or near a narrow channel, fairway, anchorage, or where other vessels normally navigate, doesn't have to show anchor lights or the anchor ball.
Does a kayak need a whistle?
Rule 33(b) says a vessel under 12 meters doesn't have to carry the whistle and bell in Rule 33(a), but if she doesn't, she must have some other means of making an efficient sound signal. A whistle is the usual choice.