Looking at the attached it seems yacht races such as the S/H will have a couple of chicanes for good measure in years to come.
www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-05/offshore-windfarms-climate-renewable-energy-turbines/101303944
This what they look like in Denmark and Sweden and what is like to sail between them.
Any S2H boats going near the Gippsland Wind field would be seriously off course. The Bass Gas rigs already provide some useful Nav markers for anyone sailing east from Wilson's Promontory:)
Do these things have nav lights or are you just relying on your charts to miss them at night.
Select to expand quotesamsturdy said..
Do these things have nav lights or are you just relying on your charts to miss them at night.
That's a great question Sam. I am working on a battery farm for a renewable energy mob and I was quizzing them about the same thing.
Apparently the rules are the area is to be marked with normal cardinals (N,S,E & W) and if the distance of a side is greater than 3nm then special marks are added. If it is a single turbine then a special mark is used. There is no mandatory requirement for AIS beacons but they do use them as well.
The interesting part for me was the turbine blades have to be no lower than 22mtrs above Mean High Water. I had a mast height of 19mtrs. That enough reason for me to give them a wide berth 
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The IALA is the international body that sets standards for lighthouses and the like and specifies marking requirements in its publication O-139 "Marking of Man-Made Offshore Structures".
This document has a chapter specific to wind farms, requiring flashing yellow lights lights at each corner of and at intervals not more than 3nm along the sides of a wind farm. It also requires flashing yellow lights for significant intermediate structures. Isolated towers should have a white light flashing morse code for the letter "U" (dot-dot-dash) although these would be unlikely since we're talking "farms" here.
It also suggests "consideration" of general structure lighting, radar reflectors, racons and AIS.
Or at least that's what it said when I was still a taxpayer 6 or 7 years ago. You'll have to do a good job of failing to keep a watch to run into one.
Given the shipping traffic, including the oil rig work boats to and fro-ing through the area to Barry Beach, I reckon they'll make them nice and visible.
Cheers, Graeme
I am surprised they are still white when offshore, on land white is probably most visible but AFAIK there would be better options offshore.
They do have an orange and yellow bit on the base, i did google it and the stated reason of lifetime of paint and keeping equipment cool didn't seem compelling to me (no reason some parts can't be white).
Bit of a thread drift. I have an interest in superconductor cable systems, and the offshore wind farm industry are one of the industries really driving innovation in this space. The engineers lose me a bit (actually, a lot) as in power everything is analogue with a bazillion variances but I think they have successfully completed trials on superconductor cables from offshore turbines with near zero power loss back to shore. Silica based cables are just one of the materials being researched and developed (what fibre optic cables are made from). Superconductor cables is one of those Holy Grail type things, I hope they can pull it off.
Cool industry!
Select to expand quotesamsturdy said..
Do these things have nav lights or are you just relying on your charts to miss them at night.
Probably have some solar panels to trickle charge batteries for a back up for the marker lights. They would have mast obstruction lights the same as the oil rigs. Sometimes the the wind does not blow, then it just sucks!
