For the first time the international Marine Aids to Navigation Day (WAtoN Day) is held around the world.
The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) will together with many national marine administrations including Denmark celebrate the WAtoN Day under the theme "Successful Voyages, Sustainable Planet", and by that draw attention to the work on the development of Aids to Navigation and, not least, to tell about the importance of why we use beacons, buoys etc. to guide our ships safely through the Danish waters.
The Danish Maritime Authority marks the WAtoN Day at Nakkehoved Lighthouse in collaboration with Museum Nordsjælland from kl. 14:00 to 16:00 on July 1, 2019.
All interested parties are welcome to spend a pleasant day at the lighthouse, where the Danish Maritime Authority and the lighthouse museum will tell about Aids to Navigation in a historical and future perspective.
Read more about the Marine Aids to Navigation Day on IALA's website
Facts about Nakkehoved Lighthouse
Nakkehoved Lighthouse was turned on for the first time on April 1, 1772, and originally consisted of two lighthouses, both of which were designed as open coal lighthouses. The lighthouses were named Nakkehoved Vestre Lighthouse and Nakkehoved Østre Fyr. The reason for the establishing of two lighthouses was that it should be possible to know the difference between the lighthouse on the Kullen (Swedish side) and the lighthouse on the north coast of Zealand. In present time we would have chosen two different light characters, but it was not possible at that time with a solid burning light.
The lighthouse has been continuously modernized with up-to-date technology, but the actual major technical breakthrough in recent times came with the phasing out of the mercury system and phasing in the LED light source, respectively in 2013 and 2017.
The rotary lens apparatus from 1898 contained approx. 14 liters of pure mercury and as such were environmentally inappropriate in use due to environmental reasons. Therefore, it was decided to remove the mercury and rebuild the existing lens apparatus to a system with a mechanical bearing. In this way, it was possible to meet the environment, meet the conservation regulations, possible to use of the existing lens apparatus and maintain the old "sweeping" light. This is a good example of using existing equipment and upgrading with contemporary eco-friendly technology.
Today, all the Danish Maritime Authority's lighthouse is mercury-free, and the Danish-developed model has meant that all mercury lighthouses in Norway and partly in Sweden have been rebuilt according to the Danish concept.
With the existing LED light source and the existing lens, the light output of 408,000 Candela has reached an effective power of 23 miles or 42.6 km.