Conference vicki::boats

    Hi Jim
    
    Running at night is really no different than running in the day time.
    You just need to reduce your speed and be more alert. The only time we
    use "Headlights" Spotlights is when in a mooring area or in a lobsta
    pot minefield. Otherwise your night vision is ruined by the white
    light.
    I plan on rigging my cabin with red lamps this year, as every time
    someone turns on the gally lamps I go blind for a half hour until my
    eyes readjust. Also I plan on rigging a quad set of quartz halogen
    amber fog lamps on the bow rails for running the channels at night.
    
    Be sure to study your Chapmans lighting section. Pay Particuler
    attention too Tugs with Tows & fishing vessels. They are the most
    dangerous, Not omitting Yahoos running at full throttle without nav
    lights.
    
    One more point. Never Trust the bow lights on small craft. They are all
    too often reversed. "Funny, I thought I had the right of way"
    Splash!,Glug,Glug.
    
    
    The first time you run at night in a Fog bank will be you most exciting
    trip... I won't spoil it for you by describing the thrill of it all.
    
                                     
    
                                       Bon Appetife 
                                       Walt
    
    
    
    

    
      I have run at night a number of times. Mostly in congested,
    rock, fish and lobster trap infested, shoal waters. :-( 
    It wasn't easy or fun. In my case, I considered myself fortunate
    to get back each time without a mishap (never had one, thank God).
    The runs we usually made were about 15 miles each way.
    
      We did not have radar or loran, and most of the bouys we had to
    use were unlit. (did have a close call with a NUN bouy) We would
    run at just a little over trolling speed, get sightings from the
    bouys that DID have lights, and use a (lousy) spotlight infrequently
    to verify our position with respect to marker bouys and channels.
    Also, our knowledge of the area helped a lot. I can imagine that
    if we had better lights it would have been much easier (at least
    there wouldn't have been the close calls with bouys or trouble staying
    in a channel.
    
       It definitely can be done with relative safety, BUT it's DEFINITELY
    different!!
    
    					Have fun,
    					Kenny

	I've only run at night a couple times. It wasn't by choice on either 
occation but I must say it was relatively enjoyable. I had LORAN and SONAR
so I felt pretty confident in where I was and how much water I had under me.
The only concern was lobster pot bouys and other flotsam that are hard to 
see in the limited light. 
	Navigating from bouy to bouy was not difficult and you can see a lot
on a relatively clear night. I imagine that its easier to navigate even on a 
cloudy/moonless night than in a daytime fog.
	Evening on the water is kind of nice. Everything sounds different and 
the lights that you take for granted on shore make an interesting sight. Be
careful but by all means go for it. 
Paul

I've done quite a lot of night sailing, and while I quite enjoy it, it 
is more difficult and somewhat more dangerous than daytime sailing.

First, even on a cloudy, moonless night there is a surprising amount of 
light. Once your eyes are fully night adapted (and this can take half 
an hour or more), you'll be able to see quite well. However, one (in my 
view) absolutely essential piece of equipment for nighttime is a pair of 
good quality 7x50 binoculars. It is amazing how much you can see with 
them. Spotlights instantly ruin your night vision and only illuminate a 
very limited field of view. With good 7x50s you'll see a lot more and 
not lose your critical night adaptation. I've tried a spotlight only 
once, and that showed me that I'd rather get along without it. At low 
speed a person standing in the bow can see lobster bouys well enough to 
avoid them without any artifical light, at least if there is starlight. 

Second, you must know what the various running lights and bouy lights 
are. And have charts.

Third, be sure your boat has adequate (very bright) running lights. Very
few boats do. For a definition of adequate see a boating catalog that
lists Aqua Signal series 40 and 41 lights. I'd use nothing less. The
usual running lights are invisible at a quarter mile on a clear night. 

Fourth, see an interesting little book "The Pyschology of Sailing". It 
discusses a number of psychological/physiological/physical processes that 
affect us at night -- like why a distant red light looks white. We also 
tend to judge a light's distance by its brightness, another reason why 
dim navigation lights are dangerous. The crew on the approaching boat 
may think you are much further away than you really are and therefore 
not pay you as much attention as they should.

Fifth, be sure you know where you are at all times. If you're not sure, 
stop until you are. On a really clear night, you may see enough lighted 
bouys, etc, to be quite confusing. Go slow (I've felt uncomfortable at 
4 knots in a crowded harbor). 

Sixth, if you can, find someone with night experience for the first few 
times. 

It is fun, but be careful.

Underway at night is indeed beautiful under clear WX conditions. The
location makes a lot of difference. 

In Lake Winnipesaukee (NH) it's a bit of an anxiety trip, because the
high horizon caused by the surrounding terrain seems to add to the
darkness. And, *every* time I've been out at night I've come upon a
too-small boat under way with zero lights. The nuts are afloat in NH.

Out of Hampton, the lobsta buoys around the shoals are a problem, and
further out, along a line from the Isles of Shoals to Thatcher's I've 
seen enough floating debris that I slow down and keep a better watch.

From Sakonnet to Point Judith the fish trap areas have brought my heart
right up into my mouth at night. And, over the years, at least a dozen
times I've listened to the VHF (at night) as a bad scene plays out, with
the central characters being (usually) a sailboat, a fishtrap off Newport
or Sakonnet Point, and the Coast Guard.

Areas of lobster fishing are slightly predictable by looking at the
charts. Rocky bottom on shoal areas can give you a clue that there COULD
be lobsta pots theyah.

Knowing the characteristics of the lights on the ATONs is mandatory.
There are various regulations prohibiting you from shining your 5,000,000
candlepower spotlight into the wheelhouse of another boat, but the best
reason not to do that is that it's going to destroy YOUR night vision for
a while. Loran, depthfinder, current charts, local knowledge, and common
sense are the best tools to have with you at night. 

If there are two people aboard, and if the boat's big enough, radar would
complete the picture.

    Another point about night running is Safety. This just came to mind as
    I was thinking about replacing lifejacket lights. These little lights
    can make quite a differance with a MOB at night. I also have Caylum
    light sticks tied onto each life jacket as backups. Allong with that
    should be the standard whisel and everybody should were their jacket at
    night. and safety lines should be worn when going forward on deck.
    
    Of course a lighted beacon bouy should be ready on board, just in case.
    
    Its amazing how much "Junk" a person can get on a boat. Isn't it?
    
                                    Walt
    

    I think .6's suggestions are excellent.  I can see the use for the
    whistle in daylight as well as night.
    
    When I go out on Puget Sound for salmon, I usually put out about 45
    minutes before first light.  It's still pitch black.  Most of the spots
    I head for are within 8 miles.  I know the way and can navigate by
    compass on all trips.
    
    My problem is not lobster pots and typically not kooks without lights;
    but dead heads.  Puget Sound has a lot of wood floating around in it:
    including pieces of lumber (all sizes), large branches/trees and the
    true dead heads.  I tend to run just on plane and stare about 20 yards
    ahead.  I don't use a spotlight, as I think it would make the situation
    worse.  I don't look back because my anchor light would blind me, as
    has been discussed.
    
    Usually, I can see floating wood objects in time.  My one fear is that
    I hit that classic dead head one day.  (Once in BC I saw an entire tree
    that was verticle, upside with just about 2" of the trunk sticking up
    out of the water.   The water was so clear, I could see the entire tree
    which must have been 20-30' tall (deep).   I barely saw it in broad
    daylight while trolling until I was on top of it....at night......no
    way)
    
    Sometimes, the moon will be right at the end of my course and I can
    follow the moonlight.  In the moon's reflection on the water, I can see
    objects pretty well.  I treasure these mornings.
    
    I guess I consider the risk of night running to be the price of doing
    business on Puget Sound.  I don't like it, but I putup with it.
    
    /bret

    The last two seasons, I've run at night almost every weekend up and
    down the length of Naragansett Bay. About the only time I've used a
    spotlight is in identifying buoys and other miscellaneous flotsam and
    jetsam, which appears to be intrinsically nocturnal. It's been
    wonderful, and two or three times in the same area, one tends to feel
    fairly comfortable. I tend to run on the charts and the depth, and
    following the odd lighted bouy (about one in six in RI).
    
    The only time I got worried was when the fog really came in, but I
    wasn't too far out of Providence, so promptly turned back and made it
    to the hurricane barriers by dead reckoning. Try to get a feel for
    which direction the fog is coming from; you may wish to avoid it.
    
    Anyway, it IS nice to stay out until the wee early hours at a
    restaurant. The bay is very quiet at night and the water generally
    mirror-like, which means that you can run at just over planing speed.
    
    I have seen quite a few cigarette-type boats cruising at 30-40 knots at
    night. I only shake my head in wonder. These guys typically run from
    their Lorans (and probably can't see the ends of their noses). One boat
    last year ran right up onto a breakwater, the entire boat on top of the
    barrier, about 10 feet above sea level. That one was on telly!
    
    Ray

    When I'm running at night, glare from my masthead light affects my
    night vision; I am ordering a glare shield from Boat US for a short
    term fix, plan eventually to rerig the whole setup.  
    
    For calibration, I'm in a 21' cuddy rig; I set up a ten foot mast to
    get the light someplace up and out of the way, but it's still
    bothersome.
    
    My neighbor put in a yard light, which effectively blinds me trying to
    find my mooring light at night; leaving a cyalume stick on the dink
    helps.
    
    Once your eyes are dark-adapted, the running lights will sufficiently
    illuminate the reflectors on buoys so you can see them in good
    conditions and at reasonable speeds...
    
    J

    I find that my masthead light is a pain, too. At first, I put on a
    peaked cap to shield it. Now I just put up the bimini top, which
    conceals it from the wheelhouse.
    
    Ray

    
    
    Her's a couple of things you can do to minimize the "glare problem and
    the problem of locating your dinghy or mooring at night.
    
    . Glare shield on light (minimially effective- but helps
    . put a 3v Zener diode in series with the light- and bypass the zever
    with a second switch.- 
    
        switch open- 12v bulb w/9v on it (the zener will give a constant 3v
    across it) the light is quite visible- but minimal glare
        switch closed- bright light w/glare (full 12v across bulb)
    
    I've gone past the harbor patrol with the light on low and have never
    been stopped (probably because they are tooling around with NO lights!)
    
    
    
    
    
    I still havenm't fopund a GOOD 100% lega way to solve the glare
    problem on a small powerboat(mines's 22'). I've even thought of putting
    a light mounted through the canvas and tied to one of the top bows.
    
     My boat has a large foredeckwith a lot of rise to it, and with the
    light mounted just above the windshiels , I usually run around at night
    looking at the bright white deck- the zener solution really helps,
    although I've found that a 6v is even better except for the low light./
    
    
    . TO find your mooring at night this is what I use- (I keepa dinghy on
    my mooring)
    
     . reflective tape strip (red/white) all around the dinghy just below
    the gunwales as well as a stripe around the mooring float- works great
    with even a flashlight.
    
    .  I saw an advertisenment recently for a radio controlled light/pick up
    buoy. When you get close to your mooring- turn on the hand held
    xmitter and the buoy starts to flash- 'twasn't cheap, though. 
    
    
    

Just a friendly reminder that the Inland and International Navigation Rules
spell out the minimum visable range for required Navigation lights. If you
alter the height, configuration, color or intensity, you may have placed your
vessel in violation of the NAVRULES.

Don't want anyone to get tagged or worse in up in an accident.

Happy and safe
Jerry 

    You're right, it would violate Navrules, but so does turning the lights
    off so you can see...

    Just a recent incident on night operation...
    
    I just returned from a week in the Orlando, Florida area (yes, it was
    wonderful to see boats floating in warm water under 80 degree sunny
    skies) but the week was marred by a boating accident a few miles from
    where we were staying with my parents. It probably made the news up
    here in New England but was all over the Orlando papers, regarding the
    three Cleveland Indians baseball pitchers in the bass boat who collided
    with a dock on a small lake at night. They were heading to one end of
    the small lake to meet a friend who was late in arriving, at a high
    rate of speed, just after dark on an overcast night with no moon.
    They collided with the end of a 185 foot dock. The dock level was 3-4
    feet above the water and they contacted the dock about 10 feet from the
    end at a place where it formed a tee shape. The boat passed under the
    dock, shearing off two 4x6" posts. The boat was found about 100 feet
    past the dock. It was an 18 foot bass boat with a 150 HP outboard. The
    driver on the starboard side (Steve Olin, I believe was his name) was
    killed instantly, the middle passenger, Tim Crews, died the next day,
    and the port passenger, Bob Ojeda, survived with face and scalp
    lacerations. He was hospitalized for 3 days. All three struck the dock
    head high. Olin and crews died of massive head injuries. Although
    alcohol was on board, blood tests determined that it was not a factor.
    The remote control handle was found at full throttle, although this
    could have been moved during or after the answer. The nav lights were
    on. Witnesses said they saw and heard a boat traveling at high spped
    followed by a loud thump. Florida laws did not require lights or
    reflector on a dock of that length. Olin was leasing a house on the
    lake and was an experienced boat operator and fisherman. He had owned
    the boat for several years. It appears that the boat struck the dock at
    a slight angle, starboard side first. I would guess that is probably
    why Ojeda survived. On leaving the hospital he said he had no memory of
    the accident. 
    
    This should remind us all of the dangers of high speed at night, even
    though we are familiar with the waters. If they had been ten feet to
    port they would have missed the dock entirely. There were several
    articles in the Orlando paper seeking speed limits, particularly at
    night, although the authorities said collisions with docks were quite
    rare. They recommended spot lights when operating close to shore. Last
    year I started using one of the 12 volt hand-held ones when close to
    shore to find my mooring and it worked very well, much better than the
    old flashlight. Yes, it kills your night vision, but by then I am
    around other moored boats, looking for my mooring. Here's wishing you a
    safe new boating season.
    
    Larry
                           

    18' bass boat (i.e., a very light boat) with 150HP??
    

    The 'Standard' tournament bass boat is usually 17' to 19' long and
    powered by a 150 HP.  Many bass fishing organizations limit the
    maximum horsepower to 150, while others are limited only to the
    Coast Guard horsepower rating of the boat.  Bass boats can be as 
    large as 21' or so and some are rated as high as 235 HP.
    
    FWIW, a friend of mine has a 20' Bass boat with a 200 Hp. Outboard
    that is capable of 70-75 MPH.  The boat handles very well even at
    high speeds, when the water is relatively smooth.
    
    I guess it's all in the design....
    
    Gus
    

    75 Miles per hour, at night, without headlights, is down right
    stupid...
    
    q
    

   The issue here is one of operating "under control".  I would no more operate
my bass boat on plane at night than I would drive my car at 55mph in a dense
fog, or without my headlights. Anytime you can't see beyond your ability to
react and evade you're in big trouble.  I've occasionally heard/seen boats 
"on-plane" at night in the lake where we have a cottage. There are canoes and
small fishing boats with out lights, swimmers, flotsam etc. in that water at
night, just like there is during the day, only during the day you can see them.

    There was a beautiful young woman, a friend of my wife's family, killed on 
Lake Webster last summer because some hotdog was doing the same thing,
operating on plane at night.  As I recall that idiot was pulling a skier. 

    I feel sorry for families and the fans of the 2 ball players killed last 
week, but whoever was driving the boat that night was running on PDL (pure dumb
luck) and it ran out.  It's too bad for the other 2 guys, but the driver was
asking for it. 

Al

    
    
    		....now add alcohol
    
    Yesterday the news said alcohol was on board but didn't play a role...
    
    Today the news said that the driver had a .15 alcohol blood concentration.
    

    What I saw in the paper a couple of days ago was not .15 B.A.C. but
    .015 B.A.C. - which might equate to 1 beer. - Way below the usual .1
    limit.
    
    Bill
    

    CNN  -  had a local Sheriff on this morning who said 0.14% BAC.  This
            is above the legal limit for operating in Florida.  He also
            suggested this should make people think; Sure.
    
    -Joe

    Well, so much for my reporting accuracy. Tim Crews was the driver,
    and the last article that I read had said that the authorities had not
    released the BAL, but the reporter had  some info that alcohol was not
    a factor. Yesterday they announced that Crews' BAL was .14, above the
    legal .10 level. They also announced that both Olin's and Ojeda's BAL
    was well below the .10 limit. Florida, like many other States has
    pending legislation to lower the legal BAL limit, in their case to 
    .08 %. The medical reports also indicated that none of the three had
    seen the dock coming, based upon the injuries.
    
    Larry

        

>"on-plane" at night in the lake where we have a cottage. There are canoes and
>small fishing boats with out lights, swimmers, flotsam etc. in that water at
>night, just like there is during the day, only during the day you can see them.

    	Just a nit.... at least in NH, aren't small fishing boats and
    canoes which are more than 150 feet from shore at night supposed
    to carry a minimum of a flashlight in order to signal oncoming
    boats of their presence?
    
    	Also, wouldn't it be a little suicidal to swim any distance
    from shore at night w/o a boat(lighted) escort, even with a boat
    escort....maybe if the boat was stopped? Of course, I wonder about
    the sanity of people swimming in the middle of some lakes during
    the day w/o boat escorts, also......
    
    
    Rick

   < 	Just a nit.... at least in NH, aren't small fishing boats and
   < canoes which are more than 150 feet from shore at night supposed
   < to carry a minimum of a flashlight in order to signal oncoming
   < boats of their presence?
    
   You are correct Rick, small boats are supposed to have a flashlight at hand
to signal other boat traffic.  However at night it can be difficult to
determine the direction of travel of a boat you can't see. Navlights can be
tough to spot when there are lots of cottage lights dotting the shoreline. For
that matter a dim white flashlight is even harder to distinguish against that
background. How much time would it take for a person to determine there is a
threat, locate the flashlight and then start waving it around?  I suppose a
prudent fisherman quietly bobbing around in the lake late at night would start
frantically waving that flashlight around as soon as the silence was shattered
by the revving engine. 

   I'll concede your point, but an analogy could be made that I got this black
eye as much because I didn't duck fast enough, as because someone took a poke
at me. 

<    	Also, wouldn't it be a little suicidal to swim any distance
<    from shore at night w/o a boat(lighted) escort, even with a boat
<    escort....maybe if the boat was stopped? Of course, I wonder about
<    the sanity of people swimming in the middle of some lakes during
<    the day w/o boat escorts, also......
    
   I'm only suggesting a swimmer may be there, not that it's a sane thing to
do.  Typically the individual I saw frequently would swim parallel to the
shoreline only about 75' out. 

   My point is a driver is WRONG anytime he's not in control of his machine.
He's WRONG if he's unable complete evasive action within the range of his 
vision. 

   As is the case with most incidents which are labeled ACCIDENTS, it's really
2 or more errors in judgement/execution which are coincident both in time and
space. 

Al 

    Hopefully something positive will come of this, and it can be used
    as an example of the dangers of both drunken boating and speeding
    in the dark.  Unfortunately, I doubt that it'll have any lasting
    effect.
    
    I see and hear speeding boats after dark on Lake Winnie all the time.
    And every year, one or more of them collide with another boat, run 
    up on shore, or have some other avoidable accident.  Just about the 
    time you educate these guys, a whole new batch of idiots comes along.
    
    I don't see the end in sight (must be too dark!).
    
    Rick
    

    W.O.T. at night on a small lake.  If that wasn't asking for it I 
    don't know what is.  Some people seem to think that because they are
    on a boat rather than driving a car that similiar conditions (in this
    case poor visibility) don't cause similiar risks.... collisions.
    
    Jeff