Building Night Experience

davidfox said:
The poster asked a perfectly sensible question and has received some good replies, I dont really think many of us are that interested in how big yours is compared to ours.
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That's an unecessarily rude reply. I was trying to put in context the difficulty of sailing 5 miles across the Solent in the dark. It was claimed that it is the most difficult stretch of sea in the UK for night sailing. If that is so, it is likely to put off the OP from attempting the passage. My context was an attempt to show that it is not the most difficult, and therefore is an appropriate passage for a first night sail. Please feel free to withdraw you unpleasant remark.
 
A few more thoughts, having this year done my first solo to and fro across Biscay.
Re cooking at night, I prefer not to, why?
Because I have to have the cabin light on which makes it difficult to see out of the windows.
I cook about a couple of hours before the light goes, which gives me time to eat and wash up before dark.
On shortish trips, there is no real need to cook. I rely on snack food or if I think I won't survive till breakfast, I use cupasoup or Bigsoup. The one thing that I do make are lots of hot drinks which I can make in the dark to preserve night viz.
To OP, although I can see the appeal of a short hop across the Solent for a first night sail, it won't give you the pleasure of being 'out at sea' which means leaving the confines of the Solent. The suggestion of a Friday night sail down to Poole, anchor off Studland then a Sunday day sail back is appealing. Set your course a bit further off of Hengistbury Head than you would normally to avoid the pot buoys. A lovely night sail and long enough to get you into the skin of it.
The suggestion of having a crew for your first night sail is also a good idea.
 
tcm said:
My scariest thing at nght was sitting in the cockpit, singlehanded, 2nd night out... and the saloon light went on. Glerk! I actually called out Hello! Anyway something hanging on a hook knocked on the light switch...
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I damn nearly wet myself when, off the west coast of Colonsay in the middle of a wet, blowy night, a navigation buay flashed right beside me, lighting up the cockpit. It took another couple of flashes, and near heart attacks, before I realised it was a loose lifebuoy light flashing occasionally on the taffrail.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
That's an unecessarily rude reply. I was trying to put in context the difficulty of sailing 5 miles across the Solent in the dark. It was claimed that it is the most difficult stretch of sea in the UK for night sailing. If that is so, it is likely to put off the OP from attempting the passage. My context was an attempt to show that it is not the most difficult, and therefore is an appropriate passage for a first night sail. Please feel free to withdraw you unpleasant remark.
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Angus, that's not what I said originally. Don't embellish it to make your own argument stack up. And there seem to be enough Solent sailors on here who are also saying it might be wise to choose somewhere else away from that particular piece of the Solent. And for the record, ships and ferries don't stop running at night.
 
Iain C said:
And for the record, ships and ferries don't stop running at night.
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I didn't say they did. There are, however, many less ferries at night than during the day as I'm sure you know, and virtually no pleasure boats. As for ships, it's hardly Dover with 8 ships an hour, is it? It's just like it would be on the Mersey, Clyde, Thames or Humber.

Anyway, I expect you remain convinced it's "one of the trickiest stretches of water in the UK", I don't, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. I hope the OP goes for it, and expect he'll survive the hour or two it takes and will come back here to tell us all about it.
 
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Again, thanks for all the replies. Lots of good advice. I think I am getting the picture.

As PRV said I tend to be cautions but that doesn’t mean to say I don’t like pushing myself to gain more experience.

Not yet decided when and where but I take the point about why start on Hamble to Cowes when there are less complicated / busy areas within a few hours of home. My thinking was that both are all tide and it doesn’t really matter what the tide is, so i was thinking it was one less complication. Thinking again now.

I like the Western Solent idea. Not sure how it will work with dates / tides / weather but perhaps a late afternoon / early evening from Hamble to Yarmouth, aiming to be south of the Thorn Channel around dusk. I know Yarmouth quite well, it’s well light and easy to enter – so that should make life a bit easier when i get there cold and tired. The berthing masters are very helpful too and that is a consideration.
Re drinks, I always make a flask even when day sailing SH. I find it easier than trying to boil the kettle (on my gimballed, origio spirit) stove. In daylight, find the Solent too crowded to leave the cockpit for too long and the kettle always boils at just the wrong moment, so I expect the extra look and extra nav to keep track will be enough of a distraction. I will take the same approach to food – eat before I leave and snacks on the way.

I have hanked on headsail but use a downhaul, so providing I set the right sail there should be no need to go on deck as everything can be done from the cockpit. I might just motor sail with a suitable reefed main. The idea is to build night experience and depending on how I feel at the time, the extra nav work to keep track of where to tack might be more than I want first time out.
I am going to have to think about clip-on points. I have jackstays but they run down the side decks and outside one of the shrouds. You have to go outside to get past. I also need a long tether to be able to stay clipped on and reach the foot of the headsail. Yes, I know....

Thanks again everyone, as always a mine of useful information.
 
I suggested avoiding ' proper ' cooking during night sailing, especially ones' first go at it, because it means being in the cabin with lights on, so destroys night vision and means no lookout, if singlehanded.

However hot meals are a good way of staying alert, so the self heating jobs fit the bill; this seems rather obvious ?!

Soups and coffee etc can be prepared before departure and stored in flasks, a really useful asset.

There is also the point that a planned trip of say 3 hours often ends up considerably longer when considering things like leaving one harbour and entering another, not just the direct bee line distance port to port.
 
Seajet is right on the guilty pleasure of Pot Noodles...it's amazing how nice complete **** can taste in the middle of the night!

And did you know the Chicken & Mushroom flavour is approved by the vegetarian society? Go figure!
 
Iain,

I once sailed with my 80 year old Dad from Brixham to South Deep anchorage in Poole, the only easy snack we had aboard was pot noodles; Dad went through kamikaze attacks on his aircraft carrier in WWII, but I got the strong message loud and clear that +++***@@@ pot noodles were a new low !

Still worth having aboard though.
 
I did my first solo night passage after the Scuttlebutt Poole trip. I left Newtown Creek at 8pm and sailed to Emsworth and picked up a mooring at about midnight. There was a top end F2 early on, which dropped right off as I crossed in front of Cowes and out to the gap in the barrier - then it picked up a bit and I had quite a fun sail to West Pole. The sky was mostly clear, and there was very little about, apart from a US car carrier which glided silently past me heading out East. The conditions were perfect, which was why I chose to do it. Had they not been I would have stayed with the others in Newtown. It's well worth doing Phill - but I do agree with others that you could do better than just cross to Cowes.
 
Phil

Don't assume you'll be able to wing it through areas you know well: prepare a proper pilotage plan in advance.

The first time I came out of the Hamble at night - which I'd already done by day many scores of times - I did it without having a PP and got into a right old pickle!
 
Seajet said:
PhillM, despite what certain winkers say in vain attempts to have a go at me ( pretty poor as they're not considering you and on trips over a few hours we cook under way with a fully gymballed stove with pan clamps, I wonder if the smart-arses here have that set-up !), make it as easy on yourself as possible for your first go, I'll leave you to decide if balancing or strapping meals to the engine manifold is a bright idea, and why should it be hot anyway ?! :rolleyes:
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Come on seajet, now your exaggerating.
You'll be telling us next, that you have an outside balcony on your A22! ;)
 
Just remember that the lights you can see aren't the problem, it's the ones you can't see that should be conscious of. I recently took my mate on his first night sail from Swanage to Weymouth and one of the lights on the buoys on St Albans Ledge was out

I called it in to Portland Coastguard on 73 but to my eternal shame I didn't hail the boat behind me and he changed course and then called a near miss to Portland Coastguard.

They then took the second call as confirmation and issued a Secuite. Sadly too late but I blame me.
 
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