First night sail - a bit nervous.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it! Sometimes people prefer sailing at night on long passages, especially across the channel as in day light on a miserable day it can be boring at times but I find the lights of Start point stay with you so long yet next minute you approaching the shipping lanes which again at night I find it easier to guage the crossing point and I think they pay more attention as well.
Anyway good look and hopefully enjoy a memorable sail.

Regards.

Peter.
 
Good luck fella! Be sure and let us know how it went and any learnings.

I am thinking of going out at night but I was thinking of setting off in darkness and coming back in once daylight breaks, am I being soft or what?

I welcome your thoughts, Andy
 
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I am thinking of going out at night but I was thinking of setting off in darkness and coming back in once daylight breaks, am I being soft or what?


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Nothing soft about that...but I know how you feel! You are recognizing your level of experience and taking a sensible, cautious approach. Sounds like good seamanship to me. Nothing clever about being "macho" about these things.
 
Hannabella -

"and dont be afraid to stop the boat if you get disorientated to allow you time to get you bearings."

- you may have missed noting where he sails from; Cardiff.

Round here the tide is between 1.5 and 6 knots and doesn't even seem to stop at high or low tide, It either goes one way or the other. Heaving to is not often a solution.
Ken
 
Well, I found my way back home!

It was a beautiful evening, shame about the lack of wind, but beautiful none the less. I stayed out until around 2am, just pottering around and watching the shore lights twinkling in the distance.

At first, it was a bit eery when the darkness came, completely flat sea and total silence. After I while I grew to love it. Bouys could be seen for miles away, although they seemed close enough to touch - that was weird at first.

I noted the flashing sequences of the major buoys and lighthouses for future reference. It seemed a shame to put the motor on to get back home, but the wind had died so I had no choice.

I had a great time, and one which I hope to repeat very soon.

Thank you all for the tips and encouragement.
 
Conchpearl,
Good for you.
Next time - come on over to Bunham on sea Motor boat and Sailing Club.
We now have visitors pontoons, accessible 21/2 hours each side of HW (approx)and we open our new Clubhouse tomorrow afternoon.
You would be very welcome.
Cardiff made me very welcome on my first visit last month - what club are you ?
Ken
 
At 22ft your boat is under 7m loa so you can legally proceed under motor showing only an all-round white light. A masthead combined tricolour and all-round white does the job - you switch on which ever section applies.

Some tips for night navigation (a bit late for this trip but maybe next time...)

Never be satisfied with identification of a light until you have checked its characteristics against the chart. I always check the period with a stopwatch as I don't trust myself to measure the difference between e.g. 10 and 15 seconds by counting.

It can be very difficult to spot navigation marks against shore lights. To find elusive harbour lights, plot your position by gps and work out the bearing to the lights then use a hand bearing compass to find them.
 
The most useful piece of night equipment I have is a magnifying glass with a light in it.

After a bit of a break I did a night sail and found that the extra few years had ensured that my night vision and general age reduced sight had conspired to make it very dificult to read any charicteristics on the chart. A £5:00 job from a Draper Tool stop had me sorted.

All best Nick
 
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- you may have missed noting where he sails from; Cardiff.

Round here the tide is between 1.5 and 6 knots and doesn't even seem to stop at high or low tide, It either goes one way or the other. Heaving to is not often a solution.

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One can stem the tide Ken, that is how to stop in tidal situations and is very easy to do especialy if under power!
Perhaps I should have said 'Stop making way'

I was talking about close quarters pilotage at night like entry to a harbour or river etc and not in the open sea when there is little need to 'Stop' though one can still slow down. In cose quarters pilotage when under power it is very easy to get the helm to stem the tide near a known buoy or similar whilst you check your directions.
 
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Never be satisfied with identification of a light until you have checked its characteristics against the chart. I always check the period with a stopwatch as I don't trust myself to measure the difference between e.g. 10 and 15 seconds by counting.

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very true however a very sucessful way of timing seconds without a stopwatch is to use the 'thousands' method

i.e. mentally (or out loud to start with) count one.thousand.two.thousand etc ..... if you pronounce the sylables you will end up bang on after 30 secs, with practice after 60 secs or more, so no more equipment needed to worry about. its a good game in the wee hours on watch as well ....... along with the colregs and waxing lyrical about the stars etc .... (including holywood stars if things get desperate)
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Nerves of steel , a cool head and lots of waypoints so you know where you are all the time helps ward of the hebie jebies. There is nothing more nail biting than sailing along on your required heading, seeing a light and not knowing what it is.If you know where you are you will not feel the pit of your tummy tighten as the doubt seeps in. As said above navigation bouys can be very hard to see against the back drop of a harbour or even street lamps so plot them all in your gps.
on one trip while sailing in towards a north cardinal i thought it was taking a very long time to get to it, so i checked it against my gps, the gps said that i was close but the light looked far off.I didnt see the bouy untill i was less than two boat lenghts away and had to swing the helm to miss it. As i passed i noted the light which was defective and only giving out a dim glow.
I learned my lesson and now make a mental note when looking for marks , the brightest is not necessarily the nearest.
 
Quite a shock when you actually see the silhouette of a buoy smack in front of you, isn't it? I can recall, all to clearly, homing in on the attractive light of a nav mark and suddenly seeing its bulk revealed at about two boat lengths off.

I can also remember sailing up to North Head buoy, off Hurst Spit, absolutely cream crackered, and having a sudden thought that the green light looked too high. There followed a feverish re-check of the gps and chart before I could dispell the irrational notion that I had picked up the wrong light and was heading for something halfway up the spit!
 
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