Have you snagged a pot at night?

When we owned a Fleming we use to make cross channel crossings at night. We would leave after an evening meal at travel at 7 or 8 knots and time our arrival for breakfast!
We only did this when we had enough people to organise into 3 watches of 2 people.
It was really enjoyable and never had any trouble with pots.
 
No, but very close to marker buoys a few times. By the time you have seen them, they are sliding down the side of the boat. Especially if it's a bit choppy.
But we have always taken the view that you need to practice a few night passages, so that if you are ever late back or caught out in the dark, you know what to expect?
 
As the sun went down one evening we sat at anchor off Rathlin Island whilst the divers explored a wreck 30m below. Anyway we were suprised to see a large fridge freezer go gently floating by. That could have made a mess off the gelcoat and props.

In May half way between IOW and Cherbourg we noticed a large orange bouy nearly being dragged under by the tide as we passed 50 yards away. Later in the year on the way back from Alderney we passed a small grey and white trawler Cygnus type of boat moving quickly towards the Poole / Weymouth area from mid channel. The orange pot bouy he had just left clearly visable. Quite suprised to see them that far out into the channel, probably half way to France.

Pete
 
Have cruised extensively at night in my dad's boat (princess 55) and we have never snagged anything at night. We have snagged during the day twice....once coming into east lough tarbert where an inconsiderate fisherman had left a pot with 30ft of rope floating on the surface and once in the channel heading north from Guernsey on a stray piece of net. I would estimate that we would have done around half of our cruising at night.
 
I've never snagged one. I'm saddened to read you post - you are missing some great night cruising! I make lots of overnight passages, and love doing that. I prefer nighttime for longer trips, say 100nm (and I'm lucky in that I'm fine losing a whole night's sleep). Guests wake up in a new place and love that too.

My turf (SofF) is covered in pot markers just like the UK. I just try to de-risk hitting one by:

1. when going parallel to coast stay offshore in deeper water. You might not be able to do that in UK so easily? In the Med if you get 1nm offshore it's 1000m+ deep

2. Go in calm weather, so radar picks up ther pot markers. I'm now switching to digital radar and will see if that's better, but the old analogue one saw pot buoys quite well

3. Esp on N-S or S-N passages, plan trips around full ish moon. When sailing southwards into a full moon the path ahead is floodlit. Looks fantastic

4. Thinking "what's the worst that can happen?" Assuming the weahter is ok, I can get anywhere on one engine and then just dive in and clear the prop at dawn
 
My eyes must need testing. When I first read the header to this thread, I thought it asked 'Have You Ever Snogged A pot At Night?' /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Pots seem to be marked so much more clearly in the Med than back in GB. also without tides they don't get pulled below the surface at high water. I've said it before but I still don't know how UK fishermen get away with their appaling record for ill marked, dangerously positioned markers.
 
In the Med I wouldn't say they're well marked. Often a 5 litre black plastic oil can, though usually there is a 1m high stick with a little flag though that doesn't add as much vis as you might think. Shows up on a good radar, just. But I take your point that they aren't pulled over/under by the tide
 
Ooh, thanks, nice vid. I'll be interested to read the results. Vid seems to confirm what I'd suspected but didn't know for sure, which is that the shearing/scissor type are better than the sharp discs. Thanks

Another aspect to consider, but which you couldn't do in your test, is the long term wear and tear. We had Strippers fitted (by BA Peters yard, whose engineers I wouldn't let change a lightbulb, but never mind) for blimmin £3k or so on the Sq58 in 2004. For 2 years they were fine then they clanked as I was driving along. Had to dive down to remove them. Turns out they have plastic shims./spacers (I don't quite remember the construction/design) that wear out and allow them to go sloppy, and eventually clank as the fixed part catches the rotating part. That was after 2 years and about 350hours, so I wouldn't say they are engineered to last long, unfortunately.

Point is, it makes sense to select a ropecutter based on its ability to cut debris AND its ability not to self destruct at 350hours...
 
Paradoxically the pot markers dragged below by the tide are less of a problem than those lying on the surface with line floating. The real horrors too are the big buoys in the Channel way out that have long (sometimes 25m) of floating line between the main buoy and a small pickup, going north/south these are held nicely across your track ready to catch you.

We too like night passages under sail or motor but of course at displacement speeds as raggies. However I think the idea that you can see and avoid pots in daylight and not at night is a bit of a myth. The reality is often that you see the problem (inattention or swell, waves, rain, or whatever) only when it is too late and especially if on autopilot you cannot react fast enough.

We have a line cutter and had one on our last boat too, they do work! We picked up a plastic 'hessian' scallop bag one night off Ushant that almost stopped the engine, but a bit of back & forwards cleared it. The one for us raggies that a cutter doesn't help is catching a line between rudder and hull which happened to us under sail in a SW7 going into Cherbourg, we were lucky the line broke leaving a length with a plastic net float threaded on it to tell us what it was when we got in.

In fast mobo terms however I think I'd want to be down near displacement speed on a really dark night in case of hitting debris like containers or large chunks of wood and so on. Many nights if not most however there is more light than people imagine and if you protect your night vision you can see surprisingly far. On a clear moonlit night you can see quite well and even so on a cloudy one.
 
You're right, the strippers / cutters do wear! I've got the Ambassador units on my shafts and after about 130 hours I bought a kit which had all the appropriate parts for servicing. It wasn't too bad at £70.00 for both. The kit includes the "plastic" shims and spacers, plus a spring clip.

I'll probably service them each time I pull the boat out for anti-fouling. It only takes about 30 mins to do both sides.

I also know, by the remnants of rope on one of the strippers, that they have saved my bacon at least once!
 
These thermal imaging units are being installed on Flemings and other trawlers in the States more and more. Their range and ability to see so far in the distance and so clearly appears to be the answer to 'seeing in the dark'.

They aren't cheap, but appear to do the job. FLIR's website (in my previous posting) has some great video.

I know we are missing some good night cruising fun, but I just don't want to catch a pot. Fearful? Yes. Therefore we're just looking for something to help.
 
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