Leaving a harbour at night

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ip485

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What is the collective view on leaving a harbour on a dark night?

Working your way through a long line of boats that are bouyed can be quite challenging. I have found a need some one up front with a spotlight to do so safely.

I also accept a spotlight isnt the most social solution if another boat comes in the opposite direction, and could confuse with other navigation lights.

I am tempted to have a spotlight on the front that can be turned on and off from the helm when some form of forward lighting is required for safe visual navigation.

I guess another alternative is a FLIR camera, but, at a price.

I raise this only in relation to motoring through a line of boats which are not lit, and of course not in open water or anchorages etc.
 
I've never done it, but it would seem to be less stressful than arriving on a dark night.

I can see nothing wrong with judicious use of a spotlight or powerful torch as I've had to do that several times when moving to a different spot in an anchorage in the middle of the night. If a boat is coming towards you, simply don't dazzle them with the beam. It will be obvious to them that it is another boat if you point your beam off to the side.

Richard
 
I’ve often left bigger harbours at night but small ones with tricky entrances or fields of buoys put me off. So usually it’s a couple of hours before dawn from a big harbour to elongate the day - and mostly with space to get the main up inside the harbour.

From small harbours I would typically leave before sunset to get sails up and clear of obstacles.
 
I have done it, slowly, under motor and with normal low level nav lights which seem to give sufficient vision to avoid buoys and boats.
High in stress, though.
And much better with someone forward giving clear information.
 
ip485 said:
What is the collective view on leaving a harbour on a dark night?

Working your way through a long line of boats that are bouyed can be quite challenging. I have found a need some one up front with a spotlight to do so safely.

I also accept a spotlight isnt the most social solution if another boat comes in the opposite direction, and could confuse with other navigation lights.

I am tempted to have a spotlight on the front that can be turned on and off from the helm when some form of forward lighting is required for safe visual navigation.

I guess another alternative is a FLIR camera, but, at a price.

I raise this only in relation to motoring through a line of boats which are not lit, and of course not in open water or anchorages etc.
Click to expand...

We used to do it often, inbound and outbound. A good plotter with wpts set nearby significant channel buoys that can be displayed on radar screen too helps. What is most unhelpful is a bright spotlight which kills night vision totally.
 
"What is the collective view on leaving a harbour on a dark night? "

Something very magical about quietly slipping out of a harbour on a dark night :cool:

Edit - engine just over tickover, hot cup of tea in hand, tiller between the leg, oily-dark water and some far off lights blinking. Giving me goosebumps just thinking about it :) :)
 
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Quite a few mobos at my marina have spot lights on the bow or fly bridge. I have left and arrived in harbours at dark, awkward anchorages, all sorts. I would not hesitate to use a spotlight or person on the bow. The boat should be going slow enough and the spotlight used to illuminate as required. I would not worry about others mistaking it for a navigation light.

I bought a hand held night vision camera (like a monocular) on here a few years ago, it is fantastic, second hand it was less than £100, new way less than any Raymarine FLIR product. So, lots of options on line for night vision in addition to a big torch.
 
Working your way through a long line of boats that are bouyed can be quite challenging. I have found a need some one up front with a spotlight to do so safely.

If this is your regular mooring area, you can (in daylight) leave with your plotter tracker switched on.
Save the exit route.
Then follow the saved route in or out at night.
Of course you must keep a good watch (with a spotlight handy) for those little unexpected surprises.

gary
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Quite a few mobos at my marina have spot lights on the bow or fly bridge. I have left and arrived in harbours at dark, awkward anchorages, all sorts. I would not hesitate to use a spotlight or person on the bow. The boat should be going slow enough and the spotlight used to illuminate as required. I would not worry about others mistaking it for a navigation light.

I bought a hand held night vision camera (like a monocular) on here a few years ago, it is fantastic, second hand it was less than £100, new way less than any Raymarine FLIR product. So, lots of options on line for night vision in addition to a big torch.
Click to expand...
We have a portable high intensity searchlight left from our sailing days and a fitted flybridge one that can be moved from the helm seat, neither used except really close in when picking up a mooring, Even then on a sailboat the deck floods were just as effective for mooring Had a couple of times experienced total night blindness at the helm because somebody was 'helpfully' waving a very bright light around willy nilly.
 
Whether there's a moon up, and how much of it, will make a huge difference to what you can see, even on a cloudy night. Anyone who sails often at night will soon become very aware of what phase the moon is at, and roughly what time it'll be rising & setting.

In any case, given the amount of light 'pollution' around much of these isles, most of the time you wouldn't need a torch , unless you'd already destroyed your night vision by using a torch!

It can get a bit nerve wracking when it's both dark and foggy! A torch won't help you then.
 
If you have your red and green lights mounted on the pulpit, station a crew member in the bow facing forward and have them guide you by letting either port or starboard light shine on the palm of their hands to show which way you should turn.

Go as slow as you can.

If you leave on the flood tide you can go even slower over the ground as the current will be against you.
 
Robin said:
... Had a couple of times experienced total night blindness at the helm because somebody was 'helpfully' waving a very bright light around willy nilly.
Click to expand...

Entirely preventable by the skipper briefing the person wielding the lamp. Nothing is risk free and if the risk of hitting something is great, then a lamp is very useful to prevent a collision. It's a no brainer. I have never been blinded by my own light or others e.g. Faslane and Holy Loch military police, so what does that mean, a non issue as far as I am concerned!
 
ip485 said:
What is the collective view on leaving a harbour on a dark night?

Working your way through a long line of boats that are bouyed can be quite challenging. I have found a need some one up front with a spotlight to do so safely.

I also accept a spotlight isnt the most social solution if another boat comes in the opposite direction, and could confuse with other navigation lights.

I am tempted to have a spotlight on the front that can be turned on and off from the helm when some form of forward lighting is required for safe visual navigation.

I guess another alternative is a FLIR camera, but, at a price.

I raise this only in relation to motoring through a line of boats which are not lit, and of course not in open water or anchorages etc.
Click to expand...
Fairly straight forward using someone on the bow with a spotlight and going slowly. Much more nerve wracking is entering or leaving a harbour on a dark foul night when there are loads of pots in the entrance as there often are in Padstow. Much easier to spot a boat than a pot. That said I have done it many many times and only rarely hear the noise of a pot banging on the hull.
 
We have left harbour at night many times and have never used a spotlight. Having a good look around in the light and/or on the way in, following the plotter track and taking it slow are all good suggestions.

It is quite rare that it is pitch black - amazing what you can see with dark adapted eyes under night time ambient light.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Entirely preventable by the skipper briefing the person wielding the lamp. Nothing is risk free and if the risk of hitting something is great, then a lamp is very useful to prevent a collision. It's a no brainer. I have never been blinded by my own light or others e.g. Faslane and Holy Loch military police, so what does that mean, a non issue as far as I am concerned!
Click to expand...


Unless your course takes you directly through cluttered moorings and not following a buoyed channel there should be nothing to hit that requires a bright light. Oh and HMRC/Border Force boats like 'Searcher' and 'Seeker' in the Channel are less careful where they point their searchlights, but that's a different scenario.
 
I have never had trouble with large harbours such as Cherbourg or Ijmuiden. There always seems to be enough light around to see by. Creeks with moorings can be difficult and I don't have a pre-arranged plan because it is not something I have often done. Leaving Tollesbury at 4am rather discouraged me from further experiments. My radar will pick up moorings, but the set is not at the helm and its use would be difficult.
 
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