Yourfirst night time passage?

[atlowers]

Had my first night time trip last night, by accident, and absolutely loved it. Cruising at 20knots in the dark with threatening clouds overhead was just a great new experience and made up for the fact that I had only gone to the hamble (Eastlands) to pick up the boat following its 20 hour service. Trouble was got there at 7pm and apparently somebody had moved the boat onto a drying berth. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gifFound the leg totally submerged in very soft mud and had a long wait for tide to lift her out. Had taken my young nephews and thankfully my gps which I had routed prior to trip even though very regular trip in daylight and finally got back on my Gosport mooring at 11.30pm with a very happy skipper and 2 delighted crew. It was a short trip but now cannot wait to get out in the dark again. What a beautiful thing the spinnaker tower is! Loads of lessons learnt, primarily need to do some chart swotting as would have been very different without gps.
Can you remember your first night time experience? (boating that is)

 

[Whitelighter]

Yep, first night out on a MoBo was with Hurricane skippering. Spent the whole run to pool standing on the flybridge looking for lobster pots. Eveytime i sheilded my eyes for a second or two he shout ' you are still looking aren't you???? '

First time on my own was to Yarmouth from the Hamble in December. Great experience.

 

[atlowers]

Absolutely Jez, with 2 young nephews only on board, I know exactly what you mean about concentration and keeping eyes peeled, Slept til 10.30 this morning as a result which is just not me. Still delayed todays chores a bit. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[beejay190]

My first time out in the dark was to see the fireworks off Bournemouth pier. I didn't have a gps/plotter and flirted many times with shallow water. For the return trip I decided it was safer to follow one of the trip boats back into Poole harbour. I now have a Standard Horizon plotter so hopefully this year will be less scary.

I enjoy going out early evening and returning to Poole harbour at dusk. With the fading light the harbour is calm and still and with no harbour master in sight I can get back to Poole boat Park in good time !!

Spent a night at Haslar last year and agree the Spinnaker Tower is very impressive in the dark.

 

[Kawasaki]

Certainly do.
Was a 56 mile trip from North Wales to The Isle Of Man.
Rest of the "Crew" were under the effluence of inchahol.
I was left to Myself.
42ft Ckip trawler Mobo, Grand Banks look alike.
Had all sorts of stuff I hadn,t played with before.
Radar, GPS, Navtex weather station, autopilot, de dah de dah de dah!!
Was a hoot.
Thought I was Christopher Columbus as I Motored into Douglas at Dawn.
Twas Magic.
Still think it's Magic boating through the Night.
Only scary bit is not knowing if yer gonna hit summat in the water.
Done it a few times since.
Just tend to go a bit slower than in daylight.
Hey! Well Done.
Tiss a lark in't it.
SWMBO Says She prefers it in the Dark anyway!
Dunno why.

 

[powerskipper]

I love night passages on a warm non rainy, non windy, not wind over tide night, I have done quite a few now and never had a night the same yet. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Sneds]

My first nght time passage ...............

Oops, wrong forum /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Solitaire]

Well done - do you want to bye pass Level 2 and go straight to Advanced? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif You are right about the Tower - I love it at night, it really is spectacular when you enter the Harbour.

Night runs are great, but you do have to consider pots at this time of year, and there are loads out there. There has been a lot of reports by the bigger ships calling up and saying they are seeing pots even in the deep water channels - so be aware.

 

[captct]

around here in B.C. running lights are mandetory and its important to be able to tell tugboats pulling barges from other vessels.The channels here can be very narrow and the water running at anywhere from 4 to 14 knots.There is also so many logs and deadheads floating around it can make it damn dangerous.Radar on ....lights on...displacement speeds.
A bow lookout helps.Personally I would rather find a nice hook instead

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Down the Thames from Hammertons Ferry to HMS President. Calm, warm and a bit scary shooting bridges in the dark. The bridge lights are not always easily spotted against the streetlights and mooring buoys/floating junk are a hazard too.

But its beautiful.

 

[Wiggo]

Single handed from Gunwharf Quays to Christchurch on a fabulously clear and calm night. The run through the Solent was beautiful, but highlighted how difficult it was to get any sense of distance from lights, so I used the radar and plotter a lot to confirm that what I thought I was looking at was correct.

Then once you clear Hurst Castle, it gets very, very dark apart from the Needles light and you get a real feeling of how vast the sea is. A clear night and bright moon made the lobster pots less of a hazard than they could have been. The approach to Christchurch gets interesting, as the quay wall just has two FG(vert.) and no leading lights. All the channel markers are unlit, but have retro reflective tape. Note to self: 500,000 candlepower mega torch from B&Q is useless, as the glare from the coachroof and rails completely blinds you.

 

[Hurricane]

Hi Graham

Did a similar run earlier in the year (February from memory) with Jez - to Poole.
What was weird was the channel lights for Poole could be seen almost from the Needles and they seemed so close. Jez will confirm - we had to double check the charts and plotter etc to be sure what we were actually seeing.

However it was a clear winters night and Jez was on lobster pot lookout!! It was the fastest I'd ever been at night - we had to get to Poole in time for dinner with other forumites. Still, no incidents - auto pilot all the way including a very satisfying turn into the channel at Poole. Jez's eyes were a bit sore from the cold when we arrived though.

Mike

 

[jfm]

Good stuff atlowers. I love night sailing in nice weahter. It's tough in bad weather becos you can't read thre waves, but on a calm full moon night it is bliss.

I'm going to leave Antibes about 9pm day after tomorrow and sail 150nm SE-ish to Elba, off the coast of Italy. I'm figuring the guests will doze off in the early hours and I'll carry on through the night, to arrive for breakfast the next day. Really looking forward to it. You need a good radar obviously

Best of all is sailing south into a full moon, along a kind of corridor of light on the sea. Alas I have not timed my trip tomoorrow very well for that...

 

[rickp]

Agreed - we had a fantastic run into Cherbourg in December. Very flat sea, moon up and bright and we were running straight down the reflected moonlight. Only downside was damn near skating off the pontoons in the marina as they were so icy.....

Rick

 

[duncan]

yep - like yesterday..........

Hoo trots on the medway over to Ostende.........36 hrs at 5 knots and lots of darkness. 2 persons onboard and a F6WNW nearly all the way

 

[atlowers]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to leave Antibes about 9pm day after tomorrow and sail 150nm SE-ish to Elba, off the coast of Italy. /quote]

Wow, elba, italy, it sounds so romantic not that I am jealous, day after tomorrow, I am down for tiling the kitchen /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Have a wonderful passage