Bow lights

[Chip]

I assume that a bow flood light is the best way to illuminate one's path when operating at night. Is that correct? Any opinions on the best bow light to install for saltwater use? Thanks.

Chip Stanton

[Mark Prouty]

I've learned from this board that for routine nightime operation, your night vision and a good pair of 7x50 binoculars is a better investment than bright lights. I have a powerful hand held light but during my last trip when I was out at night I found I never needed it.


Navigation Lights

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... highlight=
http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... highlight=

Chip Hindes on powerful lights:

I suppose one would be good to have in a true emergency, but keep in mind once you've used it, or some jerk has used one on you, your night vision will be compromised for as much as 40 minutes. Even a moderately sized regular flashlight will do some damage to your night vision.

For routine nightime operation, your night vision and a good pair of 7x50 binoculars is a better investment.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

The above picture is the proper light config under power. If you are sailing you don't turn on the white mast light.

You won't find many boats with headlights. Some will use a spot in close quarters situations, such as docking. A handheld spot is good in a man overboard situation for finding a person. Other than that leave any white light off. If you need to read something use a red light to preserve your night vision and just let your eyes do their thing. You'll find the less lights the better you see.

I find the really difficult condition is and urban night environment. Probably the most difficult night run I've had was coming in from the Ballard locks through Lake Union to Lake Washington in the dark. With millions of different lights on and above the water it becomes really difficult to sort out what is what. I was glad I had the GPS chart to show my location as we wound our way through.

Just a note though. While at times GPS is not perfectly accurate, most of the time it is very good. Don't use nav aids as waypoints to steer to. Set the waypoint a bit to the side. Coming through Lake Union along gas works park we were following the GPS waiting for the turn left. Suddenly the unlit green can loomed up just feet from the port side of the boat, far too close and quite scarry. Not something you'd want to hit in the dark. Watch out for those things out there without lights.

[Chip Hindes]

Thanks for the attribution, Mark.

Based on our summer trip to the Tortugas, I revise my previous statement slightly. While leaving Oceanside marina, Key West, in pitch dark, in an extremely narrow channel with unlighted markers, we were unable to determine the numbers on the markers or their colors with the binos alone, and a regular flashlight wasn't enough. One of our group had a spotlight which proved to be indispensable, and I have since purchased one for this use. You should still be careful not to spotlight any of the other boats, and it helps if you have more than one crew, so someone can spot and call out markers while the other shields his eyes to protect his night vision.

Also, really important, and a concept that seems to be totally foreign to some moron powerboaters, go slower at night.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

We get caught out at night a few times per year...what makes the big difference is whether the moon is out. If there is some lunar illumination, you can still see the unlit channel markers at night. But if it is pitch black with no moon, then we use a handheld spotlight to pick up the markers.

[ESPERANZA]

We did more sailing at night this year than we did during the day. I found that the stars and moon make it plenty bright for sailing. Remember, I'm sailing on an inland lake though. We had nights with so much moon light that we actually cast shadows on the water. Breezes were always five knots or less...
Dik...

[Chip]

As usual, thanks for all of the great information. Sounds like a handheld spotlight is the way to go.