Boating at NIGHT.

[Craig Weis]

I'm just courious to see if any of you have enjoyed sailing at night?
I invite all to please do the survey. Thanx Skip,

[K3v1n]

I have yet to do it but my brother has many times with his whole family aboard asleep.

-Kevin

[B.Hart]

I use to take many a sunset, evening sail when I kept a boat in a marina.

[pelican]

We were sailing our C19  one night per week till last month.  They are rebuilding our local marina/docks so the launch ramp is closed till next march.

The next good launch site is a few miles down the road making it painful for an evening sail with the C19 with the travel and set up time.
However, I still have my old 1970s Sunfish, and I can launch her off the beach. I frequently night sail around the North end of Tampa Bay, stopping at some favorite grass flats for some night fishing. Our Speckled Trout , Redfish,and Snook Fishing is wonderful this time of year.

Night time sailing on the C19 is peaceful and the lights from the surrounding communities are beautiful over the water.

For me, Its very pleasant .  I take lights and I try to know where all my gear is before I leave the dock
Know the waters well.....It's just like sailing during the day.... only you can't see

 

[pelican]

Also.... and maybe most importantly... Other Boat/ship traffic can find it difficult to see us.

Boaters should recognize when they are on a collision course with other vessels. Radar reflectors can be a wise investment.

Occasionally shore lights and navigational aids can look alike.  Just some rambling,random thoughts on a favorite subject.

Night sailing is a great way to beat the heat down south.

[crbakdesign]

Keep a wary eye on other traffic, with one hand on a good torch, that being said, there's something special about riding a light evening breeze to yon anchorage with moon above. 

[pelican]

Crbak,

As they say, one photo is worth a thousand words... Truely a stunning photograph that captured the moment perfectly. Well done !

Terry

[KPL]

I enjoy sailing into evening.  It's very peaceful.  On the lake, the wind dies about 30 minutes before sunset, but if you wait, it usually picks back up again about 30 minutes after sunset.  What I enjoy about night sailing is that the wind seems much steadier.  It's very relaxing, especially with all the night sounds.  I just have to avoid sailing downwind, because it allows the mosquitoes to catch up....

[Cricket Crew]

My Chemistry prof decided to sail up to Norfolk, Va from Wilmington, NC right after the summer term ended. We had a great, informal class with an interesting group ~ just a handful that had elected to take this optional summer session class. He owned a Herreshoff sloop -- a beautiful 40+ footer and needed crew (is this a dream come true or what?) My limited sailing experience was in my Laser, launching from the beach off the barrier Islands in this coastal area, so I jumped at the chance. We were to sail 'outside' from Wrightsville to Morehead, then sail 'inside' and follow the ICW to Norfolk. Everyone else as crew -- there were six of us, two from class, the prof's GF and a couple of his friends -- all had experience offshore in large sailboats. I hadn't. That is a key statement right there! We left the dock in the afternoon and had a wonderful sail. I can remember thinking how right this felt...that I had to do this - SAIL...my life's calling if you will.
As we traveled further out into the Atlantic, there was a point that land -- that thin strip of beach on the horizon, disappeared! We were off. Free. I realized early on that I was fine as long as I was on deck...If I went below for any extended amount of time, I started feeling queasy. Dinner below that evening was interesting, so it was decided I would take the first evening watch during that night and wake someone up when I either needed to sleep of if something happened that need experienced sailor's attention. The wind slowly died as the sun set and the ocean began to glass out. We eventually were ghosting along, everyone asleep. I was in the cockpit with my feet up, the red dot in the compass glowing and a warm glow from the cabin washing the deck with light. There was no moon and the number of stars was incredible. The ocean was so flat and reflective, the stars were above me and below me! I was on a ship in space with no horizon to distinguish sky from water. It was like being in a giant water globe. That memory will stay with me the rest of my life. As I was lost in the moment, just over my right shoulder, IN THE WATER ... something took a very deep breath!
Phssssshoow. Phssssshoow. Scaring the wits out of me. It had been so quiet and I was so lost in the moment that the sound startled me like someone yelling 'boo' when you least expect it. We were surrounded by dolphins! They stayed with us for quite sometime. By the time my watch was over and I went below, I could hear them through the hull as I drifted off to sleep. There were many more memories for me on this trip, but the one most vivid, the one I 'see', is ghosting along in the Sea of Stars!
AJ

[Craig Weis]

AJ,
That was a wonderful sailing description...you are so luck to have lived this and I'd like to thank you for sharing the experience. Really liked the dolphins through the hull. Wow.
Made me want to be sailing on my boat right now...

...I was close today. On this first day of 2007 as me and a friend did the Polar Bear thing today where several hundred people ran into and out of Lake Michigan in 38 deg F water at high noon in Jacksonport, Wisconsin. What a blast. We did it. Got the tee shirt. Skip

[rmonsma]

A.J.

You captured the moment so very well in your posting.

I still remember similar experiences sailing on Lake Michigan as a boy in my early teens.  Somehow when the daylight passes into night everything becomes heightened.  The wind on your face, the feel of the boat beneath you, the action of the waves and even the sound of water rushing by all affect you differently.  I think it's quite addicting. 

Sure beats playing online video games like so many teens do today.

Thanks for bringing the memory back for me!

Roger

[multimedia_smith]

Thanks for the vicarious moment... Here in the New Orleans area during the summer it's pretty much the only time to sail (night) because during the day besides being hot enough to cook flesh on the deck, there is either no wind or intermittent thunder storms.

I remember taking my daughter out on Lake Ponchartrain the night before we evacuated for Katrina... the calm before the storm... beautiful star filled night and a light and even breeze... just great!  We couldn't make ourselves come in untill almost midnight.  Actually we had boarded up the house that Saturday and were going to ride it out... and by the time I had finished putting the boat up, the 1:00 a.m. reports were predicting a cat 5... I woke everyone up and said that our plans had changed... we hit the road North.

Things here will never be the same... but we have a new sense of priority... family is on top, as well as "seizing the day"... for example, today was Tuesday and I have been following the weather reports of another rainy weekend... went sailing all afternoon today... had a great sail with the new heavy air tiny jib (report to follow soon).

One of my fondest night sail memories was from a few years ago... it was my birthday and coincicentally a full lunar eclipse... a friend and I went out with his girlfriend, my wife and daughter for the eclipse... since it was a school night, we brought the girls back around 8:30, had a birthday cake at the dock and went back out for several hours of lunar eclipse sailing (complete with Pink Floyd "dark side of the moon" on the CD... a cosmic experience.  We did have running lights on, but killed the mast/foredeck light.  The only semi-close call we encountered was a navigation post that had pelicans sitting all in front of the light... we saw it in time to avoid it, but it was pretty close.

Excuse the rambling.
Best to y'all
Dale