A Little Night Sailing

[HenryC]

Florida Wildlife, Sep/Oct '09


"Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen." – John Le Carre

There is something really special about being out on the water after dark.  Most experienced boaters feel perfectly comfortable underway, day or night; but those who are new to the sport or who prefer mostly daylight activity like water skiing may not have as much experience being "out there" after sunset.  But sometimes a boat trip is delayed by weather, or a breakdown, or because the fishing was particularly good that day. So sometimes a skipper just finds himself alone, at night in another world, a dark lonely one of surprising peace and beauty.

It's always a little scary, especially the first few times you are out in your boat after sunset.  Even if conditions are perfect, the waves and the winds always seem more dangerous, more unpredictable.  It's all in your mind, of course, the brain tends to over-compensate in the dark, to be more cautious and take less chances.  Use this to your advantage, sail or motor conservatively and safely, you probably won't really need to, but it never hurts to be extra careful out on the water. 

Of course, you have to be particularly careful that your boat is well equipped; that all your lights are properly rigged and working and that you have all the required safety gear than you might normally carry, all stowed away so you can locate it quickly in the dark. And don't forget to dress appropriately. Boating at night isn't inherently more dangerous than during the day, but visibility is reduced, and there are fewer boats on the water. You are on your own out there, but don't let that scare you, it only adds to the thrill of the experience.

You must also make sure your navigational skills are well-honed  and that you know how to use your chart and compass and GPS.  Unless you are an experienced seaman, you should avoid bodies of water at night  that you are not already thoroughly familiar with in daytime.  Things tend to look different in the dark, the lights and buoys you use for navigation are often lost in the background clutter of a million lights on shore. Distances are hard to judge, too, and there are other boats out there as well.  Keep a proper lookout, learn the rules of the road, underway light displays and aids to navigation, and follow them strictly. Even a well-seasoned skipper with the proper equipment, can sometimes get disoriented in a strange harbor at night. Don't bite off more than you can chew before you're ready; and remember, caution and confidence work together.  Build them up gradually and you'll have plenty of both when you need them.

But it will all be worth it. There is a mystery and a grandeur to the sea after sunset; the sun goes down in Florida  with a spectacular show of color and cloud as the last bit of the disk sinks beneath the hard slash of the horizon.  If it is clear and dark the stars will come out in breathtaking numbers, and  far from city lights, with a brilliance and beauty some of us may  not have seen in years.  Few of our children have seen this ultimate glory of nature in our light-polluted urban skies, this is one way you can give them a memory that will stay with them all of their lives.  How many youngsters today can say they have actually seen the Galaxy, from inside?  If there is a moon, the fainter stars and the Milky Way may be washed out, but to make up for it you will have the icy cold orb of earth's satellite bathing everything around you in an exquisite glow, and part of the sea will reflect it like a pool of molten silver.

But there's something to be said for the dark, overcast nights, too.  Your little craft crosses an empty and mysterious universe, except for the glow from your instruments and the glare from your running lights reflected off the surface of the dark sea–plenty of light there for your dark-adapted eyes.  But look carefully, sometimes there is more!  In Florida, especially in the fall, sometimes the water itself glows with a pale, unearthly blue-green fire.  They call it phosphorescence, but it is actually a living creature, Noctiluca, a microscopic little bit of protoplasm that gives the sea this dim cold light by its presence in untold billions.  The wake of your boat trails behind you, a river of green across the sea, and when spray splashes aboard or on your clothes you can see the individual little specks of life as they blink off and on, surprisingly bright if your eyes are adapted to the dark.  When fish swim through this soup of phosphorescence they leave trails of green, flashes of light like ghostly torpedoes.  The boater realizes just how many fish there are in our bays and seas, normally hidden from our eyes.

A good boat with a good crew thrives on this kind of cruising, and some of your most treasured moments on the water will come after dark.  In a large harbor, navigation becomes a routine but constant task as the skipper and his crew pilot and dead reckon their way across the chart, identifying and plotting landmarks and steering by compass over the stretches where aids to navigation are few and far between. It is not a chore, soon you will come to look forward to these intense sessions at the chart table, or squinting through binoculars trying to find that next buoy.  These moments become a fascinating and exciting part of the boating experience and will give you the intense satisfaction and pride of having guided your little craft across the trackless wastes with skill and confidence.  On longer passages, such as coastal cruises, there will be long periods of time when you and your crew will be truly alone, as few people are in today's crowded and busy world, a little speck of human cargo far offshore, as free and independent of the rest of humanity as any spacecraft plunging through the void of interplanetary space. 

If your boating takes you out primarily in daylight, or if  you've just gotten involved in boating, extend your experience and your skills by planning a few night trips.  Sail or power, or even in your paddlecraft, a whole new world is waiting for you, a world which you need not abandon after the sun sets and where, if you're very lucky, may one day greet you with one of nature's most awesome displays, a Florida sunrise on the water. Build up to it gradually and don't be shy about asking for expert advice, but do it.  It will be one of the wisest and most worthwhile things you'll ever do with your boat.