Boating at night

I do a fair bit of boating at night in the San Juans. Typically, it's a late Friday night trip to the cabin. I know the route well and have done it countless times in daylight and quite a few times at night. I find that it's always good to have an extra pair(s) of eyes looking ahead for any debris in the water. This is much better accomplished when it is calm since logs stand out more.

And I always assume that nobody else sees me. Always be on the lookout (whether this is on the radar screen or out the windows) for other traffic, assume they don't know you are there, and act defensively.

I like boating at night in the San Juans. It generally isn't crowded, is calmer than during the day, and the stars on a clear night are spectacular. It's a different experience than daylight boating. But I avoid going out on Lake Washington at night because I don't think it's very safe. A boy from the Island that I live on ran into an unlit sailboat a few years ago and killed a women, and quite frankly I'm surprised these incidents don't happen more often. Most people fly on the lake at night, and it's easy to see how accidents happen. I just don't want to be part of one.
 
Spunky,

If you're going to hire a boat electrician to install a GPS chart plotter and radar, then I recommend the guy who has done all the work and excellent work on C-Pup. He was at my house today installing a new stereo and a 2nd 12v outlet on the transom for squid lights or a handheld flood light. He said he'd drive to Costa Mesa to work on Spunky in your driveway. He charges $80 an hour plus incidental wire and parts. You buy the units. I recommend a pivoting stand to hold the GPS and sonar unit bracket. You'd have to buy the pivot stand separately.

A key to safety at sea is quality stuff and duality or back up. I have two identical Lowrance units that are combo (split screen) chart plotter and sonar~ fish finders. I only have a "need" for one of the units running on split screen. I prefer two however, running one just for the chart plotter and the other for the fish-finder sonar, but their use is interchangeable. (I can also run both on sonar, one @ 50 and the other @ 200.)

If the one set to navigation blows, then I can use the other to navagate home. I learned this the hard way when I had just one unit. It blew out when I was fishing Farnsworth Bank on Catalina's back side. Fortunately, it was a bright sunny day and calm sea, so I had no problem returning to Cat Harbor by sight navigation. Had there been fog or were it at night, I'd be lost at sea. I also carrry a back-up GPS antenna on suction cup, and a hand held battery operated GPS device in my ditch bag.

My boat VHF radio is connected to the Lowrance unit so that the Lowrance tells the radio my current lat and long position. In an emergency, I can transmit a digital coded SOS message that includes my lat and long position by pushing a red buttonn on my radio. You need to register and get a MMSI number... do that easily and for free through the Boat U.S. web site.

Other dualities on C-Pup are two fire extinguishers, a hand held radio to back up the installed radio two anchors and line (I keep thenmm spooled on plastic electrician extension cord reels) , and so on.

A radar, besides tagging ships in the fog or at night, is also able to profile a distant shoreline or island to confirm my sense of direction or guide me if myGPS units both break. It also tags channel buoys.

Of course, there is alway the compass and paper chart... or should be for traditional navigation as a back up to boat electronics. The compass has to be set properly or it will be worse than nothing. (Magnetic north is not true north.) Contact a yacht club or Coast Guard Auxiliary to find a professional compass setter, or do it yourself if you're able.

In Marina del Rey, there is a buoy a couple huundred yards from a shore a sign that says "North", which I think is magnetic north (I had better be sure!)Line the boat up at the buoy and adjust the compas so north is in the direction of the sign. Problem is, it's a very old sign (often hidden by tree branches). Most marina's have such a marker for setting a compass. The deviation of magnetic from true however, sometimes changes over the years. Best idea is to have a licensed, professional compass guy set your compass. Another reason is because boat electronics and motor pulse might disrupt its operation, depending on its location in the boat and what's running. He may tell you =you must move the compass locaiton in the boat.

I hope you're getting the idea about safe boat navigation, whether at night, in og or on a perfectly nice day that later turns against you... In three years, I went from zerio knowledge and maximum stupidity to serving as the Santa Monica Bay Coast Guard Auxiliary Staff Officer for Member Training. You can get ahead of the curve. You just need to know there is a learning curve and focus on that.

A good friend of mine in Huntington Beach, Mr. Jeff Spira, published a nice booklet on Seamanship and Coastal Navigation. I recommend it. It's an easier read and quicker to lean than a classroom course on the subject, although I recommend classroom courses as follow-up. Jeff also published two great books, one on fishing the SoCal coast, and the other on diving wrecks in California. I think you'd like those too.

See: http://www.spirainternational.com/hp_book.html

Here's the boat electrician I recommend to you:

Robert Holder, Marine Electrician
P.O. Box 9447
Marina del Rey, CA 90295

Cell PH# 310-346-3926


Be well,
Keith
C-Pup
 
I use a Home Depot head band light which can switch from white to red light when I navigate at night and need to reach for something in the boat. Red does not degrade night vision. I can even read a chart with it.

I think the red light at night in the cabin is super cool. With all the electronic displays and the red light, I feel like I am a submarine captain!. Maybe I will install a periscope with night vision goggle! Hey, I do look a lot like Sean Connery in the movie "The Hunt For Red October"! (see: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm806587904/tt0099810 and compare to http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _photo.php) I should make a movie on C-Pup with Catherin Zeta Jones! Why haven't I thought of that earlier!

The windshield does degrade night vision, so you have to keep it squeaky clean at night! An important safety features and appreciated convenience that I never remember to mention is the windshield wipers. The last thing remaining for me to put on C-Pup is a windshield wash sprayer. Has anybody done that ?

Someone posted there is a combination laser pointer LED flashlight such as cops attach to their guns. I bought one at Home Depot for under $6. Be careful not to point the laser in the direction of people. It can damage an eye and temporarily blind a pilot. If you point it at law enforcement, they may think you're a sniper and shoot you.

Back to safety at sea... what do you guys do for pirate defenses? A C-Dory's look stands out. It can attract the wrong crowd in port. My boat C-Pup, "Tiny but Tenacious", is so cute that it attracts mostly hot pirate babes that want to steel C-Pup's booty. Maybe they think I'm Sean Connery. Maybe it's the red light at night. I have a devil of a time with this problem: http://www.hotpiratebabes.com/index.html

My wife says the solution is to sell the boat or not dream in my sleep. And some of you thought I was harsh with my words to Spunky!

Keith
C-Pup16
 
"Assume other boats don't see you."

Dauntless20 wrote that and it's good advice. If you did not install a boat powered horn, then keep a canned air horn at the ready. (I keep two handy.) Know the rules of navigation and the the blasts for passing. If anchored or drift fishing, blast 5 times if a yacht seems to be heading to you and is not changing course. Never assume they see you and are in control, or concerned about you. Skippers get tired and distracted. Some are just F- heads. A lot of sail boat skippers fall in that category, especially if racing.

I like to fish the pre-dawn light just outside of Two Harbors at Catalina tight up against a well marked reef called Harbor Reef. I am regularly stunned by the brazen aggression of fishing yacht captains blasting out of the mooring area in the low predawn light. They seem oblivious that there is an anchorage area beyond the moorings. It is clearly marked on charts. I can guess these skippers are leaving in a hurry to get to marlin banks for a marlin competition.

One guy in a 50+ foot sport yacht recently crossed 35 feet or less in front of my anchored boat... actually plowing across the submerged Harbor Reef and thick kelp! I had to quickly disconnect the anchor rode and get my motor running, ready to move. He was lucky it was high tide or he would have been wrecked on the reef. Then right behind him a similar boat passed just 50 feet behind me, both at full speed throwing giant wakes. Yes, my anchor light was on. They had a huge expanse of open water they could have gone over instead of targeting me. I'm sure they never saw me because they weren't looking or fully awake. I have no doubt these skippers put their destination into their auto pilot and went to get a coffee as soon as they left the mooring area.

Safe boating is defensive boating and assuming the other guys will be idiots! Your best fishing buddy may be an attorney.

Never assume the other guy sees you, knows what he's doing, or gives a damn about courtesy, the rules of navigation or your safety or comfort... even his own boat's safety!

Keith
C-Pup16
 
Thanks guys for all the advise, Whether harsh or sugar coated it doesn't matter to me as long as I can take something good away from it. I definitely need to buy some electronics. I have the gps, vhf, nav lights, anchor chain and rope (duh), and compass. I’m thinking about the radar, but probably just overkill on a small boat, ill wait until I have a larger one, and just keep from being out there at night for now, although lobster season does make it tempting.

Hey C-pup and others me and a couple others are headed out to the channel islands on 22AUG10 (sunday), let me know if interested?
 
Hi Zirky,

I crewed on a 78 ft Fairline euro yacht several years ago taking it from San Francisco to Santa Barbara at night. I was fascinated that my cheap little ol' "C-Pup" had as good navagation electronics as this mult-million dollar yacht... actually better since my stuff was all new and the yacht's was over 8 years old. My friend was a professional, licensed ship captain hired by the owner. Siince the yacht had recently been purchased, my friend the skipper actually used a new hand-held GPS to confirm the ship's GPS unit and compass while under way! My job was to watch the radar all night long while the yacht was on auto pilot. Lonely work.

A radar is what you buy after all the other stuff, and it can wait. I got mine installed a few years ago. It cost me $2,000 installed. The reason I got it was fog. What if I'm crossing the shipping channel some morning counting on a clear visability to see ships and a sudden fog or haze obscures vision? What really triggered my purchase was a night lobster hoop netting near Malibu. A thick fog suddenly rolled in to MdR. My GPS was able to guide me home ...but a dozen other hoop netters were returning at the same time. Man was that scary, since quite a few were moving at the same high speed they would on a sunny clear day!

BTW, you can make a hoop net buoy with a short pole and radar reflector to help you retrieve your nets in the dark or fog.

Also... a final comment. I love fishing, which is why I bought my C-Dory. Then I got involved in the Coast Guard Auxiliary for several years to cure my knowledge gap, and serve in the way I could after 9/11. At the same time, I joined the Marina del Rey Anglers Club (www.mdrAnglers.com), sponsor of the Halibut Derby which funds our youth fishing program. I even served as club president in 2007. My theme was always safety at sea. When on party boats fishing, I'd wear an inflatable jacket ($185). These guys just made fun of me which is fine, that' what fishing buddies do. The thing that bugged me is they refused to change... always focused on fishing rather than safety. One guy bought a Mustang flotation jacket for his son, but took no steps to enhance his own safety. That's seems to be some fisherman's mentality. I hope you can blend the skills of seamanship with your skills of fishing at sea.

BTW, I highly recommend you wear an inflatable life jacket/HARNESS and have a quick detach teather line when on Spunky. I attach the engine kill line (with an extension) to the harness. Always do this when alone on your boat. When you have a friend fishing with you, can you count on their competence to handle the boat well and in a timely manner to rescue you... especially at night? I always train my fishing guests on handling C-Pup.

Catch any WSB this year? I broke off one at PV, but landed none. How about halibut? They seem in abundance this year, but mostly short. I hope they hang around and grow up for next year!

I'll be at the Isthmus on C-Pup all next week with the C-Dory gathering. You can count on my fishing every day!

Be well, and tight lines.

Keith
C-Pup16

Keith
C-Pup
 
on this past monday i ordered red, blue and green, festoon led light bulbs, 40mm x 10mm. hopefully i will receive them today. my plan is to replace the radar arch curtesy white lights with the red led's and then replace the other cockpit lights with the blue led's and for the steps that lead down into the cabin area will replace that with a red led light. should be functional as well as look pretty good. may or maynot replace the underwater swim platform white lights with the green, undecided on that one.
pat
 
Actually, Misty raises a good point. The CD and especially the 16 ft versions are so low in the water, their running lights and even the pole light can disappear from other vessels' line of sight when our boat is in the trough of waives.

I replaced the CD's standard combo running light with LEDs on each side of the bow. When I find the time, I intend to move them to the radar arch to give them maximum visibility. Yea, they'd be right below the pole light which is not code, but code never contemplated a 15 foot 11 inch sea-going vessel and I want to be seen at night!
 
If you mount them on the window visor starboard and port where the forward and side windows meet, they will be clearly visable and well within code.
 
If you plan to buy a radar system in the next few months, which one would you purchase? I dont have one and I expect the folks who own one might have some shopping tips on the new models to share
 
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