Sailing at night

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Sam Plan B

I attended a Carib 1500 seminar last year. One of the speakers recommended a radar signal detector. It is called a CARD and their website is:
Safety@Sea (NZ) CARD The device is rail mounted an picks up a nearby ship's radar transmission at about 5 miles. It gives of a warning beep. Power requirements are very small. The cost is about $1500. It's on my to-do list.

Bit cheaper in France, especially if you export it and get the 20% VAT off.

Système anti-collision CIEL ET MARINE Détecteur radar Mer-Veille - Discount Marine

Pete

[zeehag]

eyeballs work fine and do not cost 1500 dollars to purchase...... and most ships have reliable lighting. easy to see. and whenye take a bearing on them, you can SEE they move. yes, i do have radar--i use eyes a lot more.

[Cheechako]

Use an egg timer and take cat naps at night. If you have radar you will be able to take longer cat naps! It's easy to miss a very faint winking light on the horizon when you wake up every 15 mins or so to check. You have to check 360 degrees and in addition, the waves/swells obscure that first glimpse of light. With a tanker, from the time you see a tiny wink of white light to them being near you is probably 20 minutes max...

[zeehag]

is easier to see the lights with eyes than with a radar, as innight many need to be lit and mine is not-- my eyes work best. and small light on horizon--not with ships--they are VERY BRIGHT lights on horizon. if the seas are such you have problem seeing with them, then remain awake, and keep looking. the usual auto helm devices do not maintain much accuracy in seas.

[roverhi]

With reliable self steering, your function will be deckhand and lookout. Fortunately, the ocean is really really big and the things your might run into out there, except dirt, almost non existant. Shipping choke points like major ports, coastal shipping lanes, canals etc. are about the only place you will actually ever see another vessel.

on an ocean passage, I just sleep when I feel like it. Because of my normal sleep habits, typically don't sleep more than a couple of hours at a stretch. When I wake up, stick my head up and look around and then nod off again. Been doing it that way forever and a lot of sea miles. Coastal sailing is another thing because of the proximity of land. If it's going to be a long passage, more than a couple of days, I head off shore far enough so I can't possibly sleep long enough to run into land and go to my usual sea routine of sleeping when I feel like it. If the weather is cooperative, may sleep on deck under the dodger which makes it really easy to pop my head up and look around when I happen to wake up. When making a landfall, I don't sleep at least the 12 hours before I expect to run into something solid and keep a constant watch. These are the times you might expect to see other shipping or to have some aberattion of the wind and sea give you a surprize.

Tried the timer thing and found myself seriously sleep deprived and making stupid decisions because of it. Feel it is way better to have a clear head and rational thinking than some arbitrary watch system that leaves me sleep deprived. As a solo sailor on long passages, more than a couple of days, I cannot keep a full time watch or even anything close to it. Suspect that most people who have actually done much real solo voyaging are in the same boat. Everyone's sleep patterns are different. You will have to work out your own system. Wouldn't lose much sleep worrying about it.

FWIW, feel most sailors probably keep a worse watch routine in the daytime than at night.

[svtadpole]

Originally Posted by racing8989

I would like to know if I am ALONE sailing around the world what I would do at night to be sailing even witholut feeling scare? I am new into this matter, and I am very unconfident wht I will do alone at night while my sailboat keep sailing? Thakns

Probably best, considering your "newness" & self proclaimed lack of confidence, if you didn't go off "ALONE sailing around the world" ...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by svtadpole

Probably best, considering your "newness" & self proclaimed lack of confidence, if you didn't go off "ALONE sailing around the world" ...

Get "Adrift".

Story of a solo guy who sank.

At night.

Took 76 days to hit shore.

He was very skinny.

Mostly it was at night......






OK, don't get it! I read it on my first solo passage... and I don't think I should have

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Get "Adrift".

Story of a solo guy who sank.

At night.

Took 76 days to hit shore.

He was very skinny.

Mostly it was at night......






OK, don't get it! I read it on my first solo passage... and I don't think I should have

Didn't it happen in the same area you were sailing. Smart move LOL

[SoonerSailor]

Recently made a passage up Long Island sound in the daytime. We passed several extremely large barely floating tree trunks that I would not like to have run into, day or night. At night you would never have seen them. This may be an unusual occurrence with the heavy rains the northeast has seen this season, but it still gives one pause when considering night passages along coasts.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

MarkJ, I have yet to see a fishing boat with AIS, certainly the menhadin and shrimp fleets off the US shore don't use them and I think most don't so as not to tell the competition where they are. Coming up from the Bahamas offshore, noen of the sport fishermen/ charters had AIS turned on, whether they had receivers, I don't know.

[Sam Plan B]

sailorF54, thank you for your reply. You are most helpful.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Hannah on 'Rita T'

MarkJ, I have yet to see a fishing boat with AIS,

Really? Its illegal in the EU for fishing boats not to use AIS, and yachts over 45 feet. I would have thought it was the same in the USA?

And you guys reckon your the most over governed!


Seriosuly, and I say seriously, because most people will think I'm joking, but seriously, I don't fear being hit by a fishing boat - sure there would be damage, but its not like hitting a ship. Ship hit is permanent damge!

But I certainly would have thought all US fishing boats use AIS. Or are they trying to be secret about their fishing grounds?


Mark

[CarinaPDX]

How you stand a solo night watch depends a lot on the passage, and equipment. If it is a day or two coast- or island-hopping passage then best to stay awake as much/often as possible - things can happen quickly. If doing an ocean crossing, once well clear of land I think it is best to stay rested and keep a clear mind (I usually wake up every hour or so without a timer). The chance of being run down in open ocean is pretty small (but I do know someone who was becalmed and asleep when he was run down by a large container ship, so it does happen). Don't count on freighters keeping to the sea lanes - they only made sense when there was a paucity of weather info; these days freighters are routed to take advantage of favorable currents and avoid contrary currents and storms.

My experience with AIS has been very positive - on the last Atlantic crossing it warned me well in advance of shipping that only became visible at 3-4 miles (rough waves obscured the view). In rough weather radar doesn't work very well - too much sea return, and freighters rarely see yachts on their screens. Most freighters are a lot easier to see at night due to a large amount of lighting (which also tends to obscure the nav lights).

Keeping awake is a subject all its own. You can buy a coffee filter basket with a small spigot on the bottom that fits into a thermos - I used to make coffee directly into the (preheated) thermos after dinner. I have also been known to stock up on chocolate-covered espresso beans for a tasty caffeine+sugar hit. My favorite diversion is a video iPod loaded with TED talks - 18 minute talks on a broad range of topics available for download free from TED | Talks | List.

How you will choose to do night watches will probably evolve. I would recommend sailing with experienced sailors before you strike out on your own alone. Then you will have a sound basis for making decisions before you go.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Really? Its illegal in the EU for fishing boats not to use AIS, and yachts over 45 feet. I would have thought it was the same in the USA?
And you guys reckon your the most over governed! . . . Mark

If you look at the history of AIS in the E.U. you will find out that the E.U. actually paid for the AIS units so the fishermen had no real objection to installing a "free" device.
- - In the USA, the government is absolutely not going to buy such devices or any devices - even radios for fishing vessels. The fishing industry is hanging on by its teeth and is not about to spend money on something that does not relate to their success in filling the holds with fish.
- - Even VHF radios are not required for private recreational vessels. The list of required safety equipment is rather small and mostly orientated towards keeping the occupants from drowning or preventing/fighting fires. It is the insurance companies that usually mandate much more safety equipment or you have to pay considerably higher premiums or not even be able to get insurance. The list of required USCG/State safety equipment is available on line and is rather rudimentary compared to E.U. standards.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - In the USA, the government is absolutely not going to buy such devices or any devices - even radios for fishing vessels. .

Your Government would if the fishermen put a few sugar cane plants on the foredeck