Moving Off Anchor At Night. (Not Fun)

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Yeah, strong lights would be a good idea when you are out cruising full time.

I have a strong handheld spot light, but it's in my Jeep. I was using it while fixing a problem recently. It plugs into the 12 volt receptacle. I'd have to wiring it in direct on the boat. I used it before with alligator clips

On Friday night, I was using one of those little maintenance flashlights that are powered by two AA batteries!

It worked quite well.

My light bars, They are for offroad 4x4 vehicles,
I now turn them on from my cockpit, I ran new wires up the mast for them,
It was easy as my mast is laying on my deck,
The light comparison is between my RV's headlight on full beam, Halogen, The light bars light kills it,
Hanging out the side with a spotlight to see where your going has bells on it,
I went from 34 feet to 3 feet depth and almost went onto a coral reef that was not on the chart because I was concentrating on the spot light and seeing where I was going,
Now with the light up the mast, I can watch the depth sounder constantly instead of a quick glance now and then,
It will make it much easier in tight anchorages at night,

I put one each side so that the Genoa dont block the light if I only had put one light up

Cheers, Brian,

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Mr B

My light bars, They are for offroad 4x4 vehicles,
I now turn them on from my cockpit, I ran new wires up the mast for them,
It was easy as my mast is laying on my deck,
The light comparison is between my RV's headlight on full beam, Halogen, The light bars light kills it,
Hanging out the side with a spotlight to see where your going has bells on it,
I went from 34 feet to 3 feet depth and almost went onto a coral reef that was not on the chart because I was concentrating on the spot light and seeing where I was going,
Now with the light up the mast, I can watch the depth sounder constantly instead of a quick glance now and then,
It will make it much easier in tight anchorages at night,

I put one each side so that the Genoa dont block the light if I only had put one light up

Cheers, Brian,

Very nice.

That night I had to furl my jib because when I would pass my little maintenance flashlight with it's two AA Batteries from side to side it would damn near blind me for 20 -30 seconds from the sail's reflection

I tried different methods but decided to furl the jib anyway which was a good thing when I had to turn quickly back into the wind at the fish trap pilings...…. which next time I think I'll just sail thru since I was in 25' of water or so and not near the end where the nets are

[Mr B]

I did think of that, Two lights, Two switches, One for each light,
To avoid blinding me with the reflected light off the Genoa,
But then I thought, If Im in a tite spot, I wont be sailing, I will be on the motor,
Im just not that good at sailing, Im a Motor Boat man, On a sail boat,
I will keep the sailing part for the open ocean, Or where I have plenty of room to sail,

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Mr B

I did think of that, Two lights, Two switches, One for each light,
To avoid blinding me with the reflected light off the Genoa,
But then I thought, If Im in a tite spot, I wont be sailing, I will be on the motor,
Im just not that good at sailing, Im a Motor Boat man, On a sail boat,
I will keep the sailing part for the open ocean, Or where I have plenty of room to sail,

Well, that's the way to do it.....go with you strength.

I actually could have turned off my engine and sailed for several hours but for the unlit buoys which I probably would have avoided but since I'm 60 plus it was way past my bedtime even though it wasn't a school night!

So I went for the nearest, calmest anchorage.....I was sailing/motoring with the wind and against the tide.

[SailFastTri]

@Mr B you're deck lights do not belong up the mast. They would cast a lot of stray light on the deck, sails and rig, and the reflected light will kill your night vision for about 20 minutes after you've turned them off. If you want to use spot lights for lighting specific objects, you should use a spotlight from the rail or remotely mounted outboard of other objects on your boat. Or, you could use a floodlight(s) mounts below deck for docking or mooring to light the general area close in. There are docking lights made for that purpose, which you can flush-mount or surface-mount on the bows of your boat just below deck level.

Your lights are probably also illegal (technically) to use underway because they are confusing to other boats who are expecting to see conventional GC/COLREGS lights on other vessels.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

@Mr B you're deck lights do not belong up the mast. They would cast a lot of stray light on the deck, sails and rig, and the reflected light will kill your night vision for about 20 minutes after you've turned them off. If you want to use spot lights for lighting specific objects, you should use a spotlight from the rail or remotely mounted outboard of other objects on your boat. Or, you could use a floodlight(s) mounts below deck for docking or mooring to light the general area close in. There are docking lights made for that purpose, which you can flush-mount or surface-mount on the bows of your boat just below deck level.

Your lights are probably also illegal (technically) to use underway because they are confusing to other boats who are expecting to see conventional GC/COLREGS lights on other vessels.

You have no idea, Mate, Have you ever sailed at night,
My lights are 10 metres above my deck on the top spreader, , They wont and dont light up any thing except 300 metres plus ahead of my boat, Where I need the light to be,
They are spotlights for a purpose, Lighting my way at night thru reefs,Or up creeks,
I also enjoy travelling at night,
Hanging off the side of my boat with a hand held spotlight is straight out dangerous to my vessel and me, Been there, Done that, It also creates a lot of reflections,

There are no other vessels around when I need my spotlights on,
I am not in the USA, In fact, the closest I have been to the USA is about 8000 Nmiles away, ,
My deck lights which light up my deck, I use when a ship is going past so they know I have heard them scratching on the VHF and to inform them I am aware they are there,

My deck lights are the ones that cause reflections and blindness, I only use them as I said when a ship is passing and I have hundreds of miles of open ocean to sail in, And I know its empty of all other vessels,

My vessel has all the required (by law) Nav lights,
Why would I turn a spot light on in the middle of an ocean, Its not needed or required,
Other than my nav lights on at night, I have no other lights on at all, I can see better at night with out them,

My bows are one metre above the waterline, Any light there is totally useless,
My hand held spotlight is 2 metres above the waterline, Its also almost useless,

I dont sail in shipping lanes either,

[mf70]

thomm225, thanks for sharing the story. Anchoring in an open tideway has all sorts of excitements. It reminds me of a family sailing motto: "It's a good thing we know what we're doing; otherwise, we'd really be in trouble."


Oddly, Active Captain doesn't seem to list those fish trap poles you saw; its coverage of fish traps in the upper Bay is pretty good. I like the Android charting app Aqua Map for its integration of Active Captain information with charting. It's anchor drag function is particularly well thought out.



Mark

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by mf70

thomm225, thanks for sharing the story. Anchoring in an open tideway has all sorts of excitements. It reminds me of a family sailing motto: "It's a good thing we know what we're doing; otherwise, we'd really be in trouble."


Oddly, Active Captain doesn't seem to list those fish trap poles you saw; its coverage of fish traps in the upper Bay is pretty good. I like the Android charting app Aqua Map for its integration of Active Captain information with charting. It's anchor drag function is particularly well thought out.


Mark

Thanks.

I was actually anchored in 5'-9' of water (1' - 5' under the keel) behind/to leeward of Fisherman Barrier Island and a few 100 yards out of the 30' plus deep channel but then the wind changed to the South (from ESE) sending my boat into more shallow water and bring in more waves and wind

You would have thought I would have learned my lesson by now but I like to take early morning hikes at Kiptopeke. I was trying to avoid being turned sideways into the swells and tide which happens when anchored behind the cement ships at times due to the tidal current during the change every 6 hours or so

First thing I did after coming off anchor was to go toward the channel to gain depth and then I turned NW heading toward the cement ships. There's an unlit bouy on the far side of the channel on the way and I didn't want to go out too far

You can see the fish trap pilings in that guys video near the end above on page 1 and in a few of the pictures........or at least the first couple sets. There are maybe 6-8 sets of them going all the way to Fisherman Island and the (CBBT) bridge where I was anchored. They extend just about out to the channel.

As far as Active Captain, the upper bay gets much more attention than the lower due to the population. Cape Charles is the nearest town to Kiptopeke and it has a population of about 1,000.

[Mr B]

thom225
Just curious,
Couple of questions, What is the single steel span in the bridge for, Does it open for shipping,
Why is there two bridges split like that,

Thanks Brian,

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Mr B

thom225
Just curious,
Couple of questions, What is the single steel span in the bridge for, Does it open for shipping,
Why is there two bridges split like that,

Thanks Brian,

The ships enter and exit the bay over the tunnels using the two shipping channels. Ships being aircraft carriers, bulk carriers, container ships, and tankers

Fishing boats up to about 150' or so go under the spans or use the tunnel entrances

The two bridges are for dual highways due to all the traffic. There are still only two tunnels though but that will soon expand to 4 tunnels to accommodated

It costs $15.00 to cross.....they have wind restrictions on the bridge also. I believe it closes totally at 65 knots of wind but tractor trailer rigs are stopped way before that. Several have been blow off.

The bridge is 17 miles long but 24 miles toll to toll

CBBT Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

[Mr B]

Wow, Thats one hell of a current running under the Bridge,
Thanks for the Info, Very interesting,

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Wow, Thats one hell of a current running under the Bridge,
Thanks for the Info, Very interesting,

That was probably after a storm or close hurricane. I think it was similar last year with Hurricane Matthew but with 15' to 20' waves

We are around 36.55 North Latitude sort of the reverse of you it appears

Btw the boats along side the carrier are most likely patrol boats manned by young navy (or Coast Guard) guys and gals keeping the other boaters away......and they take their job very seriously. We hear them in channel 16 doing their thing.....

Sub headed out ………….. usually from any distance you can only see the sail and the rudder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOgOkBADAy8