Sailing at night under full moon

antonputman · Joined: 22 May 2014 Posts: 137 Location: North Shore Italy

Yesterday at my homespot it was just perfect, full moon with a warm 18 knots breeze......
I am a yachtsman and have a lot of nights sailing in open waters under my belt so the idea is not something I never thought about.
I am really up to this challenge and wanted to ask some advise about my idea.

I plan sailing my 175L 10' Exocet WindSUP, the board I am always using at my homespot now. It's a big bay that I know very well with a small port but almost no traffic apart from some local fisherman. I got into the habit of strapping a paddle to the boom and learned to rig and de-rig in open water so when the wind should drop I just paddle home. When the wind picks up I can crank up the down haul with my North Power XTR extension.
I always take a waterproof phone and a small GPS with me so if I get into real trouble I can call the local coastguard, they have a small SAR boat in the port standby and know me.
I need to find a small waterproof 360 light that attaches to the top of the mast. Other than that I found this picture of two headlights attached to the boom but I don't think I will need them when sailing under full moon.

Anything else? Should I take a flare with me? I have been thinking to buy a small personal EPIRB before but I know from experience that a mobile phone has a lots of range. I mean you should sail really offshore not to be able to call anymore. I usually sail not more than 5 nautical miles offshore.

Any experience or thoughts appreciated!

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

You are right about not using the flash lights, you'll probably see better without them. In theory, you are supposed to have positional lights, same as sailing, but you know your coast guard and local traffic.

If you have obstacles in the water, you may want to tape some glow sticks to them. I once sailed at night a few hundred yards upwind of a spot I had sailed at for a week before. Not a full moon, and vision from a high-power headlamp was just 100 ft or so. I was alone (except from a few drunk locals in a poorly marked cat) and stayed close to shore. Was very glad I did not go out further when I sailed the next morning, and discovered a lot of stakes in the water a bit further out.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Because crap happens, I'd add the flare. I'd also let a friend and the Coast Guard know you'll be out there. Other than that, you sound well prepared.

OTOH, I've even tried to use aircraft landing lights to spot objects -- two buds blown across a big reservoir -- at night. Useless; the black night and water just swallow up light. I was once the missing person swimming my gear towards shore after dark, and was so close to George on the shore that we were conversing with just slightly raised voices, yet even with his headlights blazing in my face and my white board belly lifted upright to reflect them back at him, he could not see me until we were within rock-throwing distance. In those conditions, I'd say a light is useful only for repairing something, for being seen by others, and for interfering with your own night vision.

antonputman · Joined: 22 May 2014 Posts: 137 Location: North Shore Italy

As far as regulations at night we could just carry a 360 white light. We don't need the red/green/white single tricolor navigation lights like on sailboats because windsurfers are <7m

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

"Knowing the shoreline" in daylight means little at night. I've sailed the Gorge and several lakes (including giant Amistad Reservoir at 75 miles long with well over twice the coastline length of Texas, much of it in another country) at night, and find that the night and day cues are almost independent of one another. The strobe on my van got pretty hard to find even in the little old Gorge.

I suggest you add food and water and a "space blanket" in case you spend the night out there. Flares look a lot like fireworks, and I've had the CG and Sheriff ignore my flares as my boat sunk into the Columbia directly off the Hood River Event Site.

smithmail · Joined: 09 Jan 2015 Posts: 12 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Best of luck, post how it was when you return Razz

smithmail · Joined: 09 Jan 2015 Posts: 12 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Best of luck, post how it was when you return Razz

P.S. Sry for double post Sad

ghost1 · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 11:10 am Post subject:

5 nautical miles offshore at night? I wouldn't have the guts to do that. Personally I wouldn't venture out that far. I windsurfed once at night at my local spot and honestly it was just too damn creepy for me. No idea what was in front of me, and the hardest part was judging the water state and chop.

I respect the fact you're going out though! Would love to hear how it goes!