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| So you want to run at night. | |||||||||||||
| Part 1 - Getting your boat ready. | |||||||||||||
| The four year, four foot-itis has landed you in that 25-28 footer of your dreams and you can now head off to the offshore lumps and the canyons, right? Well, not so fast. Offshore fishing means long travel distances and times. That means you will be running at night, rain, or fog. How do you prepare for this eventuality? Anyone can take a jet ski to the canyons if you have enough fuel. Getting back home in one piece is much more difficult. | |||||||||||||
| Navigation lights | |||||||||||||
| There are several combinations of navigation light configurations that are used over the years. All of them have a common theme. Their purpose is to prevent collisions with other boats. Pick up a free copy of "Federal Requirements and Safety Tips for Recreational Boats" at any marine dealer to check how yours should look. | |||||||||||||
| One of the most important things you can do before leaving the dock on a long trip is to check that the navigation lights are working properly. Every single trip offshore last year we encountered at least one boat displaying the wrong lights. You would not think of driving a car at night with no lights on, but for some reason, fishermen do not put them high on the priority list. Just working properly is not enough. Do fenders in rail baskets, canvas, aluminum tower tubing, or people obscure the lights? Remember the goal is to be seen and indicate your direction of travel so no one crashes into you. Nav lights must be shown from sunset to sunrise and during periods of restricted visibility (fog, rain, snow, haze, and smoke) | |||||||||||||
| Side lights - These are individual or combination of 2 lights. Red on the port side. Green on the starboard side. The lights show their color in a specific arc from dead ahead to 112.5 degrees out either side. The purpose of these lights is to alert another boat to your direction of travel. For example, seeing a red side light, you are most probably looking at the port side of a crossing vessel. Under the Nav Rules, a boat crossing your bow from the right to left is the "Stand On" vessel and is supposed to maintain course and speed. Since you are the "Give Way" vessel, you must slow down, stop, or pass behind the Stand On vessel. Side lights in most cases have a visible range of 1 mile in optimum conditions with red being the hardest to see. | |||||||||||||
| Masthead/ stern / anchor lights - One or a combination of white lights at the highest point of the boat on the centerline. The goal here is to show a white light in all 360 degrees. This light basically says "I'm here, watch out". Over the years, I've found this light is the most neglected and misunderstood. During USCG Auxiliary Vessel Safety Checks, I have seen these burned out, wired wrong from the factory, wired wrong by the owner, installed backwards, covered in canvas, obscured by radar antenna, obscured by the operators body, replaced by flood lights, folded down, missing completely, mounted in front of the operators eyes, mounted behind the radar display, and not high enough to clear even the outboard. The stern light mounted in the transom of most sport fisherman type boats disappear behind the wake when the boat comes on plane. When the boat is anchored, just the 360 degree white light is shown. If the white light is obscured, then the only way for a boat to know you are there is: | |||||||||||||
| Radar | |||||||||||||
| Must have. Do boats go offshore without it? All the time. Offshore fishing safely is all about reducing risk. Radar reduces the risk. When that afternoon thunderstorm between you and the shore hits, or the fog rolls in 10 miles off the inlet, or you encounter one of those with broken nav lights, you will be glad you bought it.� Unfortunately it is still an expensive item to purchase.� If your boat has radar, you are required to know how to use it to avoid a collision. Learning to relate what your eyes see and what the radar shows is best done on a clear, sunny day. For restricted visibility or night, the radar manual needs to be in your head. It is very easy to mis-adjust the radar to wipe out the close targets and turn an advantage into a dangerous false sense of security. Take a course such as the USCG Auxiliary Advanced Coastal Navigation course to develop the skills needed to use radar effectively. | |||||||||||||
| Night Vision | |||||||||||||
| While humans do not have the night vision of owls, there are steps you can take to see better. Clean the windshield or clear plastic panels. Water vapor condenses on colder glass surfaces. Keep tissues available to clear the mist off your glasses. | |||||||||||||
| Dim all instrument and electronics displays. Not only do they directly affect your vision, they reflect off the glass around the helm and make it harder to see out. Any cabin dome lights or flashlights should have red bulbs or lens. Once your eyes get acclimated to the dark, you will be amazed at what you can see. It's a good idea to tell your passengers not to turn on any lights without warning you first. One good blast with a flashlight takes at least 15 minutes to re-acclimate. | |||||||||||||
| Installing a spotlight is good idea. Use it sparingly because it will not only wipe out your night vision but everyone who you cross with it as well. Its good for close in work like around rock piles in unfamiliar areas. Do not to run to the canyon with it on like a car headlight. | |||||||||||||
| Night vision camera technology prices are coming down. I will venture a prediction that within 10 years, mounted night vision cameras will be the accepted standard on vessels over 30 feet like radar is today. | |||||||||||||
| Autopilot | |||||||||||||
| Yes, you can run at night without an autopilot. The autopilot frees up time for other tasks, like looking out for other vessels, watching the radar, etc. Running 3 or more hours on a rough, moonless night without the AP will increase your fatigue level significantly. | |||||||||||||
| Compass | |||||||||||||
| Without the autopilot, your main source for steering data is the compass and GPS. If it too small, you could be zigzagging all over the ocean. Use the GPS to get the course to the destination waypoint, and then use the compass to steer the course. Use the GPS Cross Track error or other display that shows you off course to gradually bring yourself back to the base line. There is no need to make 30-degree heading changes. Use the smallest increment of your compass. For example, if the base course line to your destination is 150 degrees Magnetic. As you proceed, you find yourself 0.2 nm off course to the right. Head 145 degrees until you get back to the Cross Track Error of zero then turn to 150 degrees again. If you get a boat 1 or 2 miles in front of you going to the same place, it is a whole lot easier to stay on course. | |||||||||||||
| Safety Gear | |||||||||||||
| No one goes offshore expecting to be involved in a collision and treading water for hours until rescued. When something does go wrong, your safety equipment will mean the difference between coming home wet and shaken up and not coming home, ever. | |||||||||||||
| Offshore Type 1 Personal Floatation Devices are must have. Add a Personal Marker Light for each. Before leaving the dock, hand a PFD out to each passenger. Very few boats greater than 20' 0" have built in flotation. Trying to find a PFD in the dark in the few minutes the boat will stay afloat after hitting something is virtually impossible if they are stowed away down in the cabin somewhere. Wear it or sleep on it, but keep it nearby. | |||||||||||||
| Life raft - essential if your trips offshore with water temps less than 65 degrees. Be sure to have it inspected at the manufacturers required interval. | |||||||||||||
| EPIRB - Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. You should carry a 406 MHz EPIRB. This one device cuts down rescue time from several days to a couple hours. The newer units with internal GPS or are linked to the boat GPS (GPIRB) are the best available. Not only do they send out a coded message of whose EPIRB is alarming, but contains real time position data. With the initial activation signal, the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center has a position fix. For example, they can tell that the boat is 60 miles offshore and immediately launch rescue assets. The regular 406 takes some time to develop a position fix (much shorter that the older 121.5 MHz beacons, however). 406 GPIRBs take the "Search" out of Search and Rescue. When you are in the water, time is life. | |||||||||||||
| Visual Distress Signals - Flares, Pyrotechnics. The minimum required is 3 night and 3 day signals. The 3 pack of night/day flares from any boating store satisfies this requirement. Check the expiration date marked on each one. Flares beyond the expiration date do not meet the legal requirements. They are good for 42 months from the date of manufacture. Consider upgrading to SOLAS rated orange smoke and aerial flares. Keep the old flares on board as extras. As long as they are kept dry they should still function. | |||||||||||||
| I hope this helps get you ready for those long trips. Stay tuned for Part 2, Looking out for the other guy. | |||||||||||||