Sailing at Night?

[Michael O']

We sailed through San Pedro shipping channel one evening last week and were shocked to "see" sailboats with such poor lighting that we had to try quite hard to get a glimpse of the bow or stern lights! I've got pretty good "sea eyes" and could spot dark areas moving relative to the LA background lights...... turned out to be sailboats. Granted, I wouldn't expect a container ship to whack 'em at 10pm 'cause they usually (!) don't enter at night. Even so, there are a LOT of power boats out there, big ones, in a real hurry to get to or from the fishing grounds. Gave me the willies!Make sure you can be seen, that your lights are bright enough for you to be spotted! Michael O'

 

[J.B. Dyer]

Hi Mike!!

Hope your enjoying your boat.That is a classic example of why I try to be on the hook in an out of the way place or in the marina around here when the sun goes down.There are a lot of folks here that like to race around in the dark with no running lights on at all, power boaters mostly. I've talked to some of them and they claim that they can see well enough without lights??? Figure that one out. I don't guess it's confined to around here though. I've been around the world a couple of times and they seem to be a breed unto themselves.Eventually they are called "statistics", unfortunately, sometimes they take us with them.

 

[Debra B]

plastic lens replacement

Check those plastic lenses on your running and anchor lights. UV tends to fog them. In most cases you can buy the replacement lens without forking out the dough for new lights.Don't forget the anchor light.