Nighttime Boating and Speed

[badrano]

I'm curious to know of the thoughts of all the iBoats folks concerning nighttime boating and how fast is too fast.

Last night was my 3rd time out at night to watch fireworks over some body of water. Last night being July 4th, as one would expect, many other boaters had the same idea.

The river I was on is roughly 450 wide where the city lines it at one point and then down river, lined by refineries and nothing in between but several unmarked bridges. Given the unmarked bridges, and all the reflecting light from the city and refineries, it can be difficult to distinguish what lights are what.

There were quite a few boats blasting by us on plane while I was moving along at about 10 KTS and in one instance I almost had to take evasive action because one boat behind us was coming up fast but then at the last minute, you could tell he killed power so I'm guessing he spotted us at the last minute.

One other boat (some type of cabin cruiser) blew past us with a guy standing on the gunwale with no life jacket bobbing around due to all the boat wakes.

In a sense I feel like I'm being safe by taking it slow but on the same note I'm not being safe because I wasn't going with the flow of traffic. I had GPS so I knew where I was but I need to keep my eyes on the water and not the GPS.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you have to learn to sweep the gauges and instruments as well as the horizon

also, regarding nights such as the 4th of July. if your not comfortable boating at night, especially on nights like the 4th where people have been drinking since noon, pull off to the edge and anchor...... then wait for all the crazies to be gone.

usually on the 4th, if boating, I wait til about 2am to come in. too many times there has been a "domestic at the doc" to paraphrase the officers that sit at the boat ramp.

 

[dingbat]

I'm curious to know of the thoughts of all the iBoats folks concerning nighttime boating and how fast is too fast.

Depends on your experience.

If you’re proficient in GPS and radar navigation there is no reason to run at reduced speed.

Running in a marked channel well under the speed of everyone is dangerous. No different than driving 40 mph with a 70 mph speed limit

 

[badrano]

Depends on your experience.

If you’re proficient in GPS and radar navigation there is no reason to run at reduced speed.

Running in a marked channel well under the speed of everyone is dangerous. No different than driving 40 mph with a 70 mph speed limit

I would agree about experience, this has been my 3rd time out at night, but in this case the river is not marked, but is a solid 20+ ft depth the whole way with a bunch of bends. I think outside of a fireworks display downtown, there is no day to day traffic except at the entrance the river. For the most part, I stuck to the "right" lane. I've been up this river a couple times during the day and I do enjoy the strange looks from the folks on the shore

As Danforth said, there are a bunch of crazies out there and trying to stick to the "right" lane didn't make much of difference....the few were all over the place.

 

[alldodge]

We no longer go out on holiday weekends. Similar issue several years ago, were anchored across the lake as FW goes off. Once done, folks start taking off and its big boat and dunks rule. I'm having issues just trying to stay out of their way, and the good thing is, it was a full moon and no clouds.

In any case, that was it, we just stay home and watch the FW as they come up over the hill as we watch from our deck.

To your question:
Only go as fast as you can see "clearly" in front of you. Its better to make it home by morning, then to not make it home

 

[TimB19]

I have seen full sized trees floating in Lake George during the day, and while a rare occurrence would be deadly at night. You wont see that coming at night or react quick enough to avoid.
I flat out avoid boating at night.

 

[cptbill]

The biggest thing is the fireworks show, a crowd of boats with who no's what experience and what level of consumption of cold refreshing beverages. Do you have a red light backing for your gauges? how about night time setting on your plotter if you have on? don't want to be night blind. Night time is always a challenge if your in an area where there's barge traffic, as a retired tug captain I can tell you there not always the easiest thing to see with out radar, moored barges are suppose to be lite on all outside corners if there tied on the shore line but most companies us those battery powered white lights like the ones you see in construction zones and I'll tell you the batteries don't always get checked. Anyway we used to try and wait till most of the crazies left before we got underway now a days the boat never leaves the lift on holidays and events. Slow is always better but like dingbat said you don't want to get run over

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Have we done it? Regularly when we fished until dark. We were in our early 30's running on a massive logging river, The Ottawa River, complete with all it's dead heads, then ran down the rapids using a weak light. My brother and I fished in a moomless night just a few years ago on a quiet lake and I didn't enjoy myself. It should have taken me 5 minutes or less to tie up and it took me 20 in the dark. Would I do it today, never.

Boating at night is like driving at night without headlights on. And nobody else has headlights either.

 

[Dave87]

Have we done it? Regularly when we fished until dark. We were in our early 30's running on a massive logging river, The Ottawa River, complete with all it's dead heads, then ran down the rapids using a weak light. My brother and I fished in a moomless night just a few years ago on a quiet lake and I didn't enjoy myself. It should have taken me 5 minutes or less to tie up and it took me 20 in the dark. Would I do it today, never.

Boating at night is like driving at night without headlights on. And nobody else has headlights either.

Your last statement couldnt be more true... I also have a problem in my lake that only have the buoys are working so you dont see them until the last second... Im kinda surprised that coast guard doesnt make sure they all buoy lights are working. Im In Lac St Louis btw

 

[poconojoe]

I've fished at night with no problem. But I attended the 4th of July fireworks once and that was the last. Too many totally crazy brainless drunks were out there. I had a couple close calls where idiots shot right across my bow at high speeds.
I guess we should have waited a couple hours for them to all go away. I'm sure that would have been much better.
Heck, a lot of so called boaters perform that way in daylight. That's why we only go boating during the week. No weekends for us. Too many crazies.