I could describe in detail what it’s like to ride a roller coaster, but would you know whether your stomach knots up, churns like a washer, or has fun along the ride? No — experience is our best teacher.
A book, a classroom instructor, a video, and an article can stress how different nighttime boating is from daytime boating, but until you experience being on the water after dusk, you won’t really know how much you need your senses to step up and your skills to be reliable. Please don’t stop reading if you consider yourself a “strictly daytime” boater, because delays happen — practice boating at night until you gain the same confidence as those who want to stay out late on their vessels. It’s always better to have wisdom and experience on your side.
Boating any hour of the day shares the same underlying basics: ensuring that all safety gear is accessible, checking the vessel’s equipment, mechanics, and electronics are operational, and wearing life jackets. If it’s not your daytime habit, attach a whistle and a strobe flashlight to the life jackets (it makes it easier to locate someone who’s gone overboard).
Don’t rely on your familiarity with a harbor or waterway. Almost everything is different in the dark — reliable landmarks disappear, buoys are less distinctive, waypoints seem to vary, and moving vessels and those at anchor are distinguishable only by their lights. Study the charts for your nighttime route as they’ll show lighting codes and flashing sequences for buoys and beacons and other aids to navigation. Laminated guides for recognizing fixed aids and boat lights are available to keep alongside the wheel should you spot an unfamiliar configuration.
As day turns to night, turn off all unnecessary lights (running lights are necessary to inform other boaters about your presence and direction). Adjust the screen on your electronics to minimize brightness. Put a red filter on your handheld flashlight, use a red filter app for your phone, and a soft red light when looking at your chart or guide — white light messes with night vision. Preserve night vision for yourself and other boaters by shining a spotlight across the water only for as long as it takes to locate a buoy or marker and note its heading. Never shine that spotlight towards another vessel.
Reduce your cruising speed substantially as darkness falls. All available hands should be on deck to act as lookouts; encourage reporting of everything they see and hear. A ripple on the water, a muffled horn, a brief flash of light may indicate an otherwise hidden hazard.
Urban light pollution poses a risk to skippers, not an assist. Lights from buildings, traffic signals, and vehicles may resemble a buoy or beacon on the water and cause confusion. If you’re boating in such an area, enlist a spotter to confirm what you believe is an aid to navigation or advise that it’s a light on the shore.
As every boater finds out, sound carries on the water. However, it also bounces around, so aural signals are even trickier at night. Learn the sounds and sequences of horn signals, listen to the VHF radio to hear who’s in the vicinity, utilize your radar, and exercise caution as another vessel approaches. The rules of the road apply in the night as well as the day, but keep in mind that other captains are as impeded by the dark as you are. Though you may have the right of way, every boater is required to do all within his or her power to avoid an accident. If the other boat isn’t heeding you and maintains course, get out of the way and live to boat another day (and night).
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Giving Running Lights a Once-Over
Checking that your running lights work when you launch doesn’t mean they’ll stay operational all season. Checking them is easy: just turn them on and see if they are all working.
If all the boat’s running lights aren’t working, a fuse or the light switch is likely bad. If one or two lights are out, chances are you have a burnt out bulb (or two), or the contacts between the bulbs and the housing has become corroded. Unscrew the housing, remove the old bulb, and look at the filament. If it’s broken, the bulb is bad and should be discarded (sometimes you can’t see the complete filament, so replace it to be sure). If the filament is intact, chances are the contacts between bulb and housing are corroded, so clean all contact points before replacing each bulb. Check if the lights work before screwing the cover back on. If some or all of the lights still don’t work, hire a mechanic.
