Night Sailing In an Unfamiliar Boat
While my Commander is layed-up I try and sail whenever I can. Recently a friend invited me out on his 26' Ericson which I was happy to go as that boat seemed similiar to my Commander and I need more sail time. Found out after we were out that he had only sailed it a couple of times with another owner and wasn't very aware of the boat. It was fun at first learning the ropes so to speak such as the joy of a jib furler and self tailing wenches etc. However it was becoming dark and I found out that the boat did not have any working runnings lights, that the life jackets were too small for us, that there wasn't a ladder in case someone fell overboard, that there wasn't even a radio, that there had been problems with the outboard motor, that the boat was under water last year etc. etc. The joy of sailing suddenly became a concern and my alert level jumped two or three notches. We were in a somewhat narrow river channel with large power boats going full bore, frieghters and tugs and all manner of craft. Leaving a wind shaddow caused by a frieghter into a 15 knott gust of wind from a different direction then the mild beam reach that I was on and the fact that I'm used to a tiller instead of a wheel didn't help when I tried to compensate and the boat suddenly turned 180 degrees in the semidark. I re learned some very valuable lessons that I knew as a kid boating but forgot. Things could have turned out very bad when saftey and prepardness are left to others. By the way even though the Ericson was more comfortable and modern it was very touchy and the rudder not as responsive as my Commander... though I am glad I got to use the jib furler and the self tailing wench ...only one worked. I intend to upgrade to a jib furler and a couple of self tailing wenches that work. I will never put out without checking that everything is shipshape and in good order. :eek:
Night Vision for night sailing
A group of great posts from the past
Thread begun by CommanderPete 10/07/04....
Everyonce in awhile I internet monoculars and binoculars.
Sailing at night close in curls my toes and whitens knuckles on the tiller. Need all the help I can get.
Who reaches for their trusty night vision optics when the million watt spotlight stops working?
Monoculars tend to be cheaper.
These night vision glasses come in 'generations',
Gen 1 are affordable, but limited.
Gen 2 and 3 are what the military and security use, they can afford the four figure prices for them.
There are a growing number of Gen 1 choices around the $150/$250 range. some even waterproof.
www.opticsplanet.com has selection tips that might help to choose if interested.
But there still are many questions. Will a night vision toy pick out that unlighted bouy?
There seems to be distance limitations with these things and they need expensive batteries... are they really useful?
(EG, I was unable to find a 12V charger for the lithium bats.)
Has anybody scoped out these scopes?