Cruise speed at night

JV II

JV II

Active Member
Nov 17, 2007
2,655
RI
Boat Info
Flybridge
Engines
Volvo V-Drive
A recent thread about underwater lights made me think. Someone said the lights made the wake look cool. I've even seen video advertising these wake lights.

I was out a few weekends ago in pitch darkness. Although I have radar and GPS, I could not see if there was anything floating in the water including lobster pots.

So even in open water outside the harbor, how can one be comfortable at cruise speed in total darkness?

Do people regularly do this? Before I had a boat, I imagined myself cruising to/from my destinations at night, but now that I have one, I realize that there are too many things to worry about. I've heard of long tow lines between tugs and barges. At night, I keep it to 5-8 mph.
 
For the same exact reasons I travel at about 5-6pmh as soon as it gets dark. As many of us have experienced on number of occasions there's just too much stuff floating in the water that we don't see sometimes even in the day light. I've had boats passing me number of times at night while flying at plane speed, so I guess everyone has different understanding about safety. While travelling with family on board I don't want to take any chances. I'm pretty capable using GPS and radar and run at faster speed, but a thought that there's a chance to hit something underwater keeps me at the slow speed. I remember very interesting phrase "don't outrun your vision", makes perfect sense, so I try to apply the same logic. I feel very comfortable and safe, so is my crew. This allows me to have cruises at night as much as I'd like, besides I love night cruising. I think it's more important than running fast and putting everyone at risk.
 
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What about using some NVG's? I know they're not a cure for the dark but they help a good bit. The first time you use them, the sensations is almost like seeing colors for the first time... shades of green but you get the idea.

Besides the safety issues, if you consider the investment most have in a boat, I'd think they are some what cost effective. Or at least that's a good argument you can use to justify a neat new gadget!

BTW learn to focus the 'eye piece lenses' to infinity to you save your eyesight. (and resulting ice pick in brain sensation)
 
For me, almost every time I cruise at night I am returning to a ramp from my initial destination. On my GPS, the last 50 tracks are displayed. While taking tide information into account, I can usually be assured that if I follow my track back fairly closely that I will not hit anything that is not lit up (boats). During those instances, I normally cruise about 20-25mph. If I am in a channel in the ICW that I am very familiar with, the same it true. If I need to get out of the channel and get closer to shore, I come off plane and hope for the best at 5mph. I think a lot has to do with knowledge of the area and visibility. Full moon nights are quite different than quarter moon nights.
 
coolings said:
For me, almost every time I cruise at night I am returning to a ramp from my initial destination. On my GPS, the last 50 tracks are displayed. While taking tide information into account, I can usually be assured that if I follow my track back fairly closely that I will not hit anything that is not lit up (boats). During those instances, I normally cruise about 20-25mph. If I am in a channel in the ICW that I am very familiar with, the same it true. If I need to get out of the channel and get closer to shore, I come off plane and hope for the best at 5mph. I think a lot has to do with knowledge of the area and visibility. Full moon nights are quite different than quarter moon nights.
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:wow: What?
 
if it's pitch black then I go slow. Usually it's not PITCH black and I cruise at a normal speed at night when in the open water. be sure to leave all unnecessary lights off. my dash lights are read but the gps will blind my night vision if i don't dim it down. if it is pitch black I will flip on the spotlight every minute or two to make sure I don't hit anything that isnt lit up.
 
A 13" monitor on the dash with night vision off the bow would be a sweet addition if you do a lot of night cruising, but I do it so rarely that the cost would not be justified. I imagine the only scenarios where I would be out at night would be A)harbor cruises (which I've done many times) or B) returning from a destination to avoid a storm the next day. If it were B), I think I would be on plane in the closest shipping lane only in full moonlight with the Radar on and come off plane immediately at the entrance to Boston Harbor. If no moonlight, blow boat speed.
 
Wow the ocean sounds dangerous!! I cruise all the time at night usally about 26mph. The olny thing have to worry about is some idiot with out his light on, but i have radar for that.
 
At night I enjoy a slow trek back to my home port 5-7MPH, but safety plays the major role for my speed.
I will open her up a bit from time to time (low 20's) normally when the light from the moon is right and I can clearly see what's on the water ahead of me. And I've been boating in my home waters since my Dad would take me fishing as soon as I was able to hold a pole.

I really can't understand the people that blow past me at night going over 35MPH+ with no moon to guide them, our little bay is only a couple of miles across. If you only went 6MPH, your going to get home in 20 minutes tops.
 
djboots said:
Wow the ocean sounds dangerous!! I cruise all the time at night usally about 26mph. The olny thing have to worry about is some idiot with out his light on, but i have radar for that.
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You wouldn't believe the mine fields of lobster pots here. I wish I had a picture to show you. Even 3 miles off shore it is a slalom course. You don't want to hit one of those during the nicest of sunny days. Imagine fouling your running gear at night 3-5 miles off shore in 2-3 foot seas with the family on board. No thanks.
 
Not really night. More like dusk, but still cool. They stopped filming just before he runs through a fishing net.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SjgH0eNAqs[/youtube]
 
If one is in a hurry, he shouldn't be on water after dark, of course unless there's an emergancy reason.

Even though, I'm mostly in the bay I still think that the same safetly methods (or even more precaution) should apply in the open ocean. Slow = Safe. You can have 50yrs of experience and be in your local water, but still hit sumething that's submerged, that's just something we can't avoid unless we see it. Since there's a great chance not to see the potential underwater hazard I use advice my wife got from a captain during "Women on water" seminar, while he was teaching them docking procedures "approach with speed that you don't mind to hit it with". So, with that in mind I always prefer to hit anything at slow speed vs. flying in to an object. The difference in outcome can make the life saving difference:

Scenario 1: Hitting something at 5-7MPH may have the object somply bounce off with minimal or no damage to the boat.

Scenario 2: Hitting the same object at 25MPH can result in hull cracks or even making a hole making the boat simply sink.

There's no guaranty for this to happen during the day, but can you imagine the comlexity of the situation when it's pitch dark out? So, I'll always prefer scenario #1.
 
Alex F said:
Scenario 2: Hitting the same object at 25MPH can result in hull cracks or even making a hole making the boat simply sink.

There's no guaranty for this to happen during the day, but can you imagine the comlexity of the situation when it's pitch dark out? So, I'll always prefer scenario #1.
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Imagine putting out a mayday, 5 miles off shore, putting your 5 year-old and wife in life jackets, slipping into the cold water and watching your boat slip away while waiting for rescue because YOU screwed up and hit something. No thanks. Blow boat speed.
 
On a single crossing from Destin FL to Clearwater FL last year.........about 190 miles, and 85 miles off-shore in the middle........I saw 3 bell bouys (1/4 submerged), 4 shipping containers (2 submerged level with the water's surface), 2 telephone poles, several stumps and one house. We travel from sun-up to sunset and radar caught all but the submerged containers, the stumps and the phone poles.

Think again if you believe there is nothing out there but you and your little old boat. Every one of the above items has the ability to hole a boat in an unrecoverable manner.

When we are in local waters where we know the obstruction locations and depths, I stay under 1000 rpm.
 
JuliaValentine said:
Imagine putting out a mayday, 5 miles off shore, putting your 5 year-old and wife in life jackets, slipping into the cold water and watching your boat slip away while waiting for rescue because YOU screwed up and hit something. No thanks. Blow boat speed.
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Well said, I'm with you. Not worth the risk.

fwebster said:
On a single crossing from Destin FL to Clearwater FL last year.........about 190 miles, and 85 miles off-shore in the middle........I saw 3 bell bouys (1/4 submerged), 4 shipping containers (2 submerged level with the water's surface), 2 telephone poles, several stumps and one house. We travel from sun-up to sunset and radar caught all but the submerged containers, the stumps and the phone poles.
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That's amazing and eye opening. I think I'm getting that radar sooner than later!
 
There is more junk out there than you think. The Navy does not take it lightly and has look outs, radar, sonar and still goes slow. Planning speed in a small boat in darkness is just plain old nuts! :smt021
 
This is an enjoyable read. I was thinking about my area and boating in PWS.

In June, the sunrise is at 4:20 AM, sunset at 11:42 PM. At 2 AM it is still light enough to navigate.:wow:

Funny thing I have replaced all my lights with LEDs, but won't use them much........:thumbsup:
 
Hornblower said:
That's amazing and eye opening. I think I'm getting that radar sooner than later!
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When I realized that we're cruisnig more and more at night, a radar was a must have item when we were upgrading from 240 to 320. You wont believe how much differnce this makes even during the day. I can tell you just from my last Sunday cruise that it's hard to see those idiots flying around, secially if they come from an angle behind you (sort of like a blind spot in cars). I set the desired range on the radar and had no idea about this guy flying by on my starboard side (forget the rules of the road). As soon as I saw him on the radar I was able to make visual reference and safely move away from this nut case.
 
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