Keeping Watch at Night ?

[goboatingnow]

I must say to people that , think you have to be in the cockpit every minute of the watch , standing up , total attention, well your sailing must be confined to weekends. Nobody stands watch like that, and nobody needs to.

If you are that afraid of a crewman ( or yourself) to need that type of continuos attention, you need to reevaluate why you are sailing for fun.

close , heavy traffic, or racing, thats different, but we are talking here about the generality of cruising.

dave

[boatman61]

Only boats I'll get on where I'm not skipper are those at anchor... and I've been invited over for a 'Sundowner'.... so 'Raku' need have no nightmares...

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Have you even seen what happens if you catch rod rigging with a spot light?

I have to confess that I've never sailed a boat with rod rigging. I'm guessing a light on rod rigging would make it shine brightly and reflect the light???

Originally Posted by jackdale

I also tell the crew not to look at anyone when in a conversation and headlamps are on.

I have found that giving this instruction is only partly and temporarily successful. If someone is using a head light for any period of time just the normal looking around, turning a head will end up flashing the others in the face. The only way I can see to prevent this is to turn on the light for just the brief period needed to look at the job in front of you and immediately turn it off. Any time I have ever seen anyone that walked around or worked with the head light constantly on I was flashed.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I must say to people that , think you have to be in the cockpit every minute of the watch , standing up , total attention, well your sailing must be confined to weekends. Nobody stands watch like that, and nobody needs to.

If you are that afraid of a crewman ( or yourself) to need that type of continuos attention, you need to reevaluate why you are sailing for fun.

close , heavy traffic, or racing, thats different, but we are talking here about the generality of cruising.

dave

Not that it would be completely impossible to stand watch like this, but long passages, short handed it would be very wearing, take a lot of fun out of the trip and as you say, nobody needs to.

As long as someone is on deck most of the time, scans the horizon (full 360 including aft and behind the jib) every few minutes and keeps up with other standard watch requirements (check the bilges, gauges, etc) I see little to no benefit on having to stand up the whole watch, never leave the deck, never allowed to read.

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Jeez Id hate to be on a 4-6 day cruise with you. with two up, we make dinner, I cook , the other cooks, whatever.

dave

That was for night watches. I prepare cooked meals which are frozen... and quite gourmet. Who eats in the middle of the night?

I did a delivery from VT to Brazil with a Brit... he was a great chef and we did not eat the same meal twice the entire time!

Is that ok?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by defjef

That was for night watches. I prepare cooked meals which are frozen... and quite gourmet. Who eats in the middle of the night?

I did a delivery from VT to Brazil with a Brit... he was a great chef and we did not eat the same meal twice the entire time!

Is that ok?

Oh I see , yes, night watches, snacks only, too much galley noise wakes the off watch and then they get pissed.

dave

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I was just commenting that cheeckho post was exactly on the number.

I'm impressed yiu can see the bow and stern lights .....!! , must be a glass boat.

Dave

For the uninitiated. I've provided an illustration of the lights goboatingnow apparently has no clue exists. Don't get out much now, do you Dave?
Forward along the line at the top of the ship is a mast. It has a "range light". Toward the back of the line is a mast light. The range light is lower than the mast light, so you can tell which direction the vessel is moving in. I'll let you guess about what your alignment with these lights should be in order to avoid a collision.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

+1 , Thats the reality, ( except for the hammock).


dave

The Hammock is Reality, Hahahahaha

My feet sit on the top of the transom, I am actually hanging in mid air above the Drive leg, Out Behind the boat,

The Canopy folds back out of the way, I lift the back of it up so the panels have full sun,

Its exceptionally comfortable,
The Dinghy hangs under the Solar Panels on the same Davits,

Incredible as it sounds, That Hammock is the most stable platform on my boat,
It has a gentle up and down movement, None sideways,

The Wind Gen post, Was the hanging on point for Nature calls,

Only pitfall of it, A big following wave can wash you sideways out of it,

So, Harness is a must out there, Compulsory in bad weather,

Cheers,
Brian,
PS; This boat really did have all the bells and whistles, Hahahahaha,

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by monte

D&D, the white light in Zeehags post is the steaming masthead light, so from bow on its Green white red. Zee, you can;t see both red and green from astern unless someone has seriously f*&cked up their nav light instalation..

what i see on huge ships is a red isolated on port at midships and a green isolated on stbd at midships and a tall white on bow and a tall white on stern. these are visible from head on, from side views, color appropriate, and can be seen from astern when sailing across their transom at a reasonable distance.
i spent many days and many nights drifting in pacific ocean watching these giants slide by as we went with currents in our west coast mexican waters.
when sailing gom, we slalomed thru them in tampa when they were at anchor just outside the harbor entrance as they awaited pilot assistance.
i am aware of the what SHOULD be seen and from what angles--is what i noticed when drifting among the giants.

autopilot helps a lot--even that wheel thing autohelm makes works some. i have a quadrant mounted hydraulic unit which is awesome in big winds, as i dont have to fight this brick when surprised in darkness by a chubasco. it uses minimal electricity, as it is electric assist hydraulic. i love this crewmember as much as i care about my boat. and the cat . and me. is just as valuable as an added crew.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Wrong

For the uninitiated. I've provided an illustration of the lights goboatingnow apparently has no clue exists. Don't get out much now, do you Dave?
Forward along the line at the top of the ship is a mast. It has a "range light". Toward the back of the line is a mast light. The range light is lower than the mast light, so you can tell which direction the vessel is moving in. I'll let you guess about what your alignment with these lights should be in order to avoid a collision.

I believe Dave's point was not that freighters lack lights but at sea they are not usually on. That has certainly been my experience.

Sure cruise boats are lit up like a small city but 99% of the freighters and tankers I've encountered at sea, aside from the nav lights there were just a few relatively dim lights around the bridge and cabins and not visible much until you were within a couple of miles.

[zeehag]

funny how all the tankers i have seen have their lights on at night, so far, gom and pacific--havent yet seen one sans nav lights.
i have come across cruisers sans lights, but not freighters sans lights.
and, of course the pangas with weird lights scattered off shore in darkness manning their drift nets and long lines...my favorite panga lites are from the buoys in mazatlan--they keep missing the flashing red lights...funny how these are seen on pangas at sea and drifting in old harbor.......

[goboatingnow]

For the uninitiated. I've provided an illustration of the lights goboatingnow apparently has no clue exists. Don't get out much now, do you Dave?
Forward along the line at the top of the ship is a mast. It has a "range light". Toward the back of the line is a mast light. The range light is lower than the mast light, so you can tell which direction the vessel is moving in. I'll let you guess about what your alignment with these lights should be in order to avoid a collision.

What I meant was you cannot see the steaming lights from abaft the beam.(112.5) , nor can you see side nav lights.

Hence you cannot see , red, green and white stern/mast light as a vessel goes away from you , which is what Zee expressed I believe.

dave

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by skipmac

I believe Dave's point was not that freighters lack lights but at sea they are not usually on. That has certainly been my experience.

Sure cruise boats are lit up like a small city but 99% of the freighters and tankers I've encountered at sea, aside from the nav lights there were just a few relatively dim lights around the bridge and cabins and not visible much until you were within a couple of miles.

Don't know where you've been sailing, but if freighters are running without the required lights I'd find some place else to sail. Your experience has not been my experience. I'm still waiting for Dave to define a 'freight boat' for us.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by zeehag

funny how all the tankers i have seen have their lights on at night, so far, gom and pacific--havent yet seen one sans nav lights.
i have come across cruisers sans lights, but not freighters sans lights.
and, of course the pangas with weird lights scattered off shore in darkness manning their drift nets and long lines...my favorite panga lites are from the buoys in mazatlan--they keep missing the flashing red lights...funny how these are seen on pangas at sea and drifting in old harbor.......

Ive come across many container boats, with very little deck lighting at sea, often only the accommodation passages and under deck passages have work lights. These are often quite low in the water and not seen till closer in. Ive seen loaded VLCCs with virtually nothing lit aft of the forward range light , till the accommodation block.

All I was saying that while many are lit up like cruise liners, not all are and its a dangerous assumption to believe they are.

dave

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Wrong

Even in the rare case when a ship may not throw so much light as to look like a city in the distance, I have never had trouble recognizing the white navigation lights on bow and stern far enough away to discern that first it is a ship and second direction of travel. Even in significant seas. What do you define as a "freight boat"?

What I said. Guess I should have been more specific, eh? Masthead and range lights, eh? I think most experience cruisers know exactly what I was talking about.