Navigating the Night

07/07/2014

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We enjoyed a wonderful Fourth of July out on Lake Eustis. We put in at the ramp around 2:30 p.m. and rode to the downtown Eustis lakefront and docked and had lunch. They were hosting a lovely event lakeside with live entertainment, craft booths, kid's activities and food vendors. The weather was perfect, although a thunderstorm skirted around us,the overcast skies kept it cool and bearable while waiting for the fireworks.
After enjoying the park we hopped back on the boat and found a nice spot to anchor and wait for sunset. Many other boats anchored around us to watch we counted at least a hundred. Soon darkness came and the fireworks show began it was spectacular watching them on the water. A job well done by the City of Eustis.
Then came the dilemma, a hundred boats in the pitch dark all heading in what direction? This was not our first fourth on the lake we had done it twice before we were well prepped with food,drinks, bug spray,sun screen and a lantern but this time was different. Our two previous nighttime floats we were close to the shore and the ramp and it was easy to find the ramp and no time to get out. This time we were on the far east side of Lake Eustis and it was dark. Some boats were not properly lighted or had no lights at all. Imagine twenty cars in the Target parking lot with no lights on the cars or lights in the parking lot and everyone takes off for their destination. This was a hundred boats all plotting their own course. The majority of boats did have lights and did travel at a slow cautious pace but there was those flying fifty miles and hour across as well. I stood in the middle as we slowly made our way back to the ramp with our lantern on so others would definitely see us. Thank goodness we have a GPS that plots are course back to the ramp by following the arrow on the screen. There were several boats beside and behind us all following close together which was probably a good thing. It took about 35 minutes to make it back through the dark waters. It got me to thinking everyone should be ready to be as safe as possible in the dark. We usually are not out at night but there have been a few unplanned times. The Fourth of July is a once a year night time event but what about if you have to wait out bad weather or have mechanical problems.
This is what we would recommend for safe night time navigating:

A working GPS monitor.
Life jackets for everyone. (That water was dark)
A spotlight.
Working lights on your boat, both bow and stern.
A working marine band radio.
Cell phones that are charged up. (We keep a charger for the boat)

Things worked out well for us eventually. It took us two hours at the ramp to dock up and get the boat out. It was extremely crowded and also dark at the docks. What made the wait longer was the number of "well alcohol-ed" boaters. It was a mix of funny,scary and then just sad watching intoxicated captains trying to get their boats out guided by their intoxicated friends. It was a lot of engine stalling,missing the trailer smacking the boat on the cement ramp,jack knifing the trailer, backing the truck into the lake up to almost the cab and my favorite trying to pull a pontoon boat out while the wheels just spin because there are eleven people still in the boat while it's being pulled out. We sometimes take flack for being anti-alcohol when boating but we are about safe family boating and feel strongly that no one should drive boats or cars while drinking. Ask the people of Miami about there new perspective on boating safety as their lovely fireworks on the water ended horribly. Three boats collided in the dark scramble of boats and several people died. It has not been determined yet if alcohol was involved but I'm willing to bet it was a factor. The other factor is watching for your fellow boaters. It's not all about you take care and let's all get out safely use caution when it's needed.
Next year we will do it again but we will be even more prepared. Make plans for your next adventure in boating and be ready to navigate the waters both day and night.

Sounds like you used good prudent judgement and maintained a proper lookout and speed as the COLREGS define. You also lose all night vision immediately after the bright illumination and display (takes about 30 min to regain). A lot of knuckleheads on the water. You should see Lake Hopatcong, NJ after their annual fireworks! It's always something seeing several hundred boats moving in one direction with a few jerkoffs showing reversed bow lights, and those are the first guys to say I've got over 30 years boating.

Don't forget a bag of cheese puffs fer the kiddies.

As a matter of fact we did have cheese puffs for the kiddies.

These posts are always great! I can't wait for everyone's replies. We waited out the sea pigs after watching fireworks because there were two of them tied to each other close to our raft up. Thankfully we had full coolers and no place to be for days! They finally got bored and we headed back to the dock for more drinks and our own explosives. It's always fun to throw canned goods into the bonfire. (We could feed the homeless but with no home where are they going to cook anyway?). 20 cars in Target parking lot with no lights? Ever been at the casino when the power goes out? Sh*t gets exciting real quick then!

one of my biggest peeves right there, idiots with docking lights and every other thing on trying to navigate at night. I actually enjoy running at night.

Pbekemeyer, you are obviously a top skipper. You are doing it ALL right and have a great attitude to boating and your fellow boaters. A classic mid 80's Wellcraft, I had better add great taste also......

Thanks for the post.

Did you say lantern on in the middle of your boat? I always thought according to CG regs you should have your colored bow lights on and the white stern light on ONLY when moving so you direction and heading is known.

Maybe someone can clarify that for me, in the keys right now and don't feel like looking it up.

We did have proper bow and stern lighting but for the safety of our children we used a small LED lantern to be visible. The skies were overcast no light around and it was a bit dicey with a 100 boats all trying to find their way in the pitch dark. We figured better to be seen then not seen. Several boats piloted along with us and I'm sure our lantern made it possible for us all to convoy. I'll check on those regulations but under the same circumstances may use a lantern again. We did see one boat with decretive LED lights all the way around like we have used for the Christmas boat parade and thought that was a great idea. I'm sure the coast guard is happy to know we all made it back safe. We'll look that up. Thanks for your input.

Just a up date we did research you are allow to have lantern in the middle of the boat along with bow and stern lights to help prevent collision . http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEV...F8GdkeTbmUH0A-