I agree with Ken. We do not hesitate to travel at night either. As Ken said, the lighted nav marks are easier to see at night and at longer distances, as are properly lighted vessels. There are usually fewer other vessels around then too.
We do generally pre-program our GPS with our route so all the navigation is done before we lift anchor and all we have to do is avoid close encounters with other vessels and enjoy the trip. In the Chesapeake and Delaware areas we plot our routes to stay out of the commercial shipping channels. The big ships must stay in the channels so that eliminates that hazard (except where we cross their channels), but we still have to be alert to tugs and barges as they can have drafts less than ours. We handle them by using our autopilot to keep our course more-or-less steady and put the Electronic Bearing Line of the radar on approaching targets to ascertain the possibility of collision. If they stay on the EBL as they approach within a half mile we usually make a big turn to the right. Generally we don't call them on the VHF to keep things simpler but we do scan 13/16 and respond if they call. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek 30 07.695N 081 38.484W > > But now with GPS and everything, it very is easy > to do the Chesapeake safely at night. With all the > nav aids on the bay, in some ways it is easier at > night than day, as long as you don't trust only > them and try to get into an unknown harbor, for > example. > Of course, I do avoid crossing behind any tugs > path at night no matter where I am. -Ken > _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
