December 28, 2016
We finally got the boat out of the yard at Snead Island Boat Works and have returned to Marco Island where our current slip is located.
We traveled from Bradenton to Marco via a 24 hour trip sailing night and day. Many people are interested (concerned?) about traveling on a boat at night, so I thought I would talk about the process and why we do it.
First, if you want to get somewhere as quickly as possible, obviously traveling continuously is your best approach.
But other factors are also in play. This time of year the days are extremely short, not allowing enough daylight hours for many of the 'day' trips that we do at other times of year. Traversing channels, docking, and anchoring in the dark at the beginning or end of a 'day' trip is very challenging. A well planned night time trip allows you to minimize doing these things in the dark.
Also at this time of year, there are MANY crab and lobster traps in the water in south Florida. Hitting them, especially wrapping a float line around your prop, can make for a very bad day! However, the traps are rarely in water deeper than 50'. So going farther off coast, decreases your interactions with traps, but also increases the length of your trip.
So our strategy on on our trips to and from the yard was to leave midday, get past 50' depths by dark, sail down the coast off shore, not returning to shallower waters until first light.
Now how about sailing at night. Many people are amazed/concerned that we do this, but it is not that hard and has advantages. It is like a long car road trip in some ways, with advantages and disadvantages.
Like driving, someone has to always be on 'watch' (driving); you just can't let the boat sail by itself! So we devise a 'watch schedule' that determines who is on-watch and who is off. It isn't cast in stone, but putting it down on paper, helps regulate the process. Watching for traffic and monitoring the boat is the responsibility of the watch-stander; getting rest is an important duty of the person off-watch, although they also do other chores like cooking and cleaning up.
The sleeping, cooking, and bathroom facilities on a cruising boat are far superior to those on a car, but on a boat underway they are often tilting and gyrating like a ride at an amusement park!
How about the darkness? In open water, it is actually easier to see other boats by their lights than during the day. We are also equipped with radar, which lets us 'see' what is around us. We also are AIS (Automatic Identification System) equipped, which gives us information on nearby boats, particularly larger vessels. There is always the possibility of running into something unlit, but that is highly unlikely off-coast.
Sail handling and other maneuvers are more difficult at night, but it is a learned skill. It is best to learn it initially with someone with experience.
So sailing at night is not that bad, and actually quite enjoyable!
Now how about dolphins. Having sailed in sub-tropical waters for many years, we have seen many, many dolphins - but the thrill of the encounter with these amazing creatures never gets old. But on this trip, I had what I would rate as my 2nd best ever encounter!
We had a strange 'thumping' noise near the bow of the boat as we plowed through moderate seas that needed to be investigated, so I went forward on the bow. Going forward in a sea-way at night is not something to be taken lightly. The motion of the waves is the worst near the bow, and going overboard far off the coast, especially at night, is most likely fatal. Standard precaution, however, is to be tethered (tied) to the boat which I was.
I found that the lashing of the secondary anchor was not tight and the bouncing of the anchor was the likely source of the noise. I tightened the lashing, but then showed a light into the water near the bow, to see if by any chance we had somehow caught a trap float.
What I saw was amazing. There were 8-10 dolphins or more (hard to count) riding our bow wake. The light gave them a white other-worldly look. You may have heard about being surrounded by angels, but it seemed like our boat was surrounded by heavenly dolphins!
Bow-wave riding dolphins are not unusual, but the quantity, the length of their stay, and the night time lighting, made this special. No one really knows why dolphins do this, but it sure seems like they do it for 'fun'.
So that is my second-best dolphin siting ever. How about my first? Ask me about it sometime, I also love to tell that story .
Tom
Docked Rose Marina, Marco Island, FL
