Boats At Night Without Lights

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Wolfeboro_Baja

This could've been serious! (I didn't know where else to put this so here goes!)

My wife and I were in Wolfeboro the last week of July on vacation. Monday evening, July 26 we went to Meredith for dinner. We're on our way back to Wolfeboro travelling through The Broads about 1/4 mile from Diamond Island at 9:25pm. The moonlight is shining brightly on the water about 15-20 degrees to the right of my actual heading. My wife and I are scanning ahead when a shadow crosses left to right about 300-400 ft ahead through the moonlight on the water. We both asked the other if they saw the shadow and we both realized at the same time what it was. It was a sailboat, under sail with ABSOLUTELY NO NAVIGATION LIGHTS displayed, I presume heading back to the mainland!! There were no nav lights visible on the starboard side that we could see and nothing on the mast!! The ONLY reason we caught a glimpse of it was the fact it passed through the moonlight shining on the water!!

This wasn't an accident this time but it's an accident waiting to happen!! It's one thing if you do something stupid and it only affects yourself but when it has the potential to affect others (ME in this case!), it REALLY ticks me off!! I would've been horrified if I had struck that boat and injured or killed someone but at the same time I also would have been enraged by their carelessness and stupidity that could have caused the collision in the first place!! Then there's the headaches of investigation, possible charges, potential litigation and insurance claims to deal with!!

What kind of IDIOT goes out, AT NIGHT, without navigation lights when navigation lights are the ONLY way to locate/identify them???? To hell with the speed limit, get these IDIOTS off the water!! So much for tranquility returning to the lake!

Rant over......

Is there a possibility that maybe he lost power for whatever reason on his boat and was simply trying to get home safely. I can't imagine anyone would purposely navigate with no lights.

Dan

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Is there a possibility that maybe he lost power for whatever reason on his boat and was simply trying to get home safely. I can't imagine anyone would purposely navigate with no lights.

Dan

That could have been the case but then there's still no excuse for being out at night w/o a flashlight. He could either illuminated his sail or flashed oncoming boats to make them aware of his presence. Maybe the req'd equipment list needs to be revised ?

As for being "on purpose" ... how about due to stupidity ? How many times have "we" seen boats with just the all around or with just the R/G sidelights on after dark ? Just last week after dusk (not that dark) I saw a guy towing a novice skier (he kept falling) with his all around on but having neglected to turn on his sidelights.

[John A. Birdsall]

While traveling North by Sandy Point (Alton Bay) we saw what we thought might be one of them cars you can drive in the water. this was just as all lights should be on in the boats. This vessel had lights on like a car, perhaps they were docking lights but they were about a mile away. It sure looked funny. But alas it was a party boat and it blocked out their navigation lights.