Try your first night sail in familiar waters. This will help you make sense of lights, etc., if you already know where markers and shorelines are.
Study your chart in daylight hours, so that referring back to it at night is easier.
If you have a choice, try your first night sail while the moon is full. The moon can greatly illuminate an otherwise dark shoreline and will make your sail more comfortable.
Let your eyes adjust fully to the dark. This means no bright lights in your cockpit, or below on the boat. (It can take as much as 20 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust back to natural lighting after exposing yourself to bright white light.) If you don't already have a red light for chart table work, get one. Another trick is to buy some of that red acetate film, used to temporarily repair brake lights, sold in auto supply stores. Cut out pieces to place over the lens of your chart table light, overhead light, flashlights, and even some of the brighter instruments you have in the cockpit.
Use your spotlight sparingly! If you must use a light to identify markers, make sure you hold the light up high and away from your decks and sails to reduce the reflected light that can have ruinous effects on night vision.
As always, keep your VHF radio tuned to Channel 16.
Keep a small flashlight in your pocket with red lens tape covering.
Keep a pocketknife for emergencies in your pocket.
Have a good pair of binoculars handy.
Clean the windshield of your dodger well before nightfall for best visibility.
Familiarize yourself with the nighttime lighting configurations of various commercial vessels, other recreational vessels, and especially for your own boat. Keep a reference guide handy. (Available from the Coast Guard)
It can get very cold at night sometimes, even in the warmer climes. It's important to dress warmly, and particularly, have something to wear that cuts the wind. Ideally your cruising boat will be set up with good weather protection that helps keep you warm and dry. A thermos of hot coffee, tea or hot chocolate, along with a sweet, energy-boosting snack will help with the long watch blues. (See Sue & Larry's Cookbook for some ideas)
If passage-making, force yourself to rest on your off-watch. Falling asleep when you are on watch can be very dangerous.
Reef down at night. You might not be getting every bit of speed possible out of your boat, but you'll run into fewer problems with changing conditions, in the long haul. You won't feel like you're going slow though. The sensation of speed is much greater in the darkness.
Have jacklines set up on your boat, and harnesses for each crewmember. On Safari, we have an absolute, no holds barred rule that we wear harnesses and tether ourselves to the boat at night. There is a certain comforting feeling as the off-watch person, knowing that your partner will still be onboard when you wake up.
Whenever possible, plan your landfall to coincide with daylight hours.
Enjoy the beauty of all that night sailing has to offer.
- - S. H. and L.H.
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