Night Speed

In open water, what is your cruise speed at night

6.5 knots.






Of course, that's the same as our daytime cruising speed....

depends on the boat and waters.....

Between 8 and 9 knots if everything is good, visibility, sea state, etc. Slower if conditions are not good. Accident rates go way up at night per BoatUS studies. I don’t go any faster than I want to hit something. Also slow speeds give you more time to react.

Same as during the day, 6-7 knots. We’ve had to slowdown when the seas have increased at times.

Even off shore, no one around for miles, I never went faster than 7-8K at night even when I had boats that could go much faster than that.

I'm mostly in the PNW. There are many logs, pot fishing, and probably still some debris from the Japanese tsunami. I try to make my trips with night stops. I solo a lot, but even with other people on board, it's hard to find people with good watch standing practices. I constantly am looking for debris and buoys. But others not so much. One of my friends managed to run into a big log in daylight. I have a monel plate over the bow (on a wood boat) or someone else would be writing this reply. I cruise at 10 knots during the day and will also run that speed at night with a good moon if I'm on watch. Otherwise about 6-7 knots. The only common long runs I do that includes night running is across the Gulf of Alaska.

I have always wanted to make a night cruise, but the crab traps in my boating area are numerous--many make there way into the channels. I'd rather not make a late night dive cutting barnacle encrusted line from a prop.

I'll do short trips with a return at night and cruise at 7-8kts, but I won't plan an overnight trip where we spend the night cruising.

In open water I cruise at the usual 6 knots. No crab pots, logs or debris to worry about. There is always the rare chance of hitting a whale or possibly a semi-submerged sea container, but the odds are small.

usually 6 knots at sea, sometimes a little faster inland.

Depends on the visibility. I've run at 30 knots on plane at night. But not often!

Things that affect visibility include the phase of the moon, weather and sea state. There are plenty of hazards out there. If you can't see 'em you can't avoid 'em. But if you can, you'll find that night running focuses your attention on what's really important.

I've had helmsmen who steer in a wide circle to avoid something (like a lobster buoy) that's not even along their route during the day. Take them out at night a few times and they learn to ignore those.

Also, NO LIGHTS on board, and no "headlights." Preserve your night vision and you'll be amazed how well you can see. Wreck it by blasting on a spotlight all the time and you won't see a thing. Point the spot well away from the decks and rails, and only for a second at a time, if you must use it to pick out a buoy or something.

Whales in SoCal are definitely a collision hazard, but agree the odds of hitting them are small. Another good reason to go slow I suppose. Greys are moving because they are on their migration routes either up or down the coast, but Humpbacks can be found resting in place. We came very close to a large Humpback while traveling fast about 10 miles offshore and luckily didn't hit it. It let us know his presence with a couple pectoral slaps, then back to rest time just under the surface. We swam up to it, got about 75 ft. away, and it never moved. They are very aware of their size in relation to other creatures, and make it clear that they are not afraid.

Have run hundreds of trips on my charter boat that either started or ended at night. 10 knots was as fast as I would go. Hit a few things in the dark, but nothing that ever left a mark.

Do very little traveling in the dark with the trawler. Go 7 knots, same as during the day. With the trawler, the odds of hitting something at night are extremely low, simply based on percentage of use at night. If I was crossing oceans, it would be a different story.

Ted

When we are running up or down the west coast we will run around the clock. First we have to work our way out to 500’ depth to avoid the crab traps. We run 10kts in day light and then we try to slow to 7kts for night. 7 often turns into 8. We have only ever hit one thing in the night, never knew what it was and it didn’t wake the sleeping or leave a mark. With the Puget Sound and Inside Passage we try not to run at night and if we do end up running in the dark we slow down to 6.5 because of all the logs. Fortunately night running is 10 pm to 4 am during the summer.

Open water no difference between night and day unless the weather gods chime in.

Have done a couple of overnight crossings. Same as daylight speed— 6.5-7 knots. I actually kind of like cruising at night. It’s interesting getting to watch the sunrise on a crossing.

We don't slow down when off shore, maintained 9kts and a sharp eye on the radar. In the delta it's a different story, with windmills blinking their red lights that look the same as the channel marker blinking red lights, you have to slow down to make sure you're headed to the right mark.

FLIR seems to help a lot. My experience with it though is limited. Any first hand comments?

We did night crossings of Hecate Strait both ways in northern BC at 6.5 knots without incident. There was almost no traffic and I kept the radar on short range, constantly tuned; I made a point of glancing at the radar every minute or so to pick up potential targets. Interestingly we saw a meteor hit the water and explode - and then heard it a few seconds later - so close!

I am considering installing a spotlight on the bow. Most of the Canadian Coast Guard 47' patrol boats use a spot light when doing night transits with the hope of picking up logs in the water. But then we probably wouldn't see the meteors . . .

We ran a previous boat down to LA form Seattle. Did a couple of overnight runs. Loved the phosphorescence in the wake. Amazing how bright it was.

1300 RPM ,7K, smooth quiet , and with luck the hull will take a sea land box with out damage.

The AP is on so the watch only looks for lights , or unlit boats , debris is hard to spot.

Ran my cruiser at 8.25 knots at 1325 rpm continuously. Never varied except to dock. Didn’t make a difference when hitting logs, heavy seas, fog, etc., but I was confident and comfortable with that speed.

My little sport boat here at night will run up to 14 knots under good conditions but always slow down in channels.

I think it’s a matter of your experience and self-confidence as to what speed to run at night.

ZERO knots. No one here in Maine goes out at night unless they have a full cage around the props. Even then you will get lobster gear on the rudders. I have only run at night a couple of times after 4th of July fireworks, but that run was short and because there would be hundreds of boats making the same run the lobster fishers removed their gear from the channel for that day - cheaper than losing it.

sunchaser said:

FLIR seems to help a lot. My experience with it though is limited. Any first hand comments?

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Since our primary use is distant (relatively) offshore fishing with the objective of being on the grounds just before grey light, we travel extensively at night. And most of that is at least 10 miles offshore, often 100 miles or more offshore. Day or night, we travel at 8.7 knots on average.

I feel safer at night, in part because we always have two at the helm at night, vs. only one during the day, and in part because it is easier to see other boats (at least when their lights are on) at night. Radar and AIS are equally effective day and night. (And we keep the radar on during the day but have NEVER been surprised to see another vessel that I didn't see first on radar, so I have quite a bit of confidence in our radar.)

So, the big risk is hitting something that is semi-submerged. Frankly, I think that risk is also greater during the day, due to our use of FLIR at night. Because FLIR works on temperature differentials, even things that are otherwise hard to see (small, mostly submerged, no distinctive colorings) show up readily on FLIR.

And to top it off, we run searchlight sonar, but the problem with that is balls of baitfish often show up as potential collision targets (although they scoot out of the way at the last minute). During the day, we are typically trolling and don't mind trolling right through the middle of those bait balls (unless we see predator fish working it -- then we are more strategic in our approach). At night, we spend a lot of time needlessly dodging those things.

7.7kts/950rpm for me at night. Slower if inshore with challenging channels.

Sometimes offshore the visibility is quite good due to moon, slick calm, stars and distance from coastal lights. Might kick it up a bit even at night, but not to 21kts, more like 16-17 at 1700-1800.

Seen debris out there but is is usually pretty visible as the swell is washing the edges.

If I can't see the sea surface, then it is go slow mode.

8-9 knots.


With a bright moon you have visibility for other traffic. But you lose the ability to see objects in the water. You look the ability to read the water.


Would rather be a slower speed if an issue arises.

Paying Australian prices for fuel, same speed as always 1150rpm for 7.5 knots
If in the land of cheap fuel I would at times up that to 1500 for 9 knots given the right conditions.

Still slower than what we used to sail at.

Larry M said:

Same as during the day, 6-7 knots. We’ve had to slowdown when the seas have increased at times.

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Same boat, same speed. By open water I am thinking passages, not harbors.

The only night trips we have made are the leg between Apalachicola and the Anclote or Tampa area of Fl.
We don't want to arrive at the crab pot fields in the dark so cruise slowly, about 7 MPH , when looking over a handrail down at the water in the dark even that seems fast