All packed up ready to go..looking good on the charts.. rained all day & of course at sunset the forecast 20 -30kt NE comes in & blows half the night.grr..[}:)] Suppose it's time to unpack the car...

Has anyone ever sailed by moonlight? I imagine it would be dicey as you wouldn't be able to see gusts etc & have to do it all by feel.

Yes, did that many moons ago on Hayman Island in teh lagoon on a Wally. It was really nice actually and no more difficult than sailing a Wally ever was !!

sboardcrazy said...

Has anyone ever sailed by moonlight? I imagine it would be dicey as you wouldn't be able to see gusts etc & have to do it all by feel.

Hi Sue,

Years ago there used to be a 24 hour sailboard race held at Narabeen Lake, which meant sailing in the dark. Teams were of three sailors per board, I think. Remember that the marker bouys were the only thing you could see while sailing on the mainly one designs. Usually didn't see other sailors until they were about to run into you. Made for interesting conditions and yes you could not see the wind either. Laps were counted to determine the winners, but there was a bit of rorting of the honesty system on occassions.

I have also sailed in big southerlies at Rodd Point in Sydney at dusk and dark using about six cars headlights aimed at where we were to shed some light onto the proceedings. Not ideal but at least possible. Guess we were either desperate or mad (or both). Didn't do this often as you usually had to hope your car's battery still had enough kick to get you home for that warm shower.

I did have the idea of lighting up the lake for those windy nites as in the daytime there is a compound full of lights portable ones to do road works right there 1/2km up wakehurst parkway but i needed to get a towbar and ski mask . Well the buggers arnt there at night . Who would have thought that they would be using lights at night .[}:)]
I was wondering is there a speed sailing record at night.I mean if theres not .
Maybe we could get those lights down for some sort of charity night speed run raising money for a good cause & it might spark some interest if media was played right & hey it would be lots of fun . .

kato said

I don,t know about a night record but my best night time speed is a peak of 36.2. A few green leds on a bank is enough for a reference and i use an Ay Up light on the helmet. Good for about 6 hrs of fun. A bit cold at the moment for night sailing though.

flipper, katos buddy said: yeah but you wont talk about that big shark that chased ya tho that night will you Kato?? dude