Night Sailing

Gaining night sailing experience is essential to developing your sailing skills and integral to our mile-building sailing.

At Solent Sailing, we'll show you how to prepare for night sailing, be safe and competent after dark, and work with you to build your night hours if you are working towards your Yachtmaster qualification or just honing your sailing skills.

What you will experience with a night sail:

Crucial on any voyage, passage planning at night is vital. 

Therefore, you will participate in the passage planning and see how we plan and execute a night voyage. What safety measures are in place, and how the crew are managed. We will look at clothing and sustenance (it always gets cooler at night), safety equipment, navigation at night (including navigation lights), boat handling and collision avoidance.

If everyone is comfortable and happy with the night sailing procedures, they will have a wonderful and safe experience.

We will aim to set sail in daylight, which is much more relaxing than getting the boat ready in the dark. By doing this, your vision will gradually and naturally adapt to the darkness once you are at sea. However, it depends on the tide, so we may slip the mooring in the dark.

Night vision is a crucial consideration to maximise safety in darkness. It takes our eyes 10 to 15 minutes to adjust to their best level of performance in the dark.

When we are at sea overnight, a watch system is set up to ensure that someone is nominated for the helm and a good lookout is kept while still allowing the crew sufficient rest.

Although night sailing takes more planning, the exhilaration of sailing under the stars is one you will remember forever.

Approx distance: 30 Nm.

Join yacht 1800 Friday.

After the usual briefings slip lines around 2000 and set sail.

Saturday; Full days sailing followed by a short break before heading out again for a few more hours night sailing.

Return sail back to Gosport on Sunday.

We aim to include 4 – 5 night hours sailing over the course of the weekend subject to weather.