While running at night.......advice

I never go into a small or narrow channel at night. I will either slow down (gps calculates your arrival time based on speed), or anchor outside of the channel.

It depends on the boat and how many crew you have and safety. If someone has to go on a weather deck to get to the engine room or anything it's 2 people on at a time......If not, such as an enclosed pilot house, I'll run 1 crew on at a time.....either 2 hours on and 6 hours off, or 3 hours on and 6 hours off......or something to that effect.....also it depends on how many days at sea.......I have done 4 hours on and 4 hours off.....but it becomes too much after one night, and a 4 hour shift at the helm can be a tough one to stay awake on at certain hours of the night

Depends realy how many crew you have onboard. I have done long passages with just me and the owner. We had a 4 hour on/ 4 hour off system.
I have also done crossing with 3 crew in total in a roster of 3 hours on/ 6 hours off.
If we did't know the area and local information in cruising guides/ charts was not detailed (pacific islands) we would wait outside untill it was light. When unknown but really well documented we would go in.

My hat's off to those caps I see on "The Deadliest Catch" who run for 48+ hrs. straight. It amazes me that they're still able to find their traps in the middle of the night and high seas while they have to be near halucinating. Wouldn't want to meet them in a narrow channel though.
My experience is on the east coast where charts are pretty good and channels well marked. Between the spotlight and zooming the radar & plotter it's no big deal. HOWEVER, if there is any doubt it just doesn't happen. As a rule I try to avoid night running because you just don't know when you'll meet something not on the charts or radar like a floating tree stump or deadhead.
Back in the days of paper charts and a compass I came north into Coinjock and Ospreys had nested on all the daymark solar panels. Boats were anchored everywhere. We proceeded along that winding stretch with one man on the wing, one on the chart & spotlight and one on the helm. A couple of hours of that will leave you ready for sleep. Bottom line is that today's electronics makes life pretty easy, but when in doubt stop. Better to lose a couple of hours than a boat.

unless you are familiar with the channel/inlet you are better off timing your landing for daylight but it also depends on where you are and how accurate the charts are.

in the bahamas for instance, where there are very few navaids you rarely come in at night, except in places like Nassau. if for some reason you run late and arrive at your destination after sundown then you have to make a decision based on the circumstances.

nowadays with all the nav equipment we have and accurate charts in the US, running at night is pretty easy as long as you keep it slow on preserve your night vision. I've ran many miles at night in the ICW and it's no more difficult than during the day... water is so murky that you can't read it anyway

as to trusting someone at the helm at night, it depends on where you are and on your crew. in open waters, that's fine but coming in a channel or in the ICW, no way!

we travel alaska a lot we have some very good bright lights real good well tuned radar and a good sonar at so far have not bumped into any thing with the lights we have been able to dodge the crab pots for a long time

travler

While delivering a 54 foot sportfish to Puerto Rico from Venezuela I found the very best way of entering a marina at night.

As you enter, have a very large and low Federal Helicopter light up your boat with super powerful spotlights from the rear, you can see for miles!!!

Doesn't work everytime and the paperwork sucks but worth a shot with some dodgy radio play and a rolled-up dinghy in the cockpit.

OK Dave how many kilos of what got you that escort?

I ran a 48' 8 knot boat through the Bahamas and Caribbean. Of course that speed meant many overnights. Most of the time it was just my brother and me. We did 4 on/4 off with only one person on watch. At times there was other family onboard or one paid stew/cook who might sit with the watch on duty. I don't want to enter a new port at night. I always timed departures so I would arrive mid morning. 4 on/4 off, for me at least, is only really good for 1 or 2 days at sea. Beyond that fatigue becomes an issue.