Over the past month or so, the wife and I have done our sunset cruise four or five times. Watch the sunset. Enjoy a drink and some munchies. We don’t even bring music. Just enjoy the water. Then, as darkness sets in…
D@MN4Tion !!! People!!!
Please do not run on a plane in or near the channel of any navigable waterway in the dark UNLESS YOU HAVE WORKING nav lights.
Last night, in the short stretch from just outside Wappoo Cut to Riverland Terrace Landing, we got buzzed by four boats that either had no lights or no bow light(s). No moon. I could not see these guys until they were right on top of us. Watched two of them trying to find the mouth of the Cut from the Stono at the same time. I don’t think they saw each other until they were lit by the house lights on either side of the cut.
Every time we’ve been out after dark, we’ve had this problem. It is genuinely dangerous.
12 Volt lighting is EXTREMELY simple. If you can’t make it work you don’t need to be on the water after sunset. If there is any possibility you’re going to be on the water near sunset, you should check your lights before you leave the house/dock/ramp just like any other safety equipment.
May put a request to DNR LEO to see if we can get some enforcement increased.
End of RANT.
/stepping down off of soapbox.
17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25
RUNNING WITH NO NAV LIGHTS IS BAD ENOUGH BUT ON SOME OF THE UPSTATE STUPIDS ARE BAD TO ANCHOR UP IN MAIN TRAVELING AREAS WITH NO LIGHTS AT ALL !!! STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPID IS AS STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPID DOES [:0][:0][:0][:0]
Dnr told me to carry portable lights or glow sticks as back ups so your legal. I blew a fuse and got a ticket coming in the cut before. $110 bucks is the minimum on a safety violations and there is supposed to be zero officer discretion with safety.
Amen. These people need to check their equipment before they get on the water. Also tired of seeing PWC running well after sunset. These knuckleheads need to be prosecuted to the full extent extent of the law.
Same kind of person that drives after dark without headlights
“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad
Equipment:
2007 Grady White 222 Fisherman / 250 Yamaha
Simrad NSS evo2 and G4
1- 25 boy that won’t move out)
1 - 21 year old (fishing maniac)
1 - wife (The Warden)
We were running a river back one night & almost clipped a boat in half. Guy was sitting right in the middle of the river with no lights on. He cut his lights on in just enough time for us to swerve & miss him, almost threw one guy out of our boat.
Bad enough people don’t have light but they are true idiots when they have lights & do not use them.
