The dark side of paddling

From the Fall 2010 issue of Coast&Kayak Magazine. Read the entire magazine online.

Extend your kayaking season by paddling in the dark but play it smart – follow a few simple rules for night paddling fun

By Adam Bolonsky

Equipping yourself with the skills and equipment you need to paddle at night has many advantages, not the least of which is the chance to lengthen your paddling days as the approach of winter brings shorter days. You can stay out after dark if you want. If you’re a miles burner who needs to make miles on a daily basis, you can comfortably push on after sunset, or leave before dawn, in regions around the world where late afternoon sea breezes or conditions after sunrise may be daunting. And if you’re a fisher, becoming comfortable paddling at night will give you a leg up on the season’s best migratory pelagic fishing – those 36 inch-plus bluefish and striped bass that, here on the east coast at least, are at their most active at night.

One skill is important: the ability to keep your hips loose for better balance and mobility in waves, chop and swell. By learning to paddle with loose hips and knees pressed against the underside of the foredeck or splayed out against either side of the cockpit, the more readily the kayak sways and dips beneath your upper body. Meanwhile, keep your upper torso upright and balanced. Paddle with loose hips and your kayak will absorb the motions of rough water, leaving your upper body level. You can paddle more efficiently and have your arms and shoulders in position to lay down a brace. And with that kinesthetic sense of where your body lies in relation to the horizon, you’re less prone to seasickness.

Loose hips means you’re relaxed in the cockpit and better equipped to deal with nighttime paddling’s challenges, among them a reduced ability to judge the speed and height of swell and waves. Paddle with your eyes closed for a few hundred yards every once in a while and you’ll find that your hips will loosen, and that your balance and confidence while paddling in darkness will increase steadily.

Night paddling means you’ll also need to invest in a few pieces of specialized gear. First off, to be legal on the water between sunset and sunrise, you need to be able to show a white light visible in a 360° circumference. Although lighting regulations in local jurisdictions like lakes and ponds, municipal harbors, etc. often fall under the jurisprudence of local rather than federal law enforcement and so may require different lighting schemes, in most cases you’re legal on water at night with an inexpensive C-light. Typically powered by AA batteries, the velcro-strapped C-light is about the size and diameter of a felt tip marker, and small enough to strap to the shoulder of a PFD. Manufactured with waterproof gaskets, they include a plump, bulbous lens which magnifies their low watt glow into a distinct, hard shard of bright light.

That will cover the federal lighting requirement for boats under 18 feet in length. Just keep in mind that lighting regulations for waters under local jurisdiction can be quirky. Not infrequent has been the night when a sea kayaker lit to federal standards with a white C-light has been stopped and cited by local law enforcement. In violation of local if not simply misinformed versions of lighting schemes, some kayakers have found themselves stopped at night for not carrying green lights to starboard, red lights to port. So be sure to check local regulations by making a phone call to the local harbormaster if you anticipate paddling at night in waters where you are less likely to encounter the Coast Guard and more likely to encounter local law enforcement with their own versions of what’s legal at night.

Now that you’re as legal as can be expected in most waters, other lights you’ll want to carry are a matter of additional convenience and safety. Among them are glosticks, LED lamps and a red night vision light. Together they make for better group cohesion, faster navigation and easier landings at night come time to drag your kayak above the high water mark. It’s a good idea to buy an LED headlamp that you can use hands-free. Landing will be easier if you can see what you’re hauling your kayak over, and setting up camp for the night will go faster if you can see what you’re doing. LED headlamps are a particularly good choice; most have very long battery lives and multiple brightnesses. The best for kayakers are submersible, waterproof and of rugged durability.

As for group cohesion, and to ensure that members of a group can keep track of each other, it’s a good idea to buy a dozen or so chemlights, also known as glosticks. They’re inexpensive. Activate a couple of chemlights with a snap or a shake and tie one to your bow toggle, the other to the stern. The two faint dabs of yellowish light are just enough bright for everyone in a group to keep tabs on each other. Just don’t make the mistake of using green or red glosticks which can be mistaken for port and starboard lights. They will mislead other boaters, and may get you cited for improper light use.

Another piece of night paddling gear handy to have is a night compass. Seattle Sports makes a pretty decent if somewhat delicately made night compass, called the NightQuest, which houses a red night vision binnacle light. You’ll also want a short-burst emergency strobe and eight strips of SOLAS retroreflective tape. SOLAS tape, an acronym for the Safety of Life At Sea treaty signed worldwide after the Titanic disaster, is rugged, durable and waterproof. Apply a strip to each side of your paddle blade and to the starboard and port sides of your bow and stern. All will reflect back bright, distinct flashes of if illuminated by moonlight, a flashlight or other source of light.

To add more visibility to yourself and your boat, it’s also a good idea to consider retrofitting your deck lines with the reflective dacron line used as stakeout lines on mountaineering tents. Also be sure to buy a PFD with sewn-in reflective bands which make you easier to spot should you become separated from your kayak after a capsize. With SOLAS tape on your boat and reflective strips on your pfd, you’ll be that much more visible to the powerboats, ferries and fishing vessels that run at night. Everyone in your group will be visible.

Finally, it’s good practice to carry an emergency strobe light. Universally recognized as a distress signal, strobe lights emit short bursts of high intensity light readily seen by overflying aircraft and nearby boaters. Activate the strobe after you make contact with rescue personnel via VHF Channel 16, or, in more dire consequences, rocket flares if you need to signal an emergency. Don’t be tempted to use a strobe as a nightlight though – they’re meant only for emergency signaling.

If you’re looking for lights that meet many night paddling needs at the same time, many companies sell multi-function lights. The Hydrostar lights, for example, from Seattle Sports, use LED bulbs and a twisting base switch to switch between strobe functions, flashlights of varying intensities, and red night-vision lights handy for illuminating charts and compasses (or fishing gear) at night. The roughly 6.5-inch tall lights have suction cups for attaching to the fore or aft deck, and include spring clips and lanyards for attaching to pfds. They’re reasonably well made if rather bulky. The only caveat is to choose a multi-function light carefully. For example, of Seattle Sports’ three multi-function lights, only two emit strobe bursts both vertically and horizontally, making the remaining model useful only for vertical hand-held signaling.

Adam Bolonsky is a New England sea kayaking instructor and sea kayak fishing guide based in Gloucester, Massachusetts.