Night Pilotage

Entering harbour after dark presents unique challenges. Familiar visual references such as headlands, buildings, and unlit marks become invisible, while shore lights and background lighting can obscure or confuse navigational lights. Distance and depth perception are severely reduced, making it harder to judge how far off dangers lie.

Navigational lights are identified by three properties shown on the chart and listed in the almanac or pilot book: colour (white, red, green, yellow), characteristic (flashing, occulting, isophase, group flashing, etc.), and period (the time in seconds for one complete cycle). Timing a light's period with a stopwatch is the most reliable method of positive identification.

Many harbour and coastal lights show coloured sectors. A light sector is an arc over which a light shows a particular colour or characteristic. White sectors typically indicate safe water on the correct approach line, while red and green sectors warn that the vessel is straying towards danger on one side or the other. The boundaries between sectors are shown precisely on the chart, and the transition from one colour to another is usually sharp.

Before a night approach, study the pilot book entry for the harbour — it describes the leading lights, light sectors, lit buoyage, and any particular difficulties. Adapt your pilotage plan for darkness: replace daytime visual references with lit marks and light characteristics, note the sequence of lights you expect to see, and add waypoints where you will confirm your position by timing or identifying specific lights.

Night vision takes around 20–30 minutes to develop fully and can be destroyed instantly by bright white light. Use red lighting below decks and on instruments, dim chart plotters, avoid looking directly at bright shore lights, and close one eye if you must briefly use a white light. Good night vision is essential for spotting unlit objects, picking out buoys against a lit background, and judging distances.