A star to steer by!
 

Many have never seen a dark sky......... Thats criminal.

The map says I'm not going to see many stars until I get offshore 5-10
miles min around here.

Running the Gulf it often becomes easy to navigate by cities glowing
over the horizion.
Freeport has an orange glow, Galveston white, Sargent yellow dimish,
from 30 +miles out

Check out this cool map here to see how dark your skies a

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html

Click on the map in your area for a full free report

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

I thought it was amazing that at about 180 miles off Los Angeles I could see
the LA light dome out that far... something glowing in the distance. Cool
map! Thanks!

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
Many have never seen a dark sky......... Thats criminal.

The map says I'm not going to see many stars until I get offshore 5-10
miles min around here.

Running the Gulf it often becomes easy to navigate by cities glowing
over the horizion.
Freeport has an orange glow, Galveston white, Sargent yellow dimish,
from 30 +miles out

Check out this cool map here to see how dark your skies a

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html

Click on the map in your area for a full free report

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

Joe wrote:

Many have never seen a dark sky......... Thats criminal.

The map says I'm not going to see many stars until I get offshore 5-10
miles min around here.

Running the Gulf it often becomes easy to navigate by cities glowing
over the horizion.
Freeport has an orange glow, Galveston white, Sargent yellow dimish,
from 30 +miles out

Check out this cool map here to see how dark your skies a

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html


Thanks Joe, I'm fortunate, limiting magnitude is 6.7 where I am, does't
get too much better anywhere else.

Cheers
Marty
------------ And now a word from our sponsor ---------------------
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A star to steer by!
 

6.8 here
"Martin Baxter" wrote in message
...
Joe wrote:

Many have never seen a dark sky......... Thats criminal.

The map says I'm not going to see many stars until I get offshore 5-10
miles min around here.

Running the Gulf it often becomes easy to navigate by cities glowing
over the horizion.
Freeport has an orange glow, Galveston white, Sargent yellow dimish,
from 30 +miles out

Check out this cool map here to see how dark your skies a

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html


Thanks Joe, I'm fortunate, limiting magnitude is 6.7 where I am, does't
get too much better anywhere else.

Cheers
Marty
------------ And now a word from our sponsor ---------------------
For a secure high performance FTP using SSL/TLS encryption
upgrade to SurgeFTP
---- See http://netwinsite.com/sponsor/sponsor_surgeftp.htm ----

A star to steer by!
 

Thats pretty deep sea John. Must have been a very clear night.

Why were you 180 mi off LA? Coming from Hawaii?

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

On 2 Mar 2006 19:57:28 -0800, "Joe" wrote:

Many have never seen a dark sky......... Thats criminal.

The map says I'm not going to see many stars until I get offshore 5-10
miles min around here.

Running the Gulf it often becomes easy to navigate by cities glowing
over the horizion.
Freeport has an orange glow, Galveston white, Sargent yellow dimish,
from 30 +miles out

Check out this cool map here to see how dark your skies a

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html

Click on the map in your area for a full free report

Joe


The glow in my sailing area ain't what it used to be.

Frank

A star to steer by!
 

It was very clear. We were just coming down the coast from SF to Mexico. I
had never been out that far before, so it was just a lark really. I wouldn't
so much say that it was a dome of light, more like a glow that was obvious.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thats pretty deep sea John. Must have been a very clear night.

Why were you 180 mi off LA? Coming from Hawaii?

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

You have to be careful of navigating towards a 'glow' even if you are sure
what it is. Sometimes there is a headland between your position and the
source of the glow.


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
It was very clear. We were just coming down the coast from SF to Mexico. I
had never been out that far before, so it was just a lark really. I
wouldn't
so much say that it was a dome of light, more like a glow that was
obvious.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thats pretty deep sea John. Must have been a very clear night.

Why were you 180 mi off LA? Coming from Hawaii?

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

This reminds me of a guy Phil I had standing watch for
me that kept steering us around in circles. We were
20-30 miles off the coast of New Jersey and the loom
from Atlantic City was noticeable--that was all we
could see in overcast conditions at night. It actually
made steering pretty easy. I would just keep the
loom off my port side.

Of course my compass light had failed, so I was
partly to blame. I'd just fixed it, but it didn't hold up
to the conditions. I've since replaced it with a pair
of soldered LED's, shrink wrap and tape. So far so
good. Without a compass Phil could not steer!

I explained about the loom several times to Phil and
pointed to it. He still could not seem to see it. Finally,
I sent him below to get warm , locked the helm, as we
were close hauled and enjoyed the remainder of the
watch by myself tidying up the deck.

I quickly found out Phil's experience was very limited.
You know how men exaggerate their experience. The
most obvious factor was revealed when he didn't know
how to lock the Edson helm. He'd only seen the newer
Edson locks on the hub of the axis of the wheel, and was
totally unfamiliar with the side mounted brake which was
so prevalent on most boats. In the dark he was trying to
tighten the hub! I still laugh when I think about him
trying to muscle that thing which requires a wrench to
remove!

It turned out Phil bought a brand new Sabre. His big boat
experience was a weekend or two shaking it down on the
Chesapeake. He had only started sailing a few years
before, and had never been on the open ocean at all.

Despite this, I liked Phil, and I wish I could have sailed with
him more.

Before going below, we had a few nice conversations.
One thing he said to me that I relate to many folks is this,
He said, "I just wish I started {sailing) sooner." A week
later, while sailing on the Chesapeake he let out a yelp
and dropped dead. He had a heart condition that was
more serious than he let on. Let this be a warning to all
not to wait too long. It is better to buy a cheap boat and
sail now, than to wait for a nicer one and try sail too late.

"Edgar" wrote
You have to be careful of navigating towards a 'glow' even if you are sure
what it is. Sometimes there is a headland between your position and the
source of the glow.

A star to steer by!
 

No ****? Really? :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Edgar" wrote in message
...
You have to be careful of navigating towards a 'glow' even if you are sure
what it is. Sometimes there is a headland between your position and the
source of the glow.


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
It was very clear. We were just coming down the coast from SF to Mexico.
I
had never been out that far before, so it was just a lark really. I
wouldn't
so much say that it was a dome of light, more like a glow that was
obvious.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thats pretty deep sea John. Must have been a very clear night.

Why were you 180 mi off LA? Coming from Hawaii?

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

The furthest I have ever seen lights off shore Miami from about 50
miles and I thought that was impressive!

A star to steer by!
 

Nice thought to pass on - you're right!

sorry about your friend

A star to steer by!
 

Da Kine wrote:
The furthest I have ever seen lights off shore Miami from about 50
miles and I thought that was impressive!



This was just outside the entrance to Bimini?

There isn't much in the way of big city lights in eastern
NC. We have been anchored out, watching the evening sky, and
seen the glow from Belhaven & Elizabeth City. All is relative.

Years ago (OK it was decades) I sailed into the mouth of the
Chesapeake navigating by the loom of Norfolk (this was
before GPS). We could see the glow from about 20 miles out,
as we sailed closer we saw an odd pattern of moving lights
that appeared in the middle of the ocean and darted along
horizontally in an erratic way. Turned out to be cars on the
Bridge-Tunnel.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

A star to steer by!
 

DSK wrote:
Da Kine wrote:

The furthest I have ever seen lights off shore Miami from about 50
miles and I thought that was impressive!



This was just outside the entrance to Bimini?

There isn't much in the way of big city lights in eastern NC. We have
been anchored out, watching the evening sky, and seen the glow from
Belhaven & Elizabeth City. All is relative.

Years ago (OK it was decades) I sailed into the mouth of the Chesapeake
navigating by the loom of Norfolk (this was before GPS). We could see
the glow from about 20 miles out, as we sailed closer we saw an odd
pattern of moving lights that appeared in the middle of the ocean and
darted along horizontally in an erratic way. Turned out to be cars on
the Bridge-Tunnel.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

We were on that just today...frove out to Cape Chrales...noticed
that the whole bridge is lot at night. Good thing, too...would be a
heck of a mess if a container ship or aircraft carrier drove through
it! We stopped in the middle and saw some ships south of the bridge
but none of them sailed close enough ...was hoping one would go
through the Raods while we watched.

A star to steer by!
 

"DSK" wrote:
Da Kine wrote:
The furthest I have ever seen lights off shore Miami from
about 50
miles and I thought that was impressive!



This was just outside the entrance to Bimini?

We sailed to Ft. Pierce from Bimini with no charts, the
lights were a great help!

Seahag

A star to steer by!
 

Seahag wrote:
We sailed to Ft. Pierce from Bimini with no charts, the
lights were a great help!


Now, that's impressive. How did you find your way into
Bimini with no chart?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

A star to steer by!
 

you look at the two sticks on the beach and sail toward them, then hang
a port and stay in the deep part -

you should have had charts. that wasn't really all that smart:-)

A star to steer by!
 

Seahag,

Long John Silvers has some place mats that work better than nothing.

Joe

A star to steer by!
 

"DSK" wrote:
Seahag wrote:
We sailed to Ft. Pierce from Bimini with no charts, the
lights were a great help!


Now, that's impressive. How did you find your way into
Bimini with no chart?

We flew:^)
It was when the Coast Guard found the boat aground there
after the Hurricane Trip.

Seahag

A star to steer by!
 

"Da Kine" wrote:
you look at the two sticks on the beach and sail toward
them, then hang
a port and stay in the deep part -

you should have had charts. that wasn't really all that
smart:-)

After the boat was stripped the owner declined to buy his
stuff back from the locals.

Seahag

A star to steer by!
 

"Joe" wrote:
Seahag,

Long John Silvers has some place mats that work better
than nothing.

Charts? We don't need no steenking charts!
Colombus didn't have no steenking charts, charts are for
sissies!

Seahag

A star to steer by!
 

the way in is easy - its getting there that counts. Didyou ever hear
the story of the 5 doctors and the hattares? They used an atlas to try
to go from palm beach to bimini and they found the guys near dead
abouta week later, 300 miles off burmuda!

A star to steer by!
 

"Da Kine" wrote:
the way in is easy - its getting there that counts. Didyou
ever hear
the story of the 5 doctors and the hattares? They used an
atlas to try
to go from palm beach to bimini and they found the guys
near dead
abouta week later, 300 miles off burmuda!

We'd sailed off Ft.Pierce for a couple of years before the
ill-fated trip. We left Bimini in the morning and arrived
off FP the following morning. It was the best part of the
whole trip! Oh, and they stole the compass...

Seahag