The Importance of Navigation Lights
January 29, 2026
It’s too easy to take your navigation lights for granted until something fails or gets obscured.
It’s too easy to take your navigation lights for granted until something fails or gets obscured.
There’s more to after-dark navigation than having high-falutin’ electronics onboard.
I was curious, really. I hadn’t done any hard-core, nighttime navigation in years. Sure, over the past couple of decades, I’d briefly piloted a few recreational vessels around in the dark, plying parts of rivers and bayous with little more than a chartplotter, a careful hand on the wheel, and a trusty spotlight. But frankly, in all that time I’d never shepherded a vessel through the darkness into a big, working seaport with radar as my primary navigational tool. Would I be as good as I used to be?
It’s too easy to take your navigation lights for granted until something fails or gets obscured.
There’s more to after-dark navigation than having high-falutin’ electronics onboard.
I was curious, really. I hadn’t done any hard-core, nighttime navigation in years. Sure, over the past couple of decades, I’d briefly piloted a few recreational vessels around in the dark, plying parts of rivers and bayous with little more than a chartplotter, a careful hand on the wheel, and a trusty spotlight. But frankly, in all that time I’d never shepherded a vessel through the darkness into a big, working seaport with radar as my primary navigational tool. Would I be as good as I used to be?
