Night Surfing - Lights

[Cubacheski]

Looking to get some thoughts on night surfing and if you do surf at night what type of tower lights are you using. Yes I know it is illegal in most states. Any light thoughts or set up would be appreciated. Thanks

[talltigeguy]

I have not done it. Whenever I think of it, I get a panic attack about ending up in the morning with my boat's picture on Wakeworld. Or worse.

The vast majority of lights would seem to make it more difficult, not less. I used to have tower lights on my malibu, and the light reflecting off of the vinyl literally made it impossible to see anything outside of the boat. I would only accept lights that were mounted to the front of the boat so that I could see where I was going, or I would go with no lights.

Get several of those glow sticks, and have your rider wear them around his neck and on his wrist. Get one for the surfboard too, but I am not sure how to mount it.

Frankly, I am just not sure it is worth the risk. What are the risks of you hitting an obstacle (a buoy, another boat, rock or the shoreline)? Or of a fisherman screaming home at 75 MPH hitting your fallen rider? Too many things can go wrong, and can be life threatening when it happens. If that risk is 1/10,000, would you do it? 1/1,000? I would be willing to bet that your insurance company would not like you to be doing this...those guys understand risk. I think if I night surfed 1,000 times, I would end up with a disaster at least once.

[Bryan]

We used to do it a lot... Haven't yet with this boat, as it has no tower lights yet. Don't try to use lights for navigation... Forward facing lights on water are worthless... There's a reason boats don't have them.. Very bad for other boaters.

I'm assuming your talking about rear facing tower lights. You can use either an LED light bar, or we had this: http://www.wakeessentials.com/produc...FQiTaQod_7kPow

Don't point the light at the surfer because you don't want to blind them, point it towards your swim platform. Basically light up the water in front of them. We do wear a necklace made of glow sticks and have a designated spotter with a spotlight to light up the rider when they fall and keep them lit until the boat gets back to them.

As for driving the boat.. We never really had an issue seeing as long as the lights stayed directed towards the rear of the boat. It's also pretty important to make sure the driver is very knowledgeable about the lake, and where your at on the lake, and any obstacles or obstructions in the water. Night surfing with a full moon is always the best.. Easiest on the driver and super cool scenery..
Enjoy

[chpthril]

Ive never night surfed with tower lights, but it seems to me that a rear facing light would hinder the surfer from seeing the wave. From a captains perspective, and one that has countless night time hours, I wont run with any forward or rear spots on. For night surfing, I would rather have a pair of quality bright transom LEDs. I also like tying a glow stick to the rider and one to the board or use an ankle leash.

[duffymahoney]

The forward facing lights need to be bright and have some good distance. The rear facing lights need to be more wide and not very bright. I had this setup on two boats, it worked well.

[little_criket]

Underwater I use lumitec seablaze x. For the rack, lumitec caprera 2. Glow necklace and bracelets. Glow sticks taped to the board.

[dreddy]

I agree that there is risk that may not all be sufficiently mitigated. If you are set on doing it however...

Scout the location in the light of day until you know every inch of the place.
Go in circles if necessary to stay in your scouted and known-safe spot.
Mark shoreline or other obstacles with lanterns for navigation.
Dedicate a person in the bow to navigation and fallen rider spotting in addition to the driver. Visibility through the windshield is diminished at night if there is any light in the boat or behind the boat due to reflection. Someone's eyes need to be in front of the light pollution.
Dedicate a person to the person in the water. That is typical even in the light but specific, communicated assignments for safety are useful.
Train the tower lights on the swim deck and just behind so as not to blind the rider. Something more like a spotlight with a 10' circle at that distance rather than a diffuse pattern.
At a minimum, put a tested, waterproof headlight on the rider for visibility after falls.
Have the rider wear a helmet
Have the rider use the vest with the best flotation possible
Use the spotters to communicate to the pilot location and safety of the fallen guy and listen and look for other boats. If there is any potential for boat traffic or fishermen, don't even consider doing any of this.
Make all turns to pickup after waiting for your rollers to pass and you have come to a complete stop, visually and audibly checked on your rider and surroundings. No pounding back through the surf risking balance and orientation of the crew as well as bouncing lights all over the surface. That kind of movement without the ability to see the horizon can be quickly disorienting.
Disregard that and get back to rider as quickly as possible if they don't audibly confirm their status after a fall.
Never do this with any person in the crew that isn't an experienced driver AND surfer.
Consider having riders keep the rope to limit falls.
Can you start and stop from the deck while underway? As long as you are doing something else that's potentially illegal you would at least never have anyone in the water. See helmet comment above. Nevermind this one. It probably increases risk in every other way.
Never do this with any amount of wind, weather or less than perfectly smooth water.
Wait until after full dark so night sight can adjust as well as possible but before any alcohol consumption starts. The WHOLE crew needs their wits about them.
Limit crew size so no-one in the boat can impede safety procedures and free movement of those with designated jobs
Consider not doing this at all
Don't take pictures

I don't recommend doing this and can't confirm or deny ever having done it.

[jmhatchett]

The problem most people probably are having with forward facing lights is they are not true "driving lights". The tower lights on these boats are more flood pattern and wide emitting not projecting the light far away to give good sight. The docking lights are just that... for docking.

If you want to drive and surf I am a big advocate of LED driving lights. If you want a light bar on the tower make sure it is SPOT ONLY pattern and aim it where it works best for you. Now we dont night surf, but I have been with some friends who do and surfed with them. We use driving light bars and a few sets of LED spot lights (Rigid Dually) and aim them 15-20 degrees off center to each side and have the light bar up on the tower aimed stright ahead of the boat. We have a really neat river and a shallow beach that is a ways from the houses, but its cool everyone can drive the boat out and play volleyball in the water or on the beach and just park the boats and then when we start driving back to the houses the lights surely come in handy.

As far as rear facing surf lights, the best thing for the rider is illuminated water so underwater lights are a must. We had Side/Rear angled lights that did not point towards rider but just aimed just off rear corners of boat to help see. I hope this "sheds some light" for you!

[IDBoating]

We had someone surfing on our lake until midnight last night. Full moon, cloudless sky, bright white headlights (looked like a car driving on the lake), bright white rear floods. We could clearly see the surfer from our house even when they were all the way across the lake. Went on for hours. Looked like they were having a great time. With water temps above 80F I wanted to be right out there with them.

[JohnZ3]

Must have glow sticks on the rider and board if possible.

Last summer, moonless night, my driver spent 15 minutes trying to find me after I fell. It took me awhile to find the board as well. While in the water, I almost got hit by another night surfer. Missed me by 10 feet and never saw me.

It is fun, but risky.

[Bryan]

Here a vid I posted to YouTube 9 years ago... Shows what the lights looked like that I described in my first post on this thread:

http://youtu.be/AxbNqxpBB4M

[Robmc9]

We night surf a lot! A couple of the boat owners spent a ton of cash and did their boats up with a ton of lights but I kept mine simple and only run the transom lights and thats it. One thing to keep in mind is bugs….if you have bugs do not light up your boat at all, as every bug from miles around will come check you out.
So my suggestion is very little light on the boat, except in the water (spend it on the best transom lights possible) as it'll brighten up the water enough for the rider to feel comfortable and see everything. We're also on a very small lake 3 miles x 1 mile with very little boat traffic (maybe 5-6 boats max on long weekends) and we usually all pile in my boat at night vs the other boats which don't have transom lights. Plus the more eyes the better to help spot the board if it shots out, but so far the longest a board has shot out is about 15' and we found it in seconds.

[IDBoating]

Plus the more eyes the better to help spot the board if it shots out, but so far the longest a board has shot out is about 15' and we found it in seconds.

One of Ronix's boards (might be out of production now) has a line of blue LED's all around it's upper edge. You can switch them to be on solid or flash in a couple of patterns. I have one of these boards and removed the batteries because I considered LED's in a surfboard to be ridiculous, but with all this talk of night surfing I'm starting to think they might be useful.

[IDBoating]

Or, you can retrofit your board(s) with this light kit: http://www.lightmytoy.com/

Please, someone try this and post the results!

[jmhatchett]

One of Ronix's boards (might be out of production now) has a line of blue LED's all around it's upper edge. You can switch them to be on solid or flash in a couple of patterns. I have one of these boards and removed the batteries because I considered LED's in a surfboard to be ridiculous, but with all this talk of night surfing I'm starting to think they might be useful.

WA I have this board actually! Mine has red LED rope lights inlaid in the top layer of fiberglass decking and it is awesome. It doesnt inhibit the rider by being too bright but it certainly helps to see the board!