Posted by Patrick Fox on April 12, 1999 at 18:31:43:
In Reply to: Night Sailing navigation posted by Dave W on April 11, 1999 at 19:43:17:
The thing that's always slightly suprised me about this episode in the book is that it really got dark enough to be impossible to distinguish land from water. I've lived in that part of the Lake District, sailed on and spent nights afloat on Lake Windermere and walked in the surrounding hills, not infrequently returning after dark, and never knew it so dark that it would not have been a perfectly reasonable proposition to sail down the lake. Approaching land may have be a rather tense moment, but simply avoiding the islands really wouldn't be a problem. Even walking at night is perfectly possible without a torch provided the path is significantly lighter than the surrounding grass and you don't look at it directly. Has anyone else known it, from experience, to be too dark to tell land from water?
Cheers
Patrick