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Night sailing on a charter: where is it ruled out?
Short answer
A ban on night sailing usually sits in the charter contract rather than in any statute. Break it and damage follows, and the deposit arrangement can fall away with it, whatever was agreed about reducing the deposit beforehand.
Charter contracts in the Adriatic and the Aegean often contain a line ruling out passages between sunset and sunrise, or limiting them to named legs. This is rarely a general rule of the state; it is a condition set by the charter company, sometimes reinforced by local rules for commercially chartered yachts. Hardly anyone reads it, which is exactly why it costs money later. Read it before you book and build the passage plan around it, rather than the other way round.
The reasoning is plain enough. After dark, unlit fishing gear, mooring buoys and low rocks are all but invisible, an unfamiliar anchorage is hard to judge, and a crew on holiday after a long day is not in the state a night passage asks for. Charter bases know this from their own claims files. The same experience sits behind rules that rule out entering certain harbours after dark or anchoring overnight in particular bays.
If something happens at night, it has two sides. Towards the base you have broken the contract, and that can undo whatever was agreed about limiting the deposit, including an arrangement bought separately to reduce it. Towards anybody else, you carry what you cause, whatever the base and you had agreed between yourselves. So plan days that fit into daylight, keep something in reserve for wind and sea, and stop a bay earlier rather than press on. If it does have to run into dusk once, ring the base first and get the exception confirmed.
Worth remembering
Contract
The ban usually sits in the charter contract, not in statute
Consequence
Breaking it can undo the agreed limit on the deposit
Plan passages that fit into daylight and stop a bay earlier rather than press on after dark.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Is night sailing banned everywhere on charter?
No. It depends on the area and above all on the charter contract. Some bases rule it out entirely, others only on certain legs or outside set hours. What binds you is the text you signed, not what somebody says on the next pontoon.
What does an incident after dark cost?
Besides the damage itself, the deposit, because breaking a contract term can undo the limit that was agreed. Towards other people you carry what you cause, whatever arrangement you made with the base.
May I lie at anchor overnight?
Anchoring is not the same as sailing and is normally fine, provided the contract and local rules allow it. Some areas protect the seabed and permit only mooring buoys, which will be in the area notes the base gives you.
Related
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