tonight myself and two other desperados were chasing a late easterly on the lake. it was marginal and we were only planing occasionally.
in the dying rays of sundown the easterly started to kick.
so we sailed on for probably another half hour in very low light conditions. we could see each other and the shore, but the water was quite dark. you sailed almost completely by feel, not knowing when gusts were coming or how flat water was going into a gybe.
admittedly a touch dangerous, but very zen 
Desperados??? The day will never come when you don't learn something new on the water. Never realised how unimportant vision is in the sailing equation. Especially the gybes - darkness certainly heightens your feel for the board beneath your feet and the boom in your hands, not much else to go on.
)
Funny thing, I can do forward, backward and double loops in the dark, but no one can see it.
There's 3 levels of darkness. Canberra at 20 to 9, eyes closed and a dark and stormy moonless night on Lord Howe Island - that's dark -
In ancient Japan, Ninja warriors were required to do carve gybes and double forwards blindfolded as part of their training...
I sailed in an easterly in Canberra back in the day till about 930 pm. I was up in the middle of the lake opposite the high court etc for a lot of it and there is so much light up there it's not an issue. Sailing back down though....sketchy as hell. Rouge chop...hilarity did not ensue, you basically have no idea what you're going to hit.
> blindfolded
I often tried for the fun of it. Very few seconds, and I was lucky.
As soon as there are lights or beacons, however faint, you're OK.
Balance is an amazing sense...
Seriously, one of my favourite things to do in Mui Ne last year was to go out early with a 7m before the wind (and chop) really kicked in, and see how long I could sail with my eyes shut, just relaxing, planing effortlessly on nearly flat water...typically I only did it for a few seconds at a time (chicken!) but there was no reason not to have done it longer...next time, next time....
