Night shots on pier - need techinical advice bad!

[shesells]

It fooled me alright. It seems so much more out of focus than the surrounding clouds. That spot and another lighter one toward the left of the second shot about the same distance and angle from the left hand light. There was another recent thread about reflections with a neon sign and thought this was similar.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.

Here's how it looked not long before that shot, but his one was underexposed too much. Anyway, last night, I took my new info out to a park and was prepared to get some excellent shots. Prob was, it was the crappiest sunset you could get, so instead i practiced taking shots of boats and water skiers. I so suck at those actions shots so it was great practicing, using all the stuff you guys said. The pics? well, not too great, but I'll show them if you want. First I get the boat only, then the skier only, then the wake only..lol Thats so hard for me to time it right, but did improve a bit. Oh also, I was standing in a fire ant mound. mmm fun.
I'll post the action shots in a bit, I need a little nappy.
Kit