Singlehanding - Sleeping - Good Idea ?

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by jcknox

This may be a little of topic but would it be possible to mount a depth transducer horizontally at the bow. In effect creating a forward looking sonar to detect submerged objects? Would this work?

There are several makes of forward-looking sonar (depth sounders) for small boats. They don't have much range, though.

[bastonjock]

so how good is small ships radar? will it pick up all boats with radar deflectors at say 4nm?

i think that the ballance is to be rested and alert,running on a sleep pattern that in the end equates to sleep deprevation is possibly more dangerous than actually sleeping through a near miss and should the weather kick up into a situation where you need to be awake for 72 hours,you surely have to remain rested during a long passage and with enough in the tank to handle a storm

or could colregs accept a stobe light of some sort that ould be used to indicate that the skipper was having a nap or a transponder arrangement

[Amgine]

Okay, how about 'sleeping while singlehanded is useful, since if you don't you die. Keeping watch is useful, since if you don't you might get run down, but less likely than you'll run into the crunchy bits around the edges of the safe blue water.' Does that suit the thread? ::

[highseas]

When Im close to land I definitely wont be sleeping.When I said "in daytime others can see you easier",Im thinking of smaller boats,who dont have AIS transponders,(or bright lights at night) For bigger ships I will be watching out for them and receiving an AIS alarm to alert me to alter course.Ideally ,15 minute horizon scans would be the goal.Also agree about being awoken abruptly in the dark as opposed the daylight.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by highseas

When Im close to land I definitely wont be sleeping.When I said "in daytime others can see you easier",Im thinking of smaller boats,who dont have AIS transponders,(or bright lights at night) For bigger ships I will be watching out for them and receiving an AIS alarm to alert me to alter course.Ideally ,15 minute horizon scans would be the goal.Also agree about being awoken abruptly in the dark as opposed the daylight.

You might want to consider 10 minute intervals. 15 minutes is quite marginal. That's about the time that it takes a vessel to come up over the horizon and reach your position at 20kts. 20kts is a very common cruising speed for commercial ships.

In my time of over 100,000 miles at sea, I have come across 2 yachts, beyond 100 miles from shore. One of those yachts was on purpose as I hove-too for 3 days to transfer food to starving cruisers, 600 miles off of Mexico, en-route to San Diego from Galapagos Islands.

I have a cute (on-topic) side story that I would like to relay at this point.

I have a friend that was an engineer on a 75' fishing vessel. One time they were cruising along looking for tuna about 200 miles off the Mexico coast. They saw a yacht off in the distance and changed coarse to check it out. As they approached the becalmed vessel, it was clear that there was no one on deck. To be sure that everything was OK, they slowed and pulled up to the yacht. Laying in the cockpit was a sleeping, single-handed sailor. As a joke, they got an ice cold bottle of milk, lowered it down on a line and left it in the cockpit, next to the sleeping sailor. They then quietly motored away.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Kanani

. As a joke, they got an ice cold bottle of milk, lowered it down on a line and left it in the cockpit, next to the sleeping sailor. They then quietly motored away.

OMFG......

[Kanani]

That was in '88......so...... if that sailor is now at home reading this forum.........that's where that bottle of milk came from.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Kanani

I'm not saying that they would intentionally run you down, I am just saying that your chances of being seen by a ship is slim to none, day or night.

In the 66 Days Adrift book the couple spotted ships a couple of times. I think they even had a flare left for one of them and shot it off. Must have been horrific to be at sea in a 4 man raft for almost 2 months and see a ship motoring away.

You are spot on - they don't look.

Which begs the question. What's worse, a ship with no one on watch except a radar or a sailing vessel with no one on watch except a radar?

Originally Posted by Kanani

Laying in the cockpit was a sleeping, single-handed sailor. As a joke, they got an ice cold bottle of milk, lowered it down on a line and left it in the cockpit, next to the sleeping sailor. They then quietly motored away.

That's a pretty tall tale. We have +40' motor launches that do immigration at sea here. They periodically bump our boat when handing passports into a fishing net on a 5 foot pole in 3 foot swells and 7 knots wind. I couldn't imagine them getting close enough to lower a bottle of milk on a string. Oh, and the engine sounds like a freight train.

Musta been one exhausted sailor...

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

In the 66 Days Adrift book the couple spotted ships a couple of times. I think they even had a flare left for one of them and shot it off. Must have been horrific to be at sea in a 4 man raft for almost 2 months and see a ship motoring away.

You are spot on - they don't look.

Which begs the question. What's worse, a ship with no one on watch except a radar or a sailing vessel with no one on watch except a radar?



That's a pretty tall tale. We have +40' motor launches that do immigration at sea here. They periodically bump our boat when handing passports into a fishing net on a 5 foot pole in 3 foot swells and 7 knots wind. I couldn't imagine them getting close enough to lower a bottle of milk on a string. Oh, and the engine sounds like a freight train.

Musta been one exhausted sailor...

You got the story the way that I got it. BTW....I was on board the fishing boat and the fishing boat's captain was there when he told me the story.........he did say that it was flat calm. I asked the same question....how could the engines not wake the guy? He said that they just idled off for awhile.

[Brent Swain]

Mt steel hull makes striking things at sea a much less significant threat.
Brent

[bastonjock]

hahahaha what must have gone through that guys head when he woke up,wonder if he got up the next morning expecting a delivery from the local milk man

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by bastonjock

so how good is small ships radar? will it pick up all boats with radar deflectors at say 4nm?

MAIB commissioned a study on radar reflectors, here: http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources...s%20report.pdf

Even if you use the best and have it optimally set, you still have to trust the other party has their radar operating, tuned correctly, and monitored.

or could colregs accept a stobe light of some sort that ould be used to indicate that the skipper was having a nap or a transponder arrangement

In some jurisdictions, a strobe light is an emergency signal - so instead of warding off other vessels, it may bring them closer. Others have suggested lighting as Not-under-command or Restricted-in-ability-to-manoeuvre, but the colregs still require those vessels to maintain a lookout, so no guarantees there. I would never plan to single-hand where I would need to sleep - if injury/illness forced it upon me, I would drift on a sea-anchor, with NUC signals, AIS and radar on with guard alarms, VHF turned up to max volume.


Kevin

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by bastonjock

so how good is small ships radar? will it pick up all boats with radar deflectors at say 4nm?...

I have two Mobri reflectors on the shrouds above the spreaders. Ships that were willing to answer me say they can see me from 5-6 nm out.

[Badsanta]

This just in. Dead sailor found with a cold bottle of milk. Coast Guard confused as to events. Searching for boat seen leaving scene without reporting.

[Brent Swain]

A ship is far more likely to sink someone than the average sailing yacht. I've never heard of a freighter being sunk by a yacht.
Brent