Singlehanding - Sleeping - Good Idea ?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Last Call

If their are not to many to mention could you name a few I have been eyeballing a double ender but I dont know if she will fit the bill.

There might be other threads that will help you more. Theres a thread about double enders at the moment.

otherwise this thread will get sidetracked on pros and cons of arguments.... not about going solo and how one sleeps solo


Mark

[svtadpole]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Reiter

This IS an interesting thread, one that I spent a lifetime working out the answers to. I read a few responses from like-minded people who came to the same conclusions as I did--set a 20 minute countdown alarm and lie down fully turned out in the cockpit after standing on the cabin top and taking a good look around. When the alarm goes off, believe me, a shot of adrenaline will bring you fully awake. Get up on the cabin top and have a scan around the horizon. If you see lights, say, on the stb. bow, take the appropriate action, if nothing is sighted, press the alarm button and lie back down. Very quickly your mind and body will adjust and you will rack up around five hours of sleep during a night. Then, when the sun rises, you will start another day at sea, catching cat naps. The best investment a single-hander can make is a radar detector that goes off when a vessel's wave guide strikes it and gives a range and bearing. I'd rather have a detector than a radar set on a sail boat. Finally, someone posed the very good question of what type of boat a single hander needs. My humble opinion is: a sailing vessel has to have the ability to claw off a lee shore under sail power alone and be able to heave to unattended. She needs a quarter berth one can't be tossed out of. Sorry to be long-winded, but picture this: hove to in reasonable weather with your radar detector on; rocked in the cradle of the deep...sweet dreams. Read Blondie Hasler's book and realize that life is an adventure that will throw challenges at you no matter how many precautions you take. I didn't put the salt in the ocean or kill the Dead Sea, but I learned from my mistakes and listened to others' sea stories and I'm still here,shipmates. Fair winds

"The best investment a single-hander can make is a radar detector that goes off when a vessel's wave guide strikes it and gives a range and bearing. I'd rather have a detector than a radar set on a sail boat".

Very intersested in adding a radar detector .... searching eBay but all I am able to find are automotive types billed as able to detect police speed-traps .... what make & model are you using or able to recommend ?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by svtadpole

Very intersested in adding a radar detector .... ?

CARD system are pretty old now and obsolete since AIS.

See a review C.A.R.D Radar detector review


But now with Westmarine doing a AIS transponder for $500 who would go for CARD?

[svtadpole]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

CARD system are pretty old now and obsolete since AIS.

See a review C.A.R.D Radar detector review


But now with Westmarine doing a AIS transponder for $500 who would go for CARD?

For sure the Westmarine AIS1000 transponder is a bargain at under $500 & has leapt to the top of my wish list ...

However ... many non-commercial vessels are not AIS equipped but do have radar which can be detected ...

Belt & Braces ( Suspenders )

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by svtadpole

For sure the Westmarine AIS1000 transponder is a bargain at under $500 & has leapt to the top of my wish list ...

However ... many non-commercial vessels are not AIS equipped but do have radar which can be detected ...

Belt & Braces ( Suspenders )

But, for a detector to do any good, the other guy must have his radar on, and in our direct experience, this is far from always true. This includes large merchant vessels as well as fishermen.

Cheers,

Jim

[MarkJ]

Following on from Jim, if the vessel is too small for AIS its too small for Radar.




And that means you can just run 'em down!


Mark

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Following on from Jim, if the vessel is too small for AIS its too small for Radar. And that means you can just run 'em down! Mark

Mark that is dangerous nonsense. Warships are very unlikely to show up on AIS, and I think trying to run down a Nimitz class would be a little silly.

OK that was a little silly of me too, but seriously, third world shipping especially coastal stufff is unlikely to have functioning AIS, and fishing vessels are not obliged to do so.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Mark that is dangerous nonsense. Warships are very unlikely to show up on AIS, and I think trying to run down a Nimitz class would be a little silly.

OK that was a little silly of me too, but seriously, third world shipping especially coastal stufff is unlikely to have functioning AIS, and fishing vessels are not obliged to do so.

I'm with Mark a bit on this one. If you are still on the continental shelf then sleeping is a bit dicey, beware, there be dragons. Off the shelf then hardly any traffic and what there is will more than likely be transmitting AIS. In my experience round the atlantic anyway. Very reassuring to watch a ship change course by 10 deg a few miles away to miss you then change back again. With a nice big steel boat radar echo anyway
AIS is nice! And recieve uses hardly any power.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Mark that is dangerous nonsense. Warships are very unlikely to show up on AIS,

Navy ships actually have someone whit a brain on the bridge and have the best watch systems of any. Its really unlikely to be able to get anywhere near one.

Originally Posted by Talbot

third world shipping especially coastal stufff is unlikely to have functioning AIS, and fishing vessels are not obliged to do so.

Adboslutly, I agree. But they won't have radar either. So a CARD system won't work!


Sailing in the 3Rd world has its own complexities... I just did a post about lights... or the lack of them.... in the 3rd world.

[Baysailor34]

This is one old thread. Just read it from start to finish. AGAIN. Still one of the best if you're a coastal or blue water solo sailor. Some of the references to the electronics suggested are dated but if you fly solo you need to read this thread. Start to finish. IMO

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by Kanani

Most radars have a "Sleep" mode now.

They go on at a set interval and make a few sweeps. If they pick up anything "Heavier" than the preset density, the alarm will sound and it will stay live. If it see's nothing, it will go back to sleep.

I set mine at 10 minutes and a 6 mile radius. It goes off several times a day/night and 90% of the time it's a false alarm. The rougher the seas. the more false alarms. Breaking seas will set off the alarm unless the sensitivity is set way low.

Kanani what is the current draw on a radar set like this ? Makes me wonder if I ought to invest in it while I'm outfitting.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Navy ships actually have someone whit a brain on the bridge and have the best watch systems of any. Its really unlikely to be able to get anywhere near one.

Real life evidence proves this to be a fallacy.. and its not you getting near them that's the problem.. its the idiots getting near YOU..


Sailing in the 3Rd world has its own complexities... I just did a post about lights... or the lack of them.... in the 3rd world.

Not just a 3rd world problem.. it happens all over.. Yes.. even in the so called 1st world...
The problem with radar and AIS is its yet another thing that folks put faith in and yet.. just another screen/gadget to obsess over rather than see the reality of what is around them..
I've seen posts claiming they would have sunk without radar and video as proof that without radar they would have hit a light on a rock.. yet in that same video one could see land on the horizon 2 miles away.. despite the claimed poor visibility.
To me that was down to poor/lazy navigation and failure to maintain a proper lookout plain and simple.
Increasing gadgets to my mind is not upskilling.. its down skilling.. kinda like saying mental arithmetic is not needed anymore because everyone's got a smartphone with a calculator.. and learning to spell is not needed because you have spell check.
But hey.. what do I know..

[charliehows]

Now that we are talking seriously of self driving cars, I can't believe a modified form of sensors/software can be very difficult to develop for a large slow moving sailboat in an all but empty vast expanse of ocean where almost all commercial vessels broadcast AIS signals, GPS chart plotters can warn of most stationary hazards etc, etc. Probably the high end boats already have something close. At the moment its likely a matter of $$.

[TrentePieds]

Boatman, Boatman - you are just S-O-O-O-O old-fashioned! I'm glad to have you among us :-0)!

TP

[boatman61]

TP... only as old fashioned as I choose to be.. raised in a world pre mass paranoia, so I can focus on what is, rather than hyperventilate over what may be..