Passing Time on Watch

[jalmberg]

Originally Posted by Jim Woodall

.

At night we have a strict schedule, 3 hours on/3 hours off. The off-watch person sleeps in the saloon within steps of the helm. To remind ourselves that maintaining a proper watch is important, we post a Watch Bill. Our rules are:

1. No reading, listening to music, audio books, or looking at movies etc. on our phones or tablets.

Etc.

This will seem harsh to many, but I note you are thinking coastal cruising in a high traffic area. Plus a bunch of morons in very fast powerboats. These are thankfully not common problems in most of the world, and certainly not when crossing oceans.

We often set a 6-mile guard alarm on our AIS so we can be sure to see that steamship on the horizon which we might not notice otherwise. When you only see one or two ships all day, it’s an event when one hoves into view!

I can’t imagine trying to cross the Atlantic with such an unforgiving set of rules, but each to their own!

[Jim Woodall]

Originally Posted by jalmberg

This will seem harsh to many, but I note you are thinking coastal cruising in a high traffic area. Plus a bunch of morons in very fast powerboats. These are thankfully not common problems in most of the world, and certainly not when crossing oceans.

We often set a 6-mile guard alarm on our AIS so we can be sure to see that steamship on the horizon which we might not notice otherwise. When you only see one or two ships all day, it’s an event when one hoves into view!

I can’t imagine trying to cross the Atlantic with such an unforgiving set of rules, but each to their own!

I’ve crewed on Atlantic crossings and passages from the Chesapeake to various Caribbean destinations. On all those passages ( same profession skipper on them all ) we had similar rules. The man who trained me was a real old salt. He had commanded surface ships in the U.S. Navy and he was by the book. My wife also crewed and liked the disciplined approach so we stick with it on our passages whether in coastal waters or 500nm offshore.

[MicHughV]

I've sailed on some trips with four people on the boat, which was manageable in an odd sort of way, taking into account the various personalities and skill sets of each crew member.

Done mostly two on board trips, and no question, this is very tiring, especially when things get rough.
Invariably the first few days are rough until a routine is established, after which, things tend to settle down.

On offshore passages, it has been rare to come across another ship, unless you are in a shipping lane or route.

No question, that the night watches are a story on it's own.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by P3sailor

I'm sure others have some innovative methods to keep their eyes open.

for me the way to get through night watches is CHOCOLATE. LOTS of chocolate ! i can keep going as long as the mars bars keep coming...

not especially innovative, but works for me !

making coffee (rather than drinking it) is a good way to wake up as well

cheers,

ps : making coffee in the dark is actually the reason i drink black coffee. when i was at sea the milk in the bridge fridge was often not changed when it should be, and after the 33rd time of making coffee and sitting down to enjoy it...only to find out the hard way the the milk was off, i decided to give up on the milk

[caffel]

Listen to a book. Earphones in only one ear.

[Don C L]

I can spend hours just looking at the sea for some reason. It's kind of like staring into a campfire... I can ponder lots of things while watching waves roll by. And I guess there is the childlike idea that I might see something appear from the depths or from behind the next wave.
This probably belongs in the "Sailor's Confessional."
Back in the day I used to stay awake by disconnecting the windvane and steering by hand for a while. I could never steer as well as that thing though.

[MicHughV]

For me, sailing at night is always magic. Near land, one does not see the night sky, due to all the city lights, but at sea, the heavens explode with stars and one can't help but ponder the vastness of the universe..

[JPA Cate]

^^^^^Yes, you can see a lot by starlight. I hate to use my headlamp because it takes so long to restore my night vision.

Factoid to support night vision: the Maoris used, when they were going on raids, fern leaves turned upside down to mark where to go, stealthily, in the dark.

You know, we have some more experienced than we friends, who have never used a schedule at all. I don't understand what in their bodies allows it, but their approach is stay on watch till you get sleepy, then wake the off watch.

Don't think 6 on 6 off is undoable. It will take a full 3 days to acclimate to, but after that, it will just see you through with enough to still make progress during the gales, under shortened sail, of course, and when they are gone, your supplemental nap fills in the gaps. You feel normal all the time. Other friends of ours have done it our way with good results. It works because you get enough deep sleep.

Ann

[Hoodsail]

with 3 of us off shore, nite watches from 1800 - 0600 were 3 on then off. Nite off watches were down below slping. Watch required hand steering (no autopilot), sail management, monitor AIS. Many nites no moon or overcast so only heard the seas, couldnt see them. Steered using helm compass/chartplotter and stars when visible. Star steering took some practice. In heavy, nitetime weather, full time job holding a heading, keeping eyeglasses sort of dry, monitoring AIS and searching foulie pockets for chocolate! Listened to music w/ headphones & sony walkman, removing phones about every 10-15 min while checking horizon also astern. Mandatory pfd + tether sunset to rise. Daytime watches more relaxed...whoever wanted to be at the helm did so. Others ate, fixed meals, slept. Had to handsteer 24/7 for 6 days so a bit tired after.

[jipcho]

Lots of great advice here by obviously experienced cruisers. Many cruisers don't really enjoy passages, but I have always loved them. The solitude and sounds of the wind and sea at night, the feeling of being so small and yet part of something so vast, is best experienced on watch alone at night during a long passage.
Begin with serious planning and preparation. On passage, I tried whenever possible to sail during the right season. I departed Cape Town for Salvador Brazil during the Southern Hemisphere winter, out of necessity, and had to endure a few days of rough weather until we reached the trade winds, but when I left Galapagos for the Marquesas (22 days), it was during the prime sailing season, so with dependable and fairly benign weather, I got a lot of reading done while on day watch. Proper prep (eg. bringing enough spares) and planning will eliminate many potential crises. I always reefed my mainsail after dinner. I usually set our night watches to begin after dinner, 3 or 4 hour shifts, always with a briefing during shift changes. During the day, I was more flexible. If one of us was tired, they were encouraged to take a nap. That keeps the crew members fresher and less likely to nod off during their night shift. Like others, I never watched videos or read with a headlamp during the night. I had my music player loaded with all my favorites, and I would put it on shuffle, quizzing myself to recognize the song and artist. The music would take me back to good memories (and some not so good ones). I had a stash of Nutella at the ready if I needed a lift. I would get up from my prone position on a cockpit bench (with blanket a camping mat underneath me) to scan the horizon and the skies every few minutes, as well as checking our position, rig, and weather conditions. I did many long solo voyages as well, and on those occasions I would set an alarm timer for 45 minute intervals, allowing myself to get some sleep. The advent of AIS receivers made these nighttime sleeps even less stressful. One thing I would recommend that hasn't been mentioned is making it a daily routine for regular communication, either on a HAM or SSB net, and downloading of weather faxes and grib files each day. Enjoy your first and subsequent passages!

[SV Coronado]

My wife and I have sailed halfway around the world, just the two of us. I'm writing this from St. Barths after a 9.5-day offshore passage from Norfolk, VA. We're very good at doing passages and prefer it to having crew onboard. We've devised a watch schedule that works best for our sleeping patterns. We've found four hours on watch at night to be our sweet spot. Some of our cruising friends do two-hour watches, and some do six. It just depends on what works for you.

As far as passing time, we're big fans of audiobooks and listen to a lot of them on passage. Our rule is that you're not allowed to use noise canceling or other earphones that block out the background noise. If I can't speak to you when your audio is on, it's too loud. I usually start my watch with an audiobook and end with some music for variety. We don't watch shows because they take too much attention away from our watch, and the screen brightness destroys our night vision.

[Barbara 1st]

It's been years since I last crossed an ocean. We (2 of us) did 3-4 hour shifts at night. No TV or videos. We had a rule, that you never venture outside the cockpit when your buddy is sleeping. This way your buddy (I) could sleep....
On my watch I often did exercises. On the ocean for 10 days or so, it's an issue to keep yourself in motion and shape. I always looked for shooting stars - a wonderful hobby.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Barbara 1st

I always looked for shooting stars - a wonderful hobby.

Yes, and I have an app on my phone called "Night Sky" that will identify every star and constellation for you too which is kind of fun for the kids... and me too! A laser pointer helps for that as long as you don't shine it at a plane of course.