Singlehanded full night sleep?

[sailing_gal]

I single hand a lot and am currently in the Med. No way would I go below and sleep in the Med- WAY too much traffic. I don't do more than 24 hours at a time and catnap for 20 minutes in the cockpit with all alarms on. 15 minutes if in a shipping lane. I think that if he hit something or was hit by something, his insurance would not cover him if they knew he was single-handing beyond a 24 hour limit.

[SteveSadler]

A common problem most successfully solved by 20 minute naps and a timer to remind you. 50 years ago shipping traffic was a small fraction of todays, so watching the horizon is very important. However, with AIS, and radar with alarms on, I would feel relatively safe so long as I was in the cockpit where I would wake up to any changes and listen to my intuition, which has alerted me before of something not right.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by DanielCZ

Hi Sailors,
I have a question, I did several times already heard of people, one of them being my instructor, who singlehanded with a full night of sleep. In case of my instructor, he had a customer who could not come, so the boat was paid, he had time and was sailing just for fun in the mediterranean sea, and at night he would just reef the sails, stop the boat and sleep, not being at anchor, not being close to land. Since then I hear a couple of similar stories, and I wonder, usually I hear single handed sailors have a routine of 20min sleep, wake up, check 20 min sleep. That is when they sail at night and depends on where they are.
Is anyone stoping the boat, reefing sails and sleeping? When on passage and not in hurry?

I'm glad this topic came up as I have been following the Vendee Globe solo, nonstop, non-assisted race around the world. They are obviously not on watch 24/7 and I noted most are not wearing life jackets when on video...but what the hell, they're pros...right.

My only experience solo on a long passage was in the Gulf of Mexico (Key West, Florida to Texas). To make matters more interesting I had a complete power failure on a new-to-me boat two days out. I passed a message to the USCG via a passing work-boat on my portable VHF of my lights out no emergency condition and continued...the rest of the story is for another time.

I slept in the cockpit with my arm around the port winch, wake up, check location on my handheld Garmin 45, pump the bilge, point the boat (Monitor windvane) to the darkest point on the horizon (lots of oil rigs out there) and go back to sleep. I began to hallucinate near the end of the voyage but still knew they were not real...go figure. I obviously was not getting enough sleep. Therefore, hove-to for a good nights sleep is preferred.

I don't know how those Vendee Globe sailors do it, now into their 67+ day; I salute them.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~

[sailing_gal]

Originally Posted by SteveSadler

A common problem most successfully solved by 20 minute naps and a timer to remind you. 50 years ago shipping traffic was a small fraction of todays, so watching the horizon is very important. However, with AIS, and radar with alarms on, I would feel relatively safe so long as I was in the cockpit where I would wake up to any changes and listen to my intuition, which has alerted me before of something not right.

The OP was talking about cruising in the Med. In my experience in the Med, I have seen any number of boats that do not have AIS and there are plenty of wooden smaller boats that don't show up well on radar either not to mention fishing nets.

[Cadence]

With AIS I'd bet getting a few winks would be easier, a good radar reflector is a must. I doubt anyone can get 8hrs. of undisturbed sleep.

[picklesandjesse]

If out in the open ocean with no shipping lanes I sleep with no alarm. But being singlehanded you become like a wild animal and are hyper aware of the dangers and sense any strange noises or changes in the sea or boats gear etc. Near a coast it becomes way more dangerous so more time resting in the cockpit and napping with an alarm set just in case.

[skipmac]

As others have pointed out, it depends.

I would consider sleeping far at sea when away from shipping lanes but would also leave radar and AIS on and probably sleep in the cockpit. Closer to land or in shipping lanes I don't think is such a good idea.

Bottom line it is like Russian roulette. The goal is to stack the odds as much in your favor as possible. To heave to and go below to sleep with no alarms in the English Channel would be insane. To do so in the middle of the ocean far from shipping lanes much less risk. Not zero but very low.

I cannot resist adding details one incident that happened to me. Years ago I was coming back from the Caribbean heading north to the Windward Passage from Port Antonio Jamaica. On watch in the middle of the night, totally overcast with no moon so dark as the pit. Saw something ahead, like a shadow but light instead of dark. Starting watching more closely and suddenly realized I was seeing sails on a boat dead ahead. No lights at all and no one on watch (which I was close enough to see as we passed). If I had not been paying attention and altered course on our AP we would have collided head on. At the time we were about 100 nm from the nearest land and far from any shipping lanes so would have been very easy to get slack on watch.

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by Benz

Your instructor seems to have hove-to to sleep. I've done this occasionally--if the weather's too awful to get close to land in the dark, or if the wind is dead and we're barely drifting anyway. Put out the brightest riding light you have, shine some extra lights on the white bits of the deck so you show up, and get some rest. If you're in an area of busy shipping, you might take your sleep in the cockpit--I do this quite often as well--but it's simply not as restful.
I know that many on this forum frown on this, and get excited in condemning it, but you don't see a lot of threads on the irresponsibility of the Golden Globe or Vendee, or any other of the big-name singlehanded races.
Good seamanship is far less a matter of inflexible rules than of the prudence and good sense that are born partly of experience and partly of being well-informed.

The VG is mainly in bits of the ocean that are not very busy. Right now the leaders are close to the coast of Brazil where there is a lot of traffic. In such areas you either do the 20 min drill or hope for the best. AIS and radar warning zones are a help but only a help.

[Dave Isom]

When my new crewman jumped ship in Darwin ( he was a bit nervous as he’d been on a boat which sank 500 miles off Durban) I sailed across the Southern Indian Ocean then the South Atlantic solo then across the Caribbean Sea and to Galapagos solo where I rescued a marooned maiden who became crew and Galley Slave.( GS) I got more rest solo than with crew and 3 hours on and off. I’d sleep either in the cockpit or on a saloon seat but not in a cabin as it was too comfortable. I’d get up as needed and check the horizon so slept fairly lightly overnight then make up for it during the day. I’d have an AIS transponder on of course but some fishing vessels don’t have them or switch them off so there is quite a risk. That’s the trade off as a solo sailor, your risk is much greater and don’t be surprised if you get run down. Having said that it’s rare to get run down in the open ocean outside of shipping lanes. If there’s lots of shipping around you must remain vigilant, no question. More solo sailors come to grief along coasts, oversleep and “hit the bricks”. It’s near shores that you must be alert.

[GILow]

All other considerations aside, I really don't see the advantage of being hove-to while you sleep.

Mathematically there is no significant change in probability of being hit whether you are moving or stationary. You are still presenting the same sized target to a passing ship.

Instead you are simply increasing the period of exposure to the risk of collision. Quite significantly, up to 30% higher if you were to fail to progress each night.

There may be some fractionally small chance of running into an obstacle like a container or something that you might have seen if awake, but I'd say that risk is trivial in comparison to the increased risk from prolonging the journey.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by GILow

All other considerations aside, I really don't see the advantage of being hove-to while you sleep.

Mathematically there is no significant change in probability of being hit whether you are moving or stationary. You are still presenting the same sized target to a passing ship.

Instead you are simply increasing the period of exposure to the risk of collision. Quite significantly, up to 30% higher if you were to fail to progress each night.

There may be some fractionally small chance of running into an obstacle like a container or something that you might have seen if awake, but I'd say that risk is trivial in comparison to the increased risk from prolonging the journey.

I've made this argument here before, Matt, and the general response has been derision!

But you are right...

Jim

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I've made this argument here before, Matt, and the general response has been derision!

But you are right...

Jim

Absolutely spot on Jim.. from personal experience hand steering across the Atlantic from dawn till to dark to see the compass.. and the current was in my favor most of the way..

[donradcliffe]

I was 500 miles off the east coast of OZ one night, and found an OSV on a collision course. It had proper lights, but didn't didn't respond to the VHF. If had been asleep for more than 20 minutes, I wouldn't be around to write this. YMMV, but I don't single hand and I insist on a watch 24/7.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I was 500 miles off the east coast of OZ one night, and found an OSV on a collision course. It had proper lights, but didn't didn't respond to the VHF. If had been asleep for more than 20 minutes, I wouldn't be around to write this. YMMV, but I don't single hand and I insist on a watch 24/7.

Don, wots an "OSV"?

Jim

[Franziska]

Hey, that's a really interesting calculation.
A bit like distance x in the rain, do you get more wet when walking slow or running :-)

Pretty sure you are right, at least out in the open.
Would not do 8hr naps though...

Originally Posted by GILow

All other considerations aside, I really don't see the advantage of being hove-to while you sleep.

Mathematically there is no significant change in probability of being hit whether you are moving or stationary. You are still presenting the same sized target to a passing ship.

Instead you are simply increasing the period of exposure to the risk of collision. Quite significantly, up to 30% higher if you were to fail to progress each night.

There may be some fractionally small chance of running into an obstacle like a container or something that you might have seen if awake, but I'd say that risk is trivial in comparison to the increased risk from prolonging the journey.