Lookout - What Do You Do?

[Blue Crab]

I hated it but I quit reading on "watch" one clear bright pleasant afternoon when my reliable crew, Miss Autohelm, cleared her throat about 20' from the Key West sea buoy. My cedar stripped cockleshell wouldn't have won that argument.

Good morning, Zee.

[zeehag]

i only read on watch during daylight hours-and only books i can place down for a bit suddenly if needed--i troll for fishies...and watch the sea for life and changes--

good morning, blue..!!!

hope everyone is having a beautiful day!!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Doh.

As Noelex explained in actual terms!

b.

.....but thanks to you for reminding me of this. Once explained, I recall having this info lost in the dregs of my memories.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by daddle

There is no solution. Watch standing at night is almost useless. I slow the boat down and sleep. I figure sleeping is no worse than the typical cruiser "on watch" 24/7 head down in a book or iPad. I have passed several that never saw me wave.

You might want to read the finding.

FindACase™ | GRANHOLM v. THE VESSEL TFL EXPRESS

In the case at bar, Granholm's decision to go below during the nighttime was negligent.His own testimony reflects an awareness that this was so. I have previously quoted the relevant portion; Granholm said that "as a rule I made it a habit to take my resting periods during daytime and when the conditions were such that I could afford having some rest." The reasons are obvious. At night a sailboat, even displaying the proper lights, is not nearly as visible as she is in the daytime, when underway under sail. Granholm was sailing near a recognized transatlantic route for large vessels. He should have adhered to his own practice and rested only during the daytime. It may seem unfeeling to condemn single handed transatlantic sailors for sleeping at night. But they pursue this hazardous avocation voluntarily, and are not exempt from the requirements of prudent seamanship.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

......
The cones (or whatever it is) responsible for night vision (low light) are off center. Thus by looking to the side of the place where the light is, you will see it, but when you look right at it, you will not.

Takes a doctor to explain in proper vocab but air pilots and many seamen know to use it.

b.

In simple terms our eyes contain two type of photoreceptive cells.
1. Cones that are located only centrally. They provide by far our best vision during well lit conditions (indoors or out).
2. Rods that are located primarily peripherally. Although they do not provide us with very detailed vision, unlike cones they still respond at very low levels of light.

So at night, vision is best off to the side of the point we are actually looking at. It does take some practice to concentrate your attention several degrees off centre, but its well worth training yourself on how to do this.

On the subject of night vision, it actually deteriorates dramatically when we have been exposed to any bright light. It takes roughly 20 minutes before it is nearly at its peak again. So avoid turning on any lights unnecessarily at night. This is also another reason why reading while on watch at night is not a good idea.

If any light is required at night, a red source is best as it will provide enough light for the cones to kick in and for you to see, but as rods are not very sensitive to red light, your best night vision will not be temporarily lost.

[sck5]

"No way any small cruising boat is gonna have someone at
the helm eyeball scanning and using all available devices 24/7."

Not true. If my boat is underway, someone is on watch. No, they may not be actually scanning the horizon every minute of the watch but they are awake and in the cockpit paying attention to what is going on. I am not alone in doing this. In fact, I have rarely met anyone who made a long ocean passage who felt OK sailing along with everyone on the boat asleep. Or if they did they didnt admit it. I would not sail with anyone who didnt maintain a watch 24/7.

[sck5]

on radar

I have it but cant keep it on continuously without killing the batteries. It gets used more often to try to figure out how far away a ship is and to figure out if it is on collision course. Of course in fog it would stay on but eyeballs are virtually always the first line of defense

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by sck5

on radar

I have it but cant keep it on continuously without killing the batteries. It gets used more often to try to figure out how far away a ship is and to figure out if it is on collision course. Of course in fog it would stay on but eyeballs are virtually always the first line of defense

Technically, the rules require you to use the radar if you have it. I have one, an older model, and my situation is the same as yours. I find the AIS, in general, much more effective - even though not everything is on AIS, at least the big stuff all is.

[gjordan]

Confessional Here! in the 70s on my first long passage(Mexico to Marquesas) after the first 2 or 3 nights, I would sleep at night for a couple of hours at a time. Sometimes the nights were so beautiful that we would stand watch just for the joy of it, but often asleep for a time. A year later from the Tuamotus to Hawaii was a similar watch standing. Never saw another vessal when out of site of land. ( Maybe just didnt see them). Two years later going from New England to Bermuda, it scared the beejessus out of me with the amount of traffic. The trip from Bermuda down to the Islands was just as busy with comercial traffic. I always kept watch from that point on. I did lots of deliveries after that and always had someone on watch, with always a third or fourth hand on long deliveries. I must take some exception to the idea that it is safer to sleep during the day than it is at night! Once away from shore lights I believe that a white sail on a white boat is much less likly to be seen in the day time than a mast head light on what is usually a very black ocean at night. (Your opinions may vary) (Oh what a surprize?)____Grant.

[Auzzee]

I think the first thing to do is to fully understand the International Rules For The Avoidance of Collision At Sea. These rules are required knowledge for anyone who leaves the shore in any boat. Then, AIS, then a watchkeeping regimen which involves all crew, 24/7.

Watchkeeping needs to be active to all horizons..the full 360. Many years ago, I was on the helm crossing the Gulf Of Carpentaria. I realised watchkeeping needed to be 360, when a mid sized Indian registered freighter snuck up on me from behind. Given that half the crew were watching over the starboard bow rail, I guess they were playing let's-frighten-the-hell-outa-the-yottie game.

[captain58sailin]

While underway off the west coast of Africa, one can encounter many unlit fishing vessels and gear, they use intermittant LED lights to warn you off, this is a great improvement from times gone by when a flickering bic lighter was your only warning that there was something near, all wood canoes and gear do not show up on the radar with any kind of reliability. And using the corner of your eye can often catch something that you won't see head on, it never hurts to swing your head in small increments to detect small objects. I read somewhere that either a blue or green light works better for night vision than red light, perhaps someone can illuminate this subject or correct me and I'll go back to looking at red LEDs for my pilot house.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

......
I read somewhere that either a blue or green light works better for night vision than red light, perhaps someone can illuminate this subject or correct me and I'll go back to looking at red LEDs for my pilot house.

The cells primarily responsible for vision under very dark conditions (rods) are most sensitive to blue-green lights. They do not respond well to red. So in dark conditions using your peripheral vision a blue green light (or a white light) will be far more easily visible than a red one.

To preserve this vision, use a red light to see in the cockpit/cabin (the cones which are responsible for good central vision under brighter conditions will then be utilised). It takes 20-30 minutes for our eyes to recover their sensitivity after being exposed to even a few seconds of bright light light, but as rods don't respond much to red light, a red night light won't temporarily knock them out.

Interestingly hours of very bright exposure to sunlight will delay full recovery of night vision and the effect is cumulative. Days of exposure to bright sunlit conditions knock our night vision even further, so full time cruisers are particularly affected.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

..................Interestingly hours of very bright exposure to sunlight will delay full recovery of night vision and the effect is cumulative. Days of exposure to bright sunlit conditions knock our night vision even further, so full time cruisers are particularly affected.

So then we can consider the "pirates", wearing a patch over a perfectly good eye, as insightful and prepared.

[atoll]

i once went along as crew between cyprus and lebanon on a 50ft sweden yacht,where the owner considered sitting downstairs with a bottle of whisky watching the radar,adequete watch keeping!

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

So then we can consider the "pirates", wearing a patch over a perfectly good eye, as insightful and prepared.

Not entirely silly! I shut one eye at night to preserve night vision when I need to turn a light on. Only problem is that you lose depth perception then, so doesn't work if you need to do any tasks requiring this.