Offshore Nighttime Watch Guidelines

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by NevisDog

So, if I may, what's this melatonin stuff Anne, and how is it used?

Hoping Anne wont mind if I jump in here. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the body itself. It regulates sleep patterns. But it's now able to be made synthetically and popped in a pill. It's main use is as a sleep inducement medicine. It works extremely well for children that have trouble getting to sleep and for dog tired sailors in a pounding vessel. I think technically it's regarded as a supplement. Brilliant to have in the ship's first aid kit.

[Kalinka1]

Hi All. we are usually a crew of two. Day watches are usually hit and miss. We are always harnessed onto a Jackline or fixed point in the cockpit. Generally I can get up earlier than stay up later. I can not sleep well during the day. Fortunately my wife can sleep anytime of the day! So we set an informal formal watch at night. we're both usually awake between 1600 to 2000 when we have a hot meal do a boat check. We have a hammock that is always full of snacks and sweets and if you want a hot drink no problem using the cooker. If it's lumpy I'll hang a sea swing stove on a wash board in the companionway. I will stay up until 10 or midnight or later if not tired. My wife will come on watch and stay up to daylight usually when I'm getting up anyway. We always put one reef in before dark. Have learned the hard way that if you need one (usually do in the North Atlantic) You'll have to do it between 0300 and 0 dark thirty. The saving grace for us is the wind vane. So no or very little hand steering which can quickly knock the stuffing out of you. The main thing I guess is to get as much rest as you can because if your beat that's when accidents happen and little thing can quickly develop into major problems. An of course stay with the boat! If you go over whoever is left on board is looking essentially for a foot ball!
One other thing. weather gear">Foul weather gear should be the brightest most obnoxious florescent colour you can find!

[roland stockham]

Recent tech has brought in hand held AIS radios. On night watches with crew I make sure the crew carries one. In the event of a MOB the crew in the water can see the boat much better than you can see them so they can direct you in. Also you can poll the radio for it's GPS position so you can quickly find the MOB. They are a reasonable cost and a great safety asset if you do many night passages and a good radio for normal use. You need one on board and one for each deck crew so max 3.

[Suijin]

With 5 I would go with 3 hour watches for four and leave the skipper out of the rotation. He/She is going to be busy anyway and probably popping on deck at some point during all the watches.

I'm not in the "bring the next watch person a hot drink" camp. I'm in the "next person up brings the coming off watch person a hot drink" lol. I like to be up before my watch and ready, I think it's common courtesy, and the person coming off watch is usually tired to some degree and will appreciate the gesture.

Make sure there are "mid rats" available for night watch standers in the form of energy bars, snacks, whatever. I put them in a basket in the galley. Sandwiches are even better, more like real food.

I don't see much point in overlapping watches unless you have the people or the weather is difficult. 90% of the time everything that needs to be passed on between watches can be said in 30 seconds.

Person coming off watch updates the log with position, weather, any engine hours, etc.

As for reefing, it depends on the weather. If you're passing through a stubborn but relatively mild stationary front with unpredictable squalls, I think it's easier to just go ahead and reef down, particularly if you're not running radar full time. Sucks to run it every 30 minutes for a few sweeps but get jumped in between. I've been jumped more than a few times by squalls completely out of nowhere, and in general I would rather take an extra six hours or even a day to get somewhere than risk a broken vang or worse. My philosophy on passage is "don't stress the rig unless absolutely necessary" out of simple precaution. If you have a single watch stander and you need to work at the mast to reef, that automatically means they have to wake the next watch person for assistance. By the time you're ready to reef it's probably too late.

No one leaves the cockpit unless there are two on deck. Wear a harness and clip in if it's not dead flat or the boat is moving. People complain about it but once you get used to it, it's second nature. And, it gives you good habits and and you learn how to work the deck when clipped in for when you *really* need it.

Everyone should have a headlamp with a red light, and make sure they have one where you can turn it on and off without cycling through the white light. Quite a few out there don't do that. In a pinch, red electrical tape over a white headlamp works surprisingly well.

[Arlee2.0]

Not much to add here but will reiterate the importance of physically walking the crew through whatever safety checks you want done at the start of each shift. For my HI>WA trip (first blue water), the capt said something along the lines of "just check that everything looks good". Well, as a relative greenie, I didn't realize that meant to inspect all the rigging. It was a very fortunate accident that I randomly wandered around the deck (PFD, personal MOB, tethered to jackline) one morning after a good blow... and just happened to find myself at the mast looking at the reef lines... and just happened to have noticed that the pin of one of the bat cars had sheared off and chafed ¾ through the reef line. Had I shaken the reef out without noticing this, well, it wouldn't have been ideal and made an interesting sail that much more so. I think we lost 2 or 3 more bat cars and blew out 2 sails over the next few days and not having the ability to reef securely would have been just this side of disastrous. So please don't take it for granted that your crew knows what to look for on your boat - SHOW THEM! ;-)

[hellosailor]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_system
Some alternatives with simple graphics to make them more easily comparable.

When you choose a system, it helps if all crew are there to talk about it. There are some objective reasons for shift times. Often ignored, it is a simple fact that most (not all, just most) humans need a six-hour "great sleep" once every 24 hours, or they will build sleep deprivation and fatigue. So if you can stagger watches or arrange a six-hour offwatch, that rests the crew. (Except when you're offtime is daytime and the engine is running or other issues arise, yeah.)
On the other extreme, in heavy weather or requiring intense concentration, you may want people rotating off in 30-60 minutes. You may want to allow an alternate schedule if that's a potential problem.
But with five people you should have no trouble finding something that works for everyone. Some folks prefer to rotate around the clock, others are happier with regular hours--whether that's daylight or midnight.

[roland stockham]

Night shifts can get tedious if they is nothing happening. You cant reed, watch videos or splice that rope end without destroying you night vision. I listen to audio books, fun and keeps me alert.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Night shifts can get tedious if they is nothing happening. You cant reed, watch videos or splice that rope end without destroying you night vision. I listen to audio books, fun and keeps me alert.

Good idea, but don't crank up the volume. Often times your first clue that there's a problem is when you a strange flapping, humming, scraping, or squeaking noise.

And then there was the time I was driving myself crazy trying to find the source of a new squeak down below. Turned out to be a couple of whales having a conversation while chasing the boat.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by Marqus

I'm keen to hear what works when sailing multi-day passages two-handed.

After sailing two-handed on an 8 day passage, I can report the scheme we used between sunset and sunrise, being 3 hours on, 3 hours off, gradually wore me down and left me really flat at the end.

There must be a better way. Or is it an individual matter - some people adapting more readily from 7-hour blocks of sleep at home to short sessions at sea?

Sounds like the OP plan is good w.r.t. the safety equipment, but if really worried about MOB, how about getting a couple of personal locator beacons for the on-watch crew to wear?

Three hours off is far too short to get any effective sleep. And if someone can't stay awake for four or five hours then you don't want them on the crew. For doublehanding, my wife can't do any watches in the total darkness, so I'm singlehanding all night. To stay awake on watch I set an alarm on my phone to repeat every 15 minutes. Toward early morning I'm able to catnap in these 15 minute intervals after taking a look for traffic. Then I sleep much of the day and my wife is on watch, I'm on call. We did up to 4 days this way and I felt OK.

With a full crew of 5, life is easy. One guy in the cockpit, another on call maybe napping in the salon, everyone else sacked out, and yes you could arrange for each crew to have 3 hour watch on deck, then 3 hours on call, then 6 hours sleep. Did that for 24 days once, rotating a bit now and then. No need to reef at night provided all hands are trained to perform each function of the reefing in the dark.

[El Pinguino]

5 in the crew?

Such luxury..... offshore we are usually just 2 or sometimes 3.

If there were 5 of us I would simply double up two of the watches..... which two would depend on the experience of the people concerned. The idea of the skipper not keeping a watch does not appeal. Overnight I always keep the 12 to 4 ... turning in at about 1900 and rising at 0600 means I am never away from the deck for an extended period.

8 to 12 are in charge of the evening meal before they go on watch..... 4 to 8 looks after breakfast.

If a mucky landfall is in prospect I juggle the watches so I am on watch at landfall ..

From 0800 to 1800 ish no strict hours are kept.... someone wants to go for a kip... someone else covers for them...

With 2 on watch 4 hours is not a hardship... not really a hardship with only one on watch.... if we encounter heavy weather we may shorten the watches.... if we encounter cold heavy weather we do shorten the watches.

Thats it.....

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Mikado

Paul, excellent advice about being flexible on any initial watch plan. It makes sense that the plan will probably change as the cruise progresses.

I should have mentioned that our current trip route starts from central Atlantic Florida to Key West, Dry Tortugas, Havana, Isla Mujeres, Roatan, San Blas, Panama Canal, Ecuador, Galapagos, Hawaii, San Francisco.

Don't make any rules except skipper has final say.

Our '2 week trip' with 4 crew and 2 auto pilots ended up a 21 day trip with half the time in heavy weather using 3 hours on 3 hours off for two crew.
One crew was basically a passenger in heavy weather and another's knees would not hold up to the violent motion when braced at the wheel.

Another thing, when pitch black and stearing by compass some cannot last long before their eyes pack it in. Everyone is different but those employed staring at little black squiggles on a white background are more likely to be able to stare at the compass for longer periods of time.

[JPA Cate]

MLOI wrote that the talk about men drowning when peeing overboard is "merely anecdotal". It is more than merely anecdotal, but I personally don't think it is very risky, as long as you are not terribly tired, or have been drinking alcohol. Here is a link to an article relative to that issue: https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreatio...factsheet.html

When i first started sailing, in the dark ages, as it were, there were articles I read in the SF Chronicle, of fishermen, who were lost that way. Found dead with their flies open.

In Minnesota, a large State in the US, about half their male drownings involved alcohol.

So, what I would take from this is that there is more risk for men peeing overboard, when inebriated, or fatigued, as both reduce coordination.

If the OP wants to have a no pee overboard rule: hey, it's his boat. He sets the rules he feels necessary. You don't have to like it, but if you're his crew, you should follow the rule, even if you disagree with it. The skipper thinks it's for your and his benefit. By maritime law, he or she has the responsibility for your well being.

Any of you out there who have never crewed on someone else's boat: After using it, leave the head cleaner than you found it, if possible. This is true for the whole boat, but can matter a lot for the people using the head.

Ann

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

peeing overboard . . . . is more than merely anecdotal . . . . Here is a link to an article relative to that issue: https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreatio...factsheet.html

ANN, am I blind? I dont see fly's open or peeing mentioned anywhere in your link?

I am pretty familiar with the USCG accident statistics (less so with the CDC, but it looks like they get the boating portion of their data from the USCG). I do not remember ever in the 25 years I have been reading their reports having peeing/flys open mentioned as even a minor contributor to MOB.

Alcohol yes. It has always been a line item on the reports. There has been an internal USCG debate about how much to stress that. The prior commander downplayed it a bit based on one reading of the data while the current one has up-played it based on another way to look at it. But everyone agreed it was certainly a contributor.

I personally would have classed 'peeing/fly open significant cause of downing' as even less than 'anecdotal', more like a myth. But am certainly happy to learn differently if there is some data that says otherwise.

[bumpman]

Just another rec for a Swedish watch schedule. It really makes sense for all involved. Crew rotate through the schedule so it's fair and easy. It's what we used especially for month-long oceanographic research cruises.

[Maka]

They say we need to be asleep at least 6 hrs, to get to the critical REM sleep.
We try not to let anyone go more than a few days w out it.

Watch schedules and times vary with circumstances. ie. length of passage and crew available.

Radar alarm is always on at night, in fog, or any limited visibility.

Everyone always has their PDF and harness w tether on when in the cockpit...even during the day. Everyone sleeps w their PDF and has it at hand 24/7 except when tied at the dock.

I agree, watches should be tailored to individuals and crews.

I never sail at night, or in limited visibility unless we have to.