Offshore Nighttime Watch Guidelines

[Sojourner]

Apart from all the good advice to mix and match in this thread, the personal AIS is not a bad investment especially for shorthanded crews. 200 bucks, clipped on at night=Huge peace of mind.

https://www.amazon.com/McMurdo-SMART...PYADEAP85QZ7QB

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Evans, it occurs to me that this statistic is likely derived from small fishing boats ("tinnies") rather than cruising yachts. ...

I've always taken the zipper down corpse fable as just that... a fable, at least with respect to larger vessels....

Jim

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I first heard the zipper down drowning fact/story/fable almost 30 years ago in a class for boating safety instructors. Gracious, but figuring out that the class was 30 years ago kinda hurts. Seems like yesterday. The classes were aimed at people in small fishing, sail, power or paddle boats and any data would likely have been from such boats.

Later,
Dan

[MamaKube]

For safety, we have a set debrief at each change: traffic, weather, and heading. Everyone wears a pfd, and I also recommend a lanyard tucked in with an extra whistle, flashlight, and mirror. No one leaves the cockpit unless absolutely necessary and then only when tethered.
I love the idea of hot coffee for the next crew. 👍

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by MLOI

BTW - I think that the risk of falling overboard while peeing over the side is overstated - it's anecdote rather than evidence based. I can hold onto two things at once...

Having watched someone go over the side offshore while peeing off the boat (and also ironically complaining at the very moment about the captain’s rule of no peeing over the side) I would disagree, but that’s just an anecdote.

Think about it; you’re standing on the gunwale, trying not to pee on yourself or the boat, probably holding on to a stay with one hand. If there ever was a circumstance tailor made for a potentially unexpected outcome it’s that. It’s stupid.

[MartinR]

On commercial vessels you have basically two watch schedules. 4 on 8 off or 6 on 6 off. This is so the crew can get enough sleep. You need minimum one period of 5 hours every day to stay fully alert. 10 hours total rest time per day are mandatory. Also the watches should be the same time every day, because it takes time for the body to adjust to time changes. Different watches every day is punishing in the longer run. Also, you want to have the optimal composition of the watches regarding experience. Crew on watch also does cooking and housekeeping duties (Preferably bakes fresh bread for breakfast)

I almost always use one of these schedules, depending on size of crew. And ALWAYS 2 person on watch if possible. This is probably the most important safety factor.

In your case I would go for 6-6 and the skipper off-watch, so he can be called whenever needed. A tired skipper is a big safety risk. For this reason the oil companies e.g. do not accept that captains go watches on tankers.

Nighttime everybody on watch wears a life jacket with harness and is tethered. Also everybody has a strong flashlight with strobe. Maybe a personal AIS beacon would be a good idea. Daytime I am quite relaxed about this in normal weather conditions.

I do not allow flexibility in my schedule or rules. Wise from thousands of miles skippering Sail Training Vessels. An honour system seldom works if you are more than 2. Once the discussion starts it is not easy to assert authority without upsetting people. Better lay down the rules in the beginning.

Normally no reefing for nighttime, unless weather is expected to worsen.