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conachair · 17-09-2018, 08:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

Fixed..

Ta, obviously a typo

conachair · 17-09-2018, 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Yes, very many ships keep a good lookout, but by going to sleep you are putting your life in their hands.

Absolutely not all!! If there's any reason to doubt your radar/ais alarms then sleep should be short and sweet.
Don't trust anybody! Even your own memory and a healthy double checking of any judgement calls is a jolly good thing

Good idea to assume that anyone and everyone out there, including yourself, is probably on the ball but might not be running at full throttle at that moment.

Quote:

I have encountered more than a few ships NOT keeping a good lookout, even in busy waters like the Channel and the North Sea. I guess far offshore the percentage of ships not keeping a sharp lookout goes up. I don't think it's daft at all, to think about how to reduce the risk of what happens, if you encounter one, and try to reduce the risks involved.

Hard to say offshore with so few of them, from (unreliable

) memory they are very professionally run. Come across some dodgy smaller coastal cargo boats sometimes closer to land, ocean seems to be only the big boys that appear over my horizon.
And no it's not daft to have a really good sit back and think about how to stack the cards just a little more in your favour if you can, should be a natural fairly constant thought process for any skipper, it's stopping at night way offshore to have a snooze when solo that is pretty daft IMHO

**boatman61** · 17-09-2018, 08:52

A few times.. both mid ocean, coastal and in the Med.
Usually as soon as they pick you up on their systems they will call on 16 to state they are NUC for engine repair.. or no reason at all.
Kinda like an experience I had on the edge of the shipping lanes S of Ushant in a bad SE gale that backed up the current to creat near standing waves.. heaving to was a waste of time as no wind in the troughs and then a screamer trying to knock you over as you crested.
Took all sail down.. dropped the boom to port and lsahed it.. lashed the rudder and went below.
Put out an All Ships call stating my position and requesting any nearby ship to respond.. one did and I explained how things stood and the odds were I would drift into the shipping lanes.. could he please contact Ushant Traffic as to my situation and declare me NUC..
If memory serves I was Nav Warning 95 in May 96.
Ships called as they passed and asked for position updates which would go on to Ushant/Finisterre and all was well.
40hrs later we were able to continue on to La Coruna..

conachair · 17-09-2018, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exile

Has anyone ever encountered a vessel showing NUC on the high seas?

Not at sea, sometimes they drift and go NUC just past Gib which seems a bit naughty. Very occasionally you see them NUC further out on marinetraffic.

Exile · 17-09-2018, 09:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

A few times.. both mid ocean, coastal and in the Med.
Usually as soon as they pick you up on their systems they will call on 16 to state they are NUC for engine repair.. or no reason at all.
Kinda like an experience I had on the edge of the shipping lanes S of Ushant in a bad SE gale that backed up the current to creat near standing waves.. heaving to was a waste of time as no wind in the troughs and then a screamer trying to knock you over as you crested.
Took all sail down.. dropped the boom to port and lsahed it.. lashed the rudder and went below.
Put out an All Ships call stating my position and requesting any nearby ship to respond.. one did and I explained how things stood and the odds were I would drift into the shipping lanes.. could he please contact Ushant Traffic as to my situation and declare me NUC..
If memory serves I was Nav Warning 95 in May 96.
Ships called as they passed and asked for position updates which would go on to Ushant/Finisterre and all was well.
40hrs later we were able to continue on to La Coruna..

Very interesting. You effectively signaled NUC via alerting other ships. I would imagine most offshore sailors leave their radios on all the time, so as Dock said any potential confusion can be addressed if you're using actual signals. And if it's busy enough to interrupt sleep with radio calls then it's probably not a good place to take a snooze anyway!

**boatman61** · 17-09-2018, 09:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exile

Very interesting. You effectively signaled NUC via alerting other ships. I would imagine most offshore sailors leave their radios on all the time, so as Dock said any potential confusion can be addressed if you're using actual signals. And if it's busy enough to interrupt sleep with radio calls then it's probably not a good place to take a snooze anyway!

Lying ahull in those seas was not very sleep condusive.. the noise is constant.. the radio calls were spaced every couple of hours for speed and drift.. updates for zones of safe passage.

Toaster · 17-09-2018, 10:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Ships coming to see what's wrong might be another argument against it. Although I would think they would radio first, and you would keep the radio on, I think, and wake up if you're called.

This happened to us - we were hove to at night 800 nm NE of Honolulu in bad seas and the crew went to sleep - much needed, we were three weeks into the crossing and it had been rough for many days. AIS and VHF were on.

We were woken by a large fishing boat shining a search light into our portlights from about 200 yards. They did not use AIS and did not hail us until we were on deck. They asked us if we were OK. They may have thought the boat was abandoned. In any case, it was a shock.

Partly as a result of this, we upgraded our ancient radar to a modern one with range alarm capability.

DeepFrz · 17-09-2018, 10:30

An interesting video with some tips for the solo sailor. This guy's vlogs are interesting and informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaYSeJHrJlo

Viking Sailor · 17-09-2018, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

Lying ahull in those seas was not very sleep condusive.. the noise is constant.. the radio calls were spaced every couple of hours for speed and drift.. updates for zones of safe passage.

Right Stuff!!!