Night Watch

[zeehag]

dove dark bits..LOL nothing else....and a goood fish on the line never hurt anything... just put boat into irons and boat the fish and is alll goood.....then on with auto and clean it.. dinner happens.....i dont need stuff to keep me awake when sailing. but i dont do the watch that occurs around the 0400 time, when i am naturally out like a light....

[Yofy]

When I was cook on a delivery that took us from La Rochelle France along the Atlantic coast to the Med and onwards down to the Red Sea, we made passages through several different climates.

During the cold and windy passages of the Biscay and the Atlantic, I was surprised to find the crew going through kilos of fresh fruit. Apples and pears were the favourite. I'd put out a bowl of fresh washed fruit every evening and whenever there was a watch change I'd find the crew tucking fruit in their pockets before they'd head out. Tea and cuppa soup were the favourite drinks.

In the calmer and warmer conditions of the Med, cuppa soup remained a favourite while biscuits, salty nuts and dried fruit became popular.

In the oppressive heat of the Red Sea cold drinks like iced tea and fruit juices were all anybody wanted. It was even too hot to eat.

Interesting that nobody reached for sweets at night. We had lots of chocolate and cookies on board but they were never popular at night. I've been on boats where pakages of cookies can disappear over one night. Not this time. And we went through several crew changes over a two month period.
Robyn

[sadia]

I love the chocolate covered caffiene beans.

[witchcraft]

Thermos of coffee, another thermos of hot water in case someone gets the urge for instant soup, fruit and various crackers, cheese available and a few bits of chocolate.
Fair winds

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by JanetGroene

What's your favorite pocket fuel when standing night watch? I like (1) a thermos of hot water so I can make coffee, tea, instant grits or whatever I feel like at the time. Ginger tea is good when I'm feeling queasy. (2) in cold weather, a hot, hardboiled egg in each pocket of my slicker. They're handwarmers and, after they cool, a meal. (3) bite size whole wheat cereal, perhaps with some nuts. It's sugar and salt free, nutritious and rich in fiber. We call it "brillo pads". I'm a morning person so I can be asleep by 8 p.m., up at midnight and good until first light.

Great Ideas Janet

I also like the “brillo pads” which I think is called shredded wheat

For hot drinks.... I stay away from coffee since I get too wired by the end of the watch so I like either Ovaltene or hot chocolate and lots of water.

At start of watch I need a cup of Earl Grey

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by Bash

Dinty Moore Beef Stew


the further offshore, the better it tastes.

+1!!! that is gooooood stuff on a cold night!

[sarahwrightnow]

Originally Posted by grendler

A good female companion. Conversation (I say about 2 sentences every 30mins ;-) ) keeps me up the whole night ;-)))

Yikes... how would anyone get any sleep!?

Sarah

[sarahwrightnow]

Originally Posted by JanetGroene

What's your favorite pocket fuel when standing night watch? I like (1) a thermos of hot water so I can make coffee, tea, instant grits or whatever I feel like at the time. Ginger tea is good when I'm feeling queasy. (2) in cold weather, a hot, hardboiled egg in each pocket of my slicker. They're handwarmers and, after they cool, a meal. (3) bite size whole wheat cereal, perhaps with some nuts. It's sugar and salt free, nutritious and rich in fiber. We call it "brillo pads". I'm a morning person so I can be asleep by 8 p.m., up at midnight and good until first light.

I've only taken night watch a few times--my cruising experience is limited (but not for long!). And with our crew of two, that means keeping quiet to facilitate rest.

A full thermos and loose leaf tea to keep me warm. We always have fresh baked bread on board, and usually fresh cookies. I like the idea of hard boiled eggs and sunflower seeds--time consuming and relatively healthy! LOL.

Our Autohelm for motoring or Monitor for sailing make night watch REEEEALLY easy, and though I sure like my GPS and radar, I always put my book or journal down when I finish each page to stand in the cockpit, looking over the dodger, out of the glow of electronic lights, to have my 360 degree look around with my own eyes... not just for the safety aspect, but for the pure thrill of being all alone in the night, far away from man made lights.

Sarah

[goboatingnow]

funny I dont get that hungry on night watches, usually cuppa soup if its chilly. the occasional piece of chocolate is nice too. A cold drink or two in the tropics.

I find that regular meals are best on board and I try to eat meals in daylight if at all possible, though in the tropics I always seem to run out of light at dinner time. In northern lats or course the key is not to eat too late.

I personally dont reccomend too many stimulants at night as they cause "crashs" that are worse then no stimulants at all. I have sailed with people though that eat throughout the night.

Dave

[zeehag]

my simrad was excellent without fault or failure during all my adventure just done-- i prefer the hydraulic simrad to any autohelm product i have seen to date... very very reliable and strong. works when under sail and doesnt use a lot of electricity, btw.....LOL
reading using a headlamp is good.
watching the sea and stars and listening to GOOD blues is damfine way to spend a night at sea......
i do not own any thermos products. i use real cooking even underway--after all, i am a permanent live aboard cruiser.

[Khagan1227]

Try not to eat on watch. I always eat too much. If I do, canned food like Chef Boy-r-dee ravioli or fruit.

If I get sleepy, I'll get up and do some exercises.

[Snore]

A mix of 5-hour energy drinks, instant Starbucks coffee chewed and Cliff Bars, washed down with Gatorade 2 will keep you going all night. Like someone else said avoid large, "carby" food. From experience heavily processed or sugary food will result in interesting hallucinations!

[zeehag]

my mazatlan trip was done with 12 hourish watches from ensenda -- when either of us got too tired for a short nap at helm we traded off... my simrad was awesome and there were no , none, nada other ships boats or wtfs out there.....

[hellosailor]

zeehag, was there hydraulic power on your boat, or a dedicated pump to power just the simrad? Hydraulics do some things very nicely, but the overhead of another "system" keeps them from being practical on most of our smaller boats.

[David M]

Starbuck's cold mocha coffee and Van Halen.