Singlehanding - Sleeping - Good Idea ?

[tanksalot]

That IS a real good idea. It has the advantage of being very "different" visually. Essentially all other light sources at sea at night are steady.....stars.....running lights....masthead lights...the moon. A red or blue "police type" strobe would catch a lookout's attention for sure. You just have to hope that someone's looking.

[s/v Beth]

Fascinating- an excellent human example of the biological process of mimicry. We do not try to look like leaves or poisonous predators. We try to look like nuclear submarines.

[feelsgood]

Hey Guys if the other ship called you and said you were in the way you could always tell them if thay didnt move you would toredo them and see what their response would be. He ! He !

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by tanksalot

I'm 64. Are most people on this forum old fogies (fogey's)?

Some of us are certainly not "old fogeys" though I dream of the day to be mortgage and kids free. To be able to cruise the seven seas without a care in the world, paid for by a pension. Sadly we are still some way off and its getting further away

We fitted Easy AIS this time last year, only the receiver so far but brilliant little bit of kit. Separate VHF ariel on a 2 metre pole off the pushpit gives details of targets out to about 7 miles.

Shocked when I first turned it on as the alarms immediately sounded. Given I was 20 feet above the water on a concrete hard at the time did have me wondering what incoming target could possibly threatening me and my boat. Turned out to be the local ferry, everytime it crossed Portsmouth harbour it came within the default 1/2 mile alarm setting For the £190 / $300 its a nice bit of kit for dark cold channel crossings to France across a very busy waterway. Hooked up to the little Garmin 555s the screen isn't overwhelmed and still shows plenty of detail.

Will look to upgrade to a transponder version in a couple of years especially if the costs come down a bit.

Pete

[svbeausoleil]

Mark Overbury,
I have done a lot of single-handing during my three circumnavigations, I always had crew part of the time----as long as they were sexy when I was younger, as long as they were interesting as I ageeeed, aeegg, ggee, matured.
The thing is, I initially set an alarm clock to wake me every 15 minutes deep at sea, 10 minutes coastal, and do people really sleep in shipping lanes? How could they? The horror!
After 20 years I became quite good about cat napping. I didn't need the alarm clock any more and a totally unexpected surprise, I can now wake in a split second and be totally rational--- well, as rational as I ever was. There is no saying of what, what, what? Or staring at lights of an approaching ship in blind disbelief.
Do you think that isn't a survival skill! My worse fright ever, I am tell this for the first time ever, was falling asleep in the dead of night on a super freeway doing 70. I woke up when the tires hit the little bumps and was totally lucid, instantly, and got back in the correct lane and went and changed my shorts. **** I was scared! But the skills I learned sailing single handed saved me.
So anyway, try it, you might like it!

Mike Riley Author of endless books that I am tired of talking about!

[boatman61]

I've single -handed for 75% of my cruising life and tend to just get my head down at nite... usually midnight till the sunrise wakes me and then top up my kip with day time snooze's in the cockpit.
Comments about 'crewed yachts' being dangerous are accurate as I was T-Boned by a French boat 5 miles of Start Point as I neared the end of a 47 day solo crossing from St Martin FWI in Aug 2001 aboard my Beneteau 321 Mewa... it was 5.30pm, perfect visibility, smooth seas and light winds.... they were heading for Salcombe(Nth) and I was Eastbound for Poole. They were motor sailing at around 5-6kts while I was ghosting under main and poled out Genoa 1-1 1/2kts... I had seen them but assumed they would pass my stern... so went below to start preping tea... stuck my head up a few minutes later and they were a mile or so away and definitly passing astern so I returned to my cooking... next thing I knew there was a loud bang and I was thrown over the stove... I dashed topside to see four people emerging from below... no one was on watch and I can only assume course adjustments were being made from below with Auto-helm remote control.... to make matters worse the B#*turds took off(reversing for a long way so I could not see the name of the boat) with no offers to help, leaving me with a 19ft split on the hull deck joint and a 4ft vertical split in the hull just forward of the Stbd shrouds, bent pole and destroyed Genoa... ended up calling the Coastguard for a tow as I had lost power 1400 miles earlier during a bad storm with lightning... was towed into Salcombe.
The Coastguard had put out an all points for the other boat and they were caught sneaking into Salcombe. The Harbourmaster and Coastguard were fantastic and sorted out a lot of things for me... for which I was very grateful as after the long passage and the 'incident' I cracked up a bit... all I wanted was Death and Destruction of the boat and Skipper.
This was a occasion when 'Nude Sailing' was a handicap as the French claimed that I was asleep at the time... in fact I'd been maintaining my Carribean Hue on a beautiful day a watching an RN destroyer carrying out anti-aircraft excercises out of Plymouth all afternoon.
Their Insurance Co grabbed that and with me being uninsured I was in a pickle...
only got 50% of my damages paid eventually... thanks to advice from Panteanus, who I've used many times and would recommend to anyone needing boat cover...
I could have got nothing but for them.....
French arguments...
I was not keeping a good lookout
I did not give way to a boat from my Stbd (Joke...??)

I still get my head down as and when needed... obviously not while I'm in the middle of Shipping Lanes but I figure good rest is essentail to overall safety.... I sleep on the floor at the base of the companionway giving me quick access to deck in emergencies... also you'd be surprised how far off you can hear a ships screws down there...
Phil

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by boatman61

.. also you'd be surprised how far off you can hear a ships screws down there...
Phil

Now there is one in the plus columb for monohulls that I have never heard.

Do you have to sleep without a pillow?

Sorry, couldn't resist.


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...l-31187-3.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...l-16337-2.html

[Boracay]

Has anyone tried Modafinil (Provigil)?

I saw a program on TV that included this drug the other night. Looked like a single handers dream come true, except that the reporter had an allergic reaction.

[s/v Beth]

I find Phil's comment interesting. I wonder if you could listen underwater with a sensitive mike (probably in the bilge) and detect boats from a ways off? Have you tried to quantitate how far you can hear boats with just your ear?
What if you had a modified stethoscope that you put on before you went to sleep...I wonder what that range would be? This sounds like something I might try.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

I find Phil's comment interesting. I wonder if you could listen underwater with a sensitive mike (probably in the bilge) and detect boats from a ways off? Have you tried to quantitate how far you can hear boats with just your ear?
What if you had a modified stethoscope that you put on before you went to sleep...I wonder what that range would be? This sounds like something I might try.

Towed sonar array and loud speakers...

...black painted hull

...submersible boat

...torpedo tubes

Ok I am getting a bit carried away...

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by Boracay

Has anyone tried Modafinil (Provigil)?

I saw a program on TV that included this drug the other night. Looked like a single handers dream come true, except that the reporter had an allergic reaction.

The trouble with drugs for keeping you going, is that eventually you crash and sleep for a very long time. You are better of with a power nap policy

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Now there is one in the plus columb for monohulls that I have never heard.

Do you have to sleep without a pillow?

Sorry, couldn't resist.


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...l-31187-3.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...l-16337-2.html

Hahahahaha.... funnyly enough apart from using them to prop me up while I read a book or breakfast in bed, coffee etc I hate pillows and chuck em to one side when I get my head down... for some reason they give me a cricked neck by morning ....
Phil

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Hahahahaha.... funnyly enough apart from using them to prop me up while I read a book or breakfast in bed, coffee etc I hate pillows and chuck em to one side when I get my head down... for some reason they give me a cricked neck by morning ....
Phil

You are tougher than I am.

Especially your head.

[dpex]

Have you all caught up with young miss Jessica Watson? Sixteen years of age and currently just 300NM from Cape Horn. Her site is jessicawatson.com. I fondly recommend you follow her passage and read her blogs.

If all teenagers where like this young lady none of us would have to rue the day we failed to use contraception. :--))

Cheers
Dpex.

[John A]

Originally Posted by dpex

Have you all caught up with young miss Jessica Watson? Sixteen years of age and currently just 300NM from Cape Horn. Her site is jessicawatson.com. I fondly recommend you follow her passage and read her blogs.

There are at least two quite lengthy threads in this forum dealing with Jessica's explots.

Use the search for the threads or catch them as the scroll by.

welcome to this forum.

John