Do you keep a Constant Lookout?

[Old Snipe]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Somewhere around 0200 to 0400 you hit your low point in consciousness, reason why we used to plan attacks to occur during these hours, is that what your calling the 3 am effect?

I found this to be true for me anyways. I was a over the road owner operator for 7 years after I retired from the navy. On the east coast, I would run at night 90% of the time to make better time and avoid traffic.

Between 3:00 - 4:00 AM, I would be looking for a truck stop.

In the navy, the 2nd half of the mid watch 0000-0400, and the first 1/2 of the 0400-0800 watch was almost always the "quietest" as for as talk over the JV/MC talk circuits down in the engine rooms. Never heard a word from main control on many nights. Everyone was groggy and dragging anchor.

[clownfishsydney]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

It depends what country the fishing boats are in Grant.

In Australia, I presume it's in all our States and Territories, then fishing boats are commercial vessels and all commercial vessels do in fact have to transpond and receive AIS.

I doubt that this is the case as in NSW the only commercial vessels I see with AIS are the Sydney Harbour ferries. If it was true, then all the charter fishing boats would be visible (and there are dozens) as well as the dive charter boats.

I doubt that this is true even for Tasmania as I see very few vessels coming up on AIS web sites.

[JTSmith]

What's a good watch schedule for a crew of three?



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[a64pilot]

There are actually two low points in your Circadian rhythm if I remember correctly, the one after lunch or maybe early afternoon isn't as bad to me as the middle of the night one.
They may even be 12 hours apart, I don't remember, If your burning the candle at both ends like single handing has to be, these are the times you should nap, I think you get the best rest during these times, but its been a long time since I was taught about this.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by JTSmith

What's a good watch schedule for a crew of three?



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Opinions are well you know, but I like 2 on, 4 off. Anything more than 2 hours in the middle of the night is just too tough for me, and four off is enough to get some decent sleep, not as much as I want, but enough I can get by.
You can pull just about anything for a day, maybe two, but sustainment is the bugger


I think that may be the military guard duty cycle, I'm trying to remember, I keep going back to that Military stuff as of course that is what I know, but things like this are I think very applicable. Hundreds or thousands of years experience in determining how long someone can reasonably be trusted to stand guard my well be applicable for watches?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by JTSmith

What's a good watch schedule for a crew of three?

I like a modified Swedish whether for either 2 or 3 watch rotations.

1200 - 1800
1800 - 2300
2300 - 0300
0300 - 0600
0600 - 1200

[K_V_B]

I spend a week on a freighter this summer. The skipper told me that in his opinion the best thing a small yacht can do is install an AIS transponder. That pretty much guarantees that the big ships will see you.

Since may this year AIS is compulsory for fishing vessels over 15m in the EU. So it has only become more usefull in colision avoidance.

[s/v Beth]

With all this trouble with fishing vessels, we ought to just have the military sink all vessels without AIS, that will show em.
Wait, how many sailboats are without AIS????
Maybe I better go turn it on...

[Foolish]

In the navy, the 2nd half of the mid watch 0000-0400, and the first 1/2 of the 0400-0800 watch was almost always the "quietest" as for as talk over the JV/MC talk circuits down in the engine rooms. Never heard a word from main control on many nights. Everyone was groggy and dragging anchor.

That's what I refer to as "the 3:00 am effect".

Here is a quote from a book:

During the investigation, Jessica stated categorically that she was not feeling fatigued. I believe that the 3:00am effect is not necessarily related to fatigue. It is simply a basic circadian rhythm that tells our body and mind they are not needed. This probably goes back to evolutionary times when humans’ predators would most likely attack in the evening and early night time hours. At 3:00am our body and mind shuts off because we are least likely to be attacked by a saber toothed tiger.

What does this mean for the singlehanded sailor? The answer is that he must set up his boat and systems to compensate for his own stupidity.

The real answer is quite simple. Before darkness falls, the singlehander should set up everything on the boat –every sail, every line, every electronic system, so that it could be properly managed by a brainless, blind, clumsy oaf.

In the middle of the afternoon when sailing with the big spinnaker in 30 knots of wind, I consider myself to be an elite athlete. But when sailing offshore at 3:00am, I have been that brainless, blind, clumsy oaf many times. The only saving grace is that I know it’s coming and I set up the boat to compensate.

[accomplice]

Last Saturday night, while hove to about 240nm WNW of Bermuda I was awoken by the crew on watch. Using Radar my crew had tracked a vessel off our starboard beam, with constant bearing, now 6 miles away. It was not appearing on AIS - but that might have been because our AIS has exhibited reduced range lately. I observed the vessel on radar and visually for a few minutes. It exhibited white over red with a feint green visible next to the red. Uh oh.

I attempted unsuccessfully three times to hail the unknown vessel on the radio.

We had our tricolor on, but as the other boat neared 1.5 miles I put on the spreader lights to light up the deck and sails. The other boat continued heading straight for us.

I then took out the brightest flashlight I had and began flashing towards the oncoming vessel.

Immediately the other vessel appeared on AIS and hailed us and asked, "Why you flashing that light at me?". I explained that I wanted to make sure they saw us. The other vessel requested that I repeat slower as his English was not good. After repeating myself twice more, he asked if we needed assistance. "Negative," I relied. They passed less than 0.2nm off our bow. They remained visible on AIS and radar for several miles.


I don't know what would've happened had we not been keeping watch.

[Foolish]

They passed less than 0.2nm off our bow. I don't know what would've happened had we not been keeping watch

From a book:
During my years of sailing in the waters off Victoria, on Canada’s West Coast, I have crossed tracks with more than 100 ocean going ships. I have never, not even one time, seen any of these ships make the slightest change to their course because of my boat. Even in races with a dozen or more sailboats in their path, the ships just keep moving straight ahead while the boats scatter. Rather than relying on the irrelevant notion that the powered vessel must give way, the singlehander should simply reverse the rule and make it a law that the sailboat must give way. If the skipper understands that this is the new law of the sea, he will never even consider the other possibility.


So, rather than going through all of the efforts you made to hail the ship, then shine your light on them, then try to work out in his broken English what the situation was, you might have been better off to simply assume that he has the right of way, and you should have simply flipped your sails over and moved out of the way. As said above "this is the new law of the sea."

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

There are actually two low points in your Circadian rhythm if I remember correctly, the one after lunch or maybe early afternoon

It's called NAP time for us old geezers!!!

[atlantical]

I took 57 days to solo from Bermuda to Castle Bay Island of Barra Scotland. I don't do short sleeps, I took the full eight hours most of the time, I sleep much better on a boat than I do in a house, I have met people that claim they only sleep for thirty mins at a time, but I have honestly never witnessed anyone that sleeps like that. I think people say it, as single handing is very irresponsible, you cant keep a proper watch at all times, as the book tells us to do. Their is also the boredom, and the best way to stop being bored on a boat, is sleep.

I was in the merchant navy for many years, so I know how well a watch is kept on a ship, so I am quite happy to let ships avoid me when I am sleeping. I do though make sure my boat is visible with navigation lights and a radar reflector.

I have only ever had one close call while single handing, that was heading to Bermuda, I went head on with a sail boat that was coming from Bermuda going to the USA, I think it was another single hander, as their was no one on deck, no one answered the radio, and I had to alter to avoid it, had I been asleep at the same time, their is a slight possibility we would have collided.

nearest I came to a collision was on a boat I had, I left an RYA offshore yachtmaster at the helm, and went to bed, he didn't bother to turn on the nav light, (he didn't need them) we didn't have a radar reflector up, (my fault) he got so close to a freighter that it took the wind from our sales, at which point he shouted me and the other person up to deck, we sounded the fog horn and the ship turned, they must have thought we were complete idiots. I never got any explanation as to why we were so close to a ship, other than "oh we had right of way, power gives way to sail" very true but the other rule is, might is right.

[robert sailor]

Single handers and a proper watch can not be discussed at the same time.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Foolish

From a book:
During my years of sailing in the waters off Victoria, on Canada’s West Coast, I have crossed tracks with more than 100 ocean going ships. I have never, not even one time, seen any of these ships make the slightest change to their course because of my boat. Even in races with a dozen or more sailboats in their path, the ships just keep moving straight ahead while the boats scatter. Rather than relying on the irrelevant notion that the powered vessel must give way, the singlehander should simply reverse the rule and make it a law that the sailboat must give way. If the skipper understands that this is the new law of the sea, he will never even consider the other possibility.


So, rather than going through all of the efforts you made to hail the ship, then shine your light on them, then try to work out in his broken English what the situation was, you might have been better off to simply assume that he has the right of way, and you should have simply flipped your sails over and moved out of the way. As said above "this is the new law of the sea."

I can't really agree with any of this.

First of all, in 100's if not 1000's of encounters with ships (I sail in the world's busiest seaway, the English Channel), I find only 2% or 3% at most of ships not following the Colregs. The problem is when no one has AIS -- since ships have a much longer maneuvering horizon than we do, we are not even aware of what they do to avoid us, since it's done far beyond where we can really perceive their courses. They are using ARPA and will definitely avoid obstacles. Even if we're motoring and they're coming from starboard, such that they ought to be holding their course and speed, we will typically not make a move to avoid them within their own acceptable maneuvering horizon, so they maneuver themselves. The guy who wrote that book simply never knew what was going on. I assume that it was written before AIS.

Secondly, Accomplice did precisely the right thing -- doubting that he was seen, taking action to be seen. Exactly the right thing. I think he was justified in assuming that the fishing vessel's bridge was asleep at the switch, and that is dangerous. Since Accomplice was receiving no AIS, he would have trouble being sure how to calculate a maneuver which would get him out of danger, rather into it. It is really a good result that shining the lights got the F/V to turn on his AIS. After that, he could have gotten out of the way even if the F/V still had not maneuvered, because he could calculate a solution -- he would know which way to dodge. All kudos to Accomplice for having set up an effective watch and having efficiently resolved a dangerous situation.

Thirdly, the advice in the book to ignore (to "reverse", even) the Colregs is very poor advice, for very many reasons. There have been a lot of discussions about that on CF.

The phrase "right of way" does not belong in a maritime discussion. A lot on that in other threads.