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View Poll Results: Which Schedule Is Safer (see post before voting)?
micro-sleeping (e.g. 20 minute naps) 17 73.91%
normal sleeping (e.g. 7-8 hours) 6 26.09%
Voters: 23. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 23-07-2017, 19:54   #1
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Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

So, I've been rereading some information about singlehanding, esp. about sleeping while singlehanding, and thinking about whether "micro-sleeping" or normal sleeping is better. Micro-sleeping makes for better watches for a part of the day, while normal sleeping makes for a more competent sailor for the rest of the day, esp. over the long term. Assuming the singlehander uses the collision avoidance equipment listed below while sleeping, which sleep schedule do you think is safer?

radar with zone alarm
AIS receiver with zone alarm
AIS transponder
proper navigation lights
VHF turned on
steel hull (i.e. giant radar reflector)

P.S. I'm talking about offshore sailing here; obviously one should never be asleep near the coast.
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Old 23-07-2017, 20:03   #2
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

It depends whether you are 10 miles off shore or much farther.
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Old 23-07-2017, 20:04   #3
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lost Horizons View Post
It depends whether you are 10 miles off shore or much farther.
I'll edit the OP, talking about offshore sailing here, say 100+ miles.
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Old 23-07-2017, 20:58   #4
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

LH makes a good point. I run a little closer to the shore than you do. That far out you might go above and beyond regular lighting minimums and flip on the deck lights. Probably won't bother anyone but the fish.

That far out you might also send out a quick securite on VHF on the 20 min intervals. Over the horizon so this also won't bother anyone. Anyone who hears you will want to hear you--obviously not a good plan for nearshore.

I wouldn't call it sleep but I like to run dedicated dual 20 minute recall alarms with a pair of kitchen timers. On the 20s I would check thru the systems you listed plus 360 visual plus engine panel. This is in addition to other checks but the 20 minutes is purposeful.

Given the constant checking you might set yourself to be comfortable right there at the helm. A bean bag makes a surprisingly good, portable lee berth.

This may not fit your plans but I also limit the overall duration to what I can do. I can do 36 hours continuous ops including the 20 minute checks followed by a day or two of downtime at anchor.

So for me that is out the inlet in the early a.m., run all day, run all night, run most of the next day and in before dark.

Keep your meals, err snacks, light on carbs, no prep, small and frequent.

I keep a few Red Bull's handy for an emergency but haven't had to use them.

Own or rent a sat phone.
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Old 23-07-2017, 22:40   #5
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

What is a bodies max sleep pattern, I hear of people single handed for long trips. What is comfortably sustainable for a human. 20min on and off as needed 24/7 I'm sure I'd be a wreck in a few days.
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Old 23-07-2017, 23:06   #6
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

At night i set a 20 min timer on the Iphone or Ipad.

crossing the Mallaca straight from Indo to Malaysia = no sleep


I get used to it after a few days.

there was a recent article/ interview with Alex Thompson and he said the most sleep he at one time over the whole race was 25 min........
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Old 23-07-2017, 23:17   #7
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

The best thing that happened to me when I sailed singlehanded across the Tasman on my 26 footer was my alarm clock busted. I had 1 cheap oven timer and figured I better save it for arrival at the aussie coast.

It was midwinter so long dark nights. I settled into a rythem of having a nap in the afternoon for an hour or so, sleeping from 9pm until about 12pm then having a look around, then sleeping until morning. I got lots of sleep. Many times I woke naturally to find a wind had just changed. Once I awoke at an odd time to see a ship 5 miles away, not on a collision course. This gave me some faith that as long as I was well rested my senses were still on alert.

I figured I was safer to risk a collision vs fatigue. And I was well clear of shipping routes.

Near the coast on the last night I did the 20 minute nap thing. Very exhausting.

A great read is a book called "Chasing liquid mountains" by David Adams. He goes into a fair bit of detail about his learning curve for singlehanded racing. Another good read is "Singlehanded sailing" by Andrew Evans.
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Old 24-07-2017, 00:54   #8
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

Human body and mind are an amazing thing. A couple of days and your well adjusted to 20 minutes.

If there's no ships or shipping label near I go up to about 40 minutes.

Lots of tricks to it all which I have written about often here.
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Old 24-07-2017, 01:15   #9
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

Once well offshore I go for getting up for a look once an hour. With one of these..



I find with nothing going on you don't completely wake up if nothing's happening, then essential to write down time you checked otherwise you will have no idea the last time you were up.
If something needs sorting then coffee, wake up properly and do what needs to be done.

Steel boat means you can have a look at the ais tracks of ships changing course to give you more sea room before they even appear over your horizon.

I suspect running lights will just almost never be seen, radar and/or AIS if you want to be seen.
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Old 24-07-2017, 01:27   #10
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

On my last(and i mean my last!!) single handed voyage(36 ft Hatteras Game boat) Aust-Philippines I would scan the horizon with the radar(24 miles) then set the alarm @ 3 miles then sleep for an hour at a time, initially using a clock alarm, but later the body would adapt and wake with in a few minutes of the hour mark, occasionally if i over slept for 15 minutes it felt like i slept all night and wake in a panic!!,

These were the days pre AIS, In the whole trip only had one radar alert (fishing vessel) as you say leaving the coast stayed awake for the first 24 hours

Cheers Steve
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Old 24-07-2017, 02:33   #11
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

20 minute naps for 2 - 3 days then hove to for a good sleep to catch up. Then do it again.
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Old 24-07-2017, 07:18   #12
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

Quote:
Originally Posted by conachair View Post
Once well offshore I go for getting up for a look once an hour. With one of these..





Great photo. It's real important so I recommend two of those timers in parallel. I like them separate from the smart phone which has a different task at that time. Once your interval is set you just tap them to restart another interval.


Quote:
Originally Posted by conachair View Post



I find with nothing going on you don't completely wake up if nothing's happening, then essential to write down time you checked otherwise you will have no idea the last time you were up.

If something needs sorting then coffee, wake up properly and do what needs to be done.

Indeed. You sort of get in this zone where you do your checks precisely, almost subconsciously, and back onto the beanbag.

I also set separate time of day hazard alarm clock alarms based on route planning and ETAs. Smart phone makes it easy to set several alarms.
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Old 24-07-2017, 07:32   #13
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

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Originally Posted by SecondBase View Post

Indeed. You sort of get in this zone where you do your checks precisely, almost subconsciously, and back onto the beanbag.

I also set separate time of day hazard alarm clock alarms based on route planning and ETAs. Smart phone makes it easy to set several alarms.
I've yet to test it in anger way offshore but the Opencpn watchdog plugin has some excellent features, set an off course alarm, high windspeed or landfall etc. Last time I was way offshore the downside of a ais alarm was you were awake for a while waiting for the target to dissappear off the other side mof the alarm 5 mile zone, certainly not the end of the world but having some more control would be nice.

I run openplotter on a Raspberry Pi, what would also be so nice as well would be to have it set up to automatically recieve weatherfax, though getting the latest weatherfax was always an exciting part of the day
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Old 24-07-2017, 07:35   #14
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

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Originally Posted by jmackay View Post
20 minute naps for 2 - 3 days then hove to for a good sleep to catch up. Then do it again.
Not so sure about heaving to, why bother - if some badly run ship is going to hit you it will not make much difference if you're moving or not, just seems heaving to means spending more time out there than you need to..
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Old 24-07-2017, 07:44   #15
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Re: Singlehanded Sleep Schedule

There is a very good write up in this book. I recommend you read it if you haven't already. Its a free download.

http://sfbaysss.net/resource/doc/Sin...irdEdition.pdf
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