Solo sailers and sleep reality

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

That link above is to an earlier free edition of the book, that was published a few years ago.

The latest edition, came out in October 2014, (now on Amazon and available for kindle download). The 2014 edition contains new material, more recent material, according to the author.

Here is a clip/quote describing the new content in the 2014 edition. I think this new content sounds interesting to me.

The new edition has several new chapters and major additions, including:
 Extended interviews with Craig Horsfield (Mini 6.50), Joe Harris (Class 40) and Ryan Breymaier (IMOCA 60) about sailing their performance racers.
 A whole chapter on keels, keeping the boat upright and reducing leeway, including water ballast, canting keels, dagger boards and the DSS wing.
 A big section and lessons from Jessica Watson’s collision with a freighter, including the report from The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau.
 A long interview and photos from Ruben Gabriel on every singlehander’s dream; what it’s like to break a mast and repair it – half way to Hawaii.
 Dealing with hull punctures in real life (not the movie version).
 A long talk with 3-time circumnavigator Jeanne Socrates on living aboard.
 Discussions with singlehanders about their real life medical emergencies.
 Dan Alonso’s story of rescuing another singlehander in horrible weather.
 The good way and not-so-good way to hit a rock, from my own experience.

____________

I read the free first edition, I still recommend folks get the latest 2014 edition, which is also available as a instant download kindle version (which can be read on any tablet or laptop with the kindle free app). Yes, there is a small cost ($13) for the latest edition, but I think the total content makes it a very good value, loaded with practical advice on the subject.

I think anyone who intends to do any single handing, would benefit from reading it, including people who race or cruise or even couples who may be double handing.

As a sailor, I want to again say a "Big Thanks" to Andrew for giving away 25,000 free copies to the sailing community. I think THAT was admirable. I am one of many sailors who have learned from it. I don't mind spending $13 to get the latest edition (instantly) on my kindle.

Singlehanded Sailing: Thoughts, Tips, Techniques & Tactics: Andrew Evans: 9780071836531: Amazon.com: Books

Well I got the 2014 Edition from that link. I already had the earlier edition, 2011, and they are different.

[DeepFrz]

barnakiel posted: Out and out pro solo sailors can go for days on end with 20 minute naps that do not add up to more than 6 hours of sleep per day. In the racing world, it sure pays to have the body that lends itself to such a regime.

I read a few months ago of one Vendee Globe entrant recovering from injury that was spending 6 hrs a day in the gym getting into shape.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I've seen many threads where people recommend 20 minute sleeps or similar when on long solo passages and other recommendations, but what is the sleep reality for YOU when you are on long solo passages?

What is your desired routine and how long does it take you to get into the swing of it. Perhaps you are the type of person who falls asleep immediately normally, so 20 minute sleeps are easy for you. Or maybe you can't get into a routine of short sleeps until you are so tired?

What do you use to reliably wake yourself?
Where do you sleep? Cockpit, your berth or perhaps by the nav station?

Do you ever get to the point where you say "f.ck it" and take an extended sleep to get rid of exhaustion and if so, do you change the way you are sailing for the longer sleep?

THE LAW OF THE SEA SAYS ALL SHIPS ARE TOMAINTAIN A CINTINUOUS "WATCH" this is impossible if only person aboard is asleep-Obviously!!!!!!!!!!

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by hoppy

My thoughts exactly, but in boatys case maybe it's true. He goes down the sleep and crash goes his hydraulic steering


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NO -"Crash"is the noise of a large fishing trawler on autopilot haling its nets while the idiot is sleeping below--- next sound is 'gurgle gurgle 'as the dead idiot sinks............

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I've seen many threads where people recommend 20 minute sleeps or similar when on long solo passages and other recommendations, but what is the sleep reality for YOU when you are on long solo passages?

What is your desired routine and how long does it take you to get into the swing of it. Perhaps you are the type of person who falls asleep immediately normally, so 20 minute sleeps are easy for you. Or maybe you can't get into a routine of short sleeps until you are so tired?

1/2 HOUR OR 1/4 HOUR DEPENDING UPON CIRCUMSTANCES. I FALL INTO THE ROUTINE PRETTY EASILY. IT DOES GET OLD AFTER A FEW DAYS.

What do you use to reliably wake yourself?

MANUAL KITCHEN TIMERS, ONE ON THE CHOSEN INTERVAL, ONE ON 2X THE INTERVAL. ONLY DIDNT WORK ONCE. NIGHT FIVE I SLEPT THROUGH.

Where do you sleep? Cockpit, your berth or perhaps by the nav station?

SETTEE, ALL STANDING AT NIGHT. COCKPIT DAYTIME IF POSSIBLE.

Do you ever get to the point where you say "f.ck it" and take an extended sleep to get rid of exhaustion and if so, do you change the way you are sailing for the longer sleep?

I have, once. I didn't change the sail. Kinda didn't matter at that point.

As said above it all depends on where you are and what is going on.

When on soundings I use the timers during daylight as well, just so I don't get distracted and forget to look. Despite that I damn near hit a scalloper one fine day., he was just out of my eye sight when I set the timer and when the timer went off I was abrest of him. I then went from 1/2 hour to 1/4 hour watch. When on soundings you need to be careful. At night I would have seen his lights.

Smaller fishing boats don't use AIS. :


But no matter what I do, I'm pretty worthless for an hour or so about 3am. Sleep or no, my brain just wants to shut off then.

[UNCIVILIZED]

I tend to mostly stay awake @ night, unless things are REAL slow, or I'm coming into an area the next day where I need to be sharp & awake all day.
But when I'm in the nocturnal mode (SOP for me),, I'll get a fix on when, during the day is best to grab a long block of Z-time, & otherwise grab snatches of sleep here & there.
Including trying to put a bit extra in my "batteries" whenever possible, so that I've got some juice for when the unexpected or expected (FUBAR situation) arises -> Weather, Gear, Crew... whatever.

- Which, honestly, is much akin to how I operate if I'm the skipper or sailing master as well. Boat/ship size irrelavent.

A lot of my habits & patterns got learned early on as a teen via; Military School, Navy, Semi & Pro Yacht racing. And persist on land, often whether I want them to or not.
Which as a perk, does make it easy to play babysitter, & Uncle.

[geoleo]

This thread of idiots reminds me of the French big tri solo racer dude couple years ago who while asleep drove (his?) multi-million $ hi speed tri on the rocks coming home--he claimed the radar alarm was at fault because it failed to "go-Off" LOL

[brownoarsman]

Hoppy, my first solo overnight passage was from Fort Myers Beach to Key West. I reefed down in a nice bit of wind, put on my warm clothes, my life jacket, and my PLB and tied myself into my leeward cockpit bench. I started sleep at nine, sleeping in 20 minute shifts (recommended in the previously linked thread) using my iPhone timer. I'm fairly positive the timer was ringing for a while before I managed to wake up at times, judging by the weird dreams I had about defusing beeping bombs. I was waking up really groggy around 1 am, and started sleeping in 25/30 minute shifts instead hoping it would better match my sleep cycles.
At around two, I woke up and saw that my knot meter was displaying substantially lower numbers, on the order of 1.5 knots when I'd been sailing at 5 before. I had chosen this time to make a navigation decision for little shark river vs going all the way to key west. Since the boat was moving so slowly, despite the sails and telltales looking good, I decided to head for little shark.
I tacked the boat, and couldn't get her to move above a knot until I had tacked 180 degrees. "Stupid boat!" I thought! I had bought the boat for its five foot keel on 28 feet of loa, thinking I'd be a windward machine and couldn't believe I wasn't getting better tacks. Ridiculous! I decided to keep going for key west and i tacked back, again 180 degrees.
I don't have an anemometer, and back on the original tack I began to realize that the wind was still fairly strong on my face and the sea state hadn't died down at all. Well, heck, I should be able to go faster. I headed down a bit to try to get a faster angle, still nothing. Tacked back towards little shark, again at wide angle, and was still not moving very well.
I tacked back towards key west again and started moving briskly at 5 knots again. Well that's more like it! This boat have a very bad starboard tack so I'll just go to key west.
I continued my 20-odd minute naps until I saw a fishing boat in the distance, when I stayed up for about an hour watching it at 4-ish, and felt quite peppy by the end, but was still able to go back to sleep.
As the sun came up, my body lost interest in sleeping and I felt perfectly fine with no residual grogginess (not a coffee drinker so did not have any waking aids). I started journaling while maintaining frequent lookarounds, and at 10 am noticed the boat had slowed considerably again. I noticed right away the wind was still strong and the sails looked good. I instantly recalled stories about catching crab pots in this area. When I looked over my transom, I knew instantly what had happened the night before.
The previous thread on this topic (posted on this thread) talks about this graveyard shift phenomenon between 1 and 3 am for most people. This phenomenon is well documented. I had read the thread closely, but still didn't recognize that my thought process was impaired and I was making outlandish assumptions that had no basis in fact, rather than thinking things through. My mind just wasn't working. So, be prepared for that time period. It may make sense to just stay awake through it and catch it up on the book ends of the graveyard.


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[DeepFrz]

News Article » Artemis Offshore Academy
Interesting article on the subject.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Maybe people set out with good intentions to do the 20 minute thing, but by the end of their passage the reality was very different. I'm more interest in peoples post journey personal experiences rather than advice on how to do it.

For me it's the graveyard shift mentioned above. Don't matter much if it's the first night or fourth.

If you mean "next day" by "post journey" as someone else said, my body wakes up and then I'm fine, normal, or as close as I get!

[Seattle Slewp]

Just some food for thought on how noticeable you actually are to a large vessel.

I remember having the Conn onboard our 225' USCG cutter just exiting the straights of Juan de Fuca and making our turn heading south. On radar I had a contact at a constant bearing of 355 relative at a range of 8 miles. I had thought I had a visual of the contact as I I had the faint glow of nav lights that I shot through the alidade at the same relative bearing, however it wasn't the contact on radar, it was a sailboat 1000 yards off the port bow, lying ahull. By the time I disengaged the auto pilot and did a hard right rudder, I walked out on the bridge wing expecting carnage, but we narrowly missed. However, we were so close that I could see the man sleeping in his cockpit as he floated safely down our port side. This was by far the scariest moment in my nautical career and gave me a new appreciation of just how hard it is to properly identify small craft at night.


Enviado desde mi iPhone con Cruisers Sailing Forum

[JPA Cate]

Reaading through this reminds me of a woman we knew who required only 3 hrs. sleep per night.

This fact gave her a huge advantage over us other mortals. Intelligent, she had a number of university degrees; had she been French [she is an excellent sailor], Isabelle's reputation might have been in danger.

It iis said Alexander The Great required only 4 hrs. sleep per night.

Ann

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by weavis

lol.......

Yep...... because they dont agree with solo, they want a law banning it. Strange aint it.

yep...hate it when we prohibit unsafe actions. Strange aint it.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Reaading through this reminds me of a woman we knew who required only 3 hrs. sleep per night.

This fact gave her a huge advantage over us other mortals. Intelligent, she had a number of university degrees; had she been French [she is an excellent sailor], Isabelle's reputation might have been in danger.

It iis said Alexander The Great required only 4 hrs. sleep per night.

Ann

Its not how many hours sleep that count, its what you do with the time.

One great German Doctor, used to stay up every other night to be able to get through all the experimentation that he needed to.

Margaret Thatcher only needed 4 hours sleep. Her daughter wrote that on trips as her mothers personal secretary, it was not uncommon to awake and find her mother writing personal notes in response to the thousands of letters she received at 3 in the morning. It was said that she single handely cleared the backlog of work by the 4th year in office.

My cat only needs 3 hours sleep a night. And 20 during the day.

[El Pinguino]

I've only done one 'single handed' passage... 14 days... low traffic area... trades...
Must be the wombat blood in me veins.... spend the day just ticking over... amusing myself with a bit of this and that... listen to radio in cockpit in the evening..... crash at about 0100, up again about 0400... repeat
Woken once when a change in wind strength brought her harder onto the wind and the motion changed...spent one night up when an island got in the way.
Same at Casa Pingo.... normally up at 0400... wet nosed dog helps there though.

Of course I stayed out of the 'shipping lanes', that helped...
Seriously though I was about 20 miles north of the usual E/W track... saw a few 'targets' on AIS passing about 20 miles to the south... saw one ship hull down..