Sleeping in the foreberth

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

Guests on Bluestocking can take their pick, large stbd qtr berth, main cabin dbl, or main cabin stb pilot berth. Forepeak is mine . Mind you, I've sailed and slept on newer boat where the flattened fwd hull sections slap like crazy at anchor.

Best kept secret of our old CCA "clunkers" from the 60s is the way they feel while underway!

[unclemack]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I suppose the OP could have a specific movement that is particularly difficult but as a general rule just being a little older shouldn't be a reason a person can't turn around if they are otherwise capable of handling a small boat.

Ageing always brings gradual physical decline to everyone. You won't be immune.

Each individual is generally best-placed to understand his or her changing physical limits over time.

Most older people on the forum will feel some physical limitations and be very well aware that the time to stop sailing must come eventually.

Believing oneself qualified to advise one's elders and betters on when they should "consider swallowing the anchor" suggests possible delusional tendencies.

Might wanna get that checked out kid

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by SURV69

Maybe ... if you were almost 70 years old, or maybe if you've fractured you back twice, or maybe if you suffered sciatica...

Okay, so you've got some issues. I mean, DUH! Do you expect it to be as easy for you as for your average 70-year-old without all of those issues!?! Getting into ANY berth has got to be harder for you than it is for me, as I have never broken my back or suffered any serious joint issues (though I am almost as old as you).

Yet you started this thread by saying that you just cannot imagine how ANYBODY can get into a V-berth. Well, come on. Anybody who doesn't have your physical issues just sits down, swings their legs around, and is in. It's easy! You really can't imagine that?

If you had started this thread by pointing out that you have issues that make getting into a V-berth, feet first, a difficulty for you, the responses you've seen would have been completely different.

[George DuBose]

Underway on Skylark, no one is allowed to sleep with their head towards the bow. If the boat hit an immovable object at speed, the sleeper could wind up with a broken neck.

Otherwise, it is a maneuver to climb out of the v-berth, but it good excercize.

[scareygary]

Foreberth or not, when underway I ask all crew to sleep with feet towards the bow, (very few exceptions). At night, there is always a risk of collision with something unexpected out there, and I'd much rather deal with broken ankles than broken necks from being slammed headfirst into a bulkhead......

At anchor or moored, I don't enforce this at all. I know what you mean about the gymnastics involved in getting in the V berth, twisting around and such. Boat size, type and design has a lot to do with it! With company, it's a mix of gymnastics and dance...and maybe some wrestling....

[Joyful Noise]

Why would anyone even consider sleeping in the V-berth at sea. V-berths are anchorage only on any boat I have ever sailed on

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by unclemack

Ageing always brings gradual physical decline to everyone. You won't be immune. Sure, never suggested otherwise

Each individual is generally best-placed to understand his or her changing physical limits over time. Actually, the individual is often a poor judge of their abilities. Having recently gone thru this with my Dad, he didn't want to admit his limitations and this isn't an unusual situation. Most people don't like to admit they can't do the things they used to do. We eventually had to take away his car because he wasn't safe on the road. He thought he was fine. Of course, this is a bit of thread drift.

Most older people on the forum will feel some physical limitations and be very well aware that the time to stop sailing must come eventually. See above. In general terms 10-20yrs before they reach the point of needed to call it quits, I agree but actually acting on it when the time comes... It's tough for a person to admit they can't handle it anymore.

Believing oneself qualified to advise one's elders and betters on when they should "consider swallowing the anchor" suggests possible delusional tendencies. I suggest working on your reading comprehension. Taking your grandparents analogy. My Dad NEEDED two people to help him on and off the boat and he got planted in a chair so he wouldn't hurt himself. I then proceeded to say that I assume the OP wasn't that far along. If the OP really does need two people to help him on and off the boat, it's probably time to hang it up.

Might wanna get that checked out kid

While we all slow down with age, I hope I'm right in my assumption that the OP is simply exaggerating the issue. If the act of turning around in bed is a major challenge, it's hardly delusional to wonder if he has the physical ability to handle a small boat.

[desodave]

This is a thread that I never expected to see on a forum and I've enjoyed all but the snarky responses. I'm 6'6'' and do NOT sleep in the foreberth because of the restricted space - but we do have a decent aft cabin. I'd rather that my wife wake me up, crawling across me, if she has to get up than kick her to death trying to contort myself turning around in the foreberth to get out. Alone, I think I'd go for the face first plant into the foreberth - with or without the anticipated hangover. It's just so much easier for me to slide in and out than to turn around - there's not enough height for me to sit up in to start the turn.

[lesterbutch]

Man, I get clostrophobic just thinking about going into a v-berth head first! Give me the couch in the salon, then I can sleep head forward.

[Don C L]

Huh, well that's one I had not heard of... broken ankles or necks while sleeping during a collision. Maybe I have way out of the loop.

[quandary]

Phew, I'd second that. In rough water the noise in the forecabin can be deafening ...earplugs are essential but you risk not hearing something important going on.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by SURV69

rwidman:

I don't mean to sound nasty, but you seem to be making an inference that I don't appreciate. I am not making it more difficult than it is ... for me it "IS", difficult ... but more personally, it seems somewhat unnatural too.

Maybe ... if you were almost 70 years old, or maybe if you've fractured you back twice, or maybe if you suffered sciatica, you might understand the simplicity of putting your head in the V-berth, scrunching a few feet forward and sleeping, as opposed to sitting on the V-berth, bring you knees to your head and twisting in a 1'+ area(because of the bulkhead), then reversing that process to get out ... maybe then, it would not be a case of "making it harder", than it needs to be.

Well, I am 72 years old, soon to be 73 and I have fractured or seriously injured my back four times.

If you can't figure out a way to sleep feet forward, that's fine. There are no rules against doing it that way.

I just don't understand why you decided to post about it.

You did find out that you are in the minority.

[libanori]

There is another issue that is cultural, at least in my Country. We don't use to lay down with the head turned to the door, because that is the way to transport a dead body in a coffin. Alive and over the bed, we always keep the feet turned to the door or to the way out. Beds are aways in that particular position, feet to the door, in bedrooms.

[hsi88]

As someone already mentioned, many boat V-berths are a little higher towards the bow. Not by much, but enough to get my acid reflux mixing in my esophagus. My pillow also falls on the floor and yes, I don't really like my nose aimed at the head. So I often sleep pointed towards the bow. But no doubt, it gets skinny up there!

[Lizzy Belle]

Originally Posted by scareygary

when underway I ask all crew to sleep with feet towards the bow // I'd much rather deal with broken ankles than broken necks from being slammed headfirst into a bulkhead.

We're talking V-berth here, and feet to bow = head to bulkhead.

In the cabin, I sleep feet to bulkhead - so I'd slam my head into the section that divides the bunk / settee from the quarter berth (or galley if on the other side). Either way Ima get a headache.

(And no, the quarter berth isn't an option. I don't fit in there and I'd still bang my head against some end or other ... Oh, woe is me ).