What do single handlers do at night?

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

In my experience this is far from true. Follow this practice at your own peril.

Jim

Indeed. In my experience ships can be almost on top of you before you can hear them below. Best to keep a very good watch out for these and other vessels that may be operating under their own arbitrary "ocean preferences" rather than knowing what they're supposed to be doing.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

Indeed. In my experience ships can be almost on top of you before you can hear them below. Best to keep a very good watch out for these and other vessels that may be operating under their own arbitrary "ocean preferences" rather than knowing what they're supposed to be doing.

Agree about not hearing ships til way too late but having spent some time out there ships seem to be usually very professionally run. IMHO get a really good radar return is high up the list (and ais transmit) relying on lights is too little too late, in a steel boat I found invariable they would do course changes to give me more room before they even appeared over the horizon. And make sure you know they are there, Ais and radar with loud alarms near essential for offshore solo imho.

[swanpol]

[QUOTE=jSchooley;2992708]Sorry for the obvious straight line.

Just curious about the options usually selected by single handed sailors. Are you mainly u/w making way under power? Under sail? Reefed? On auto pilot? Adrift?

Or are you mostly on the hook, moored, or tied to a pier?

Thanks for responses. i'll be here all week
go for a bar¿¿¿

[swanpol]

go to a bar¿¿¿

[owly]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

In my experience this is far from true. Follow this practice at your own peril.

Jim

I think this depends a lot on the individual and the boat. Sounds carry for many miles in water, and if you are "tuned in" on normal sounds, it would be difficult to miss the beat of a freighter's prop...... if you are in the open sea without a lot of audio clutter. Submariners have used hydrophones to identify virtually everything at sea, and experts can detect the difference between one boat an another just by the sounds it makes. If your hull is cored, or wood, it isn't going to carry the sound nearly as well as a solid fiberglass or metal hull. In coastal waters, the "clutter" will prevent or interfere with casual detection.



In a Utube video posted just the other day by a circumnavigator, he described hearing the beat of the prop of a freighter long before it entered his guard zone....but then he was in open sea between the Azores and Canaries.



Personally I believe a hydrophone coupled to a computer programmed to detect repeated "abnormal" sounds, could probably be tuned to detect floating objects even. Even in the vast clutter of random sound at sea, there are going to be things that are outside the "pattern", that while they may not be apparent to the human ear. Computers do facial recognition, voice recognition, finger prints, and countless other things. Computers in aircraft allow jet fighters to fly at supersonic speeds at treetop level, driverless cars are going to be a reality sooner rather than later. Something as useful as marine collision avoidance based on a hydrophone would seem well within the realm of reality.



We have multiple senses, sight, sound, and smell, all should be brought into play, not to mention that sixth sense......... Hopefully the pilot of the Pinta will be there for us also, as he was for Joshua Slocum ;-)

[Jim Cate]

Sounds carry for many miles in water, and if you are "tuned in" on normal sounds, it would be difficult to miss the beat of a freighter's prop...

I must respectfully disagree here. I've done a fair number of deep sea miles and I've never detected a ship's prop noise at ranges of miles Depending upon this for watchkeeping is folly. Perhaps under some certain conditions of salinity and temperature gradients such sounds might be detectable by some one with very keen hearing in a boat that has little acoustical attenuation in the hull on a day with little sea noise... but such situations are not common in reality.

Adding hydrophones, amplifiers and computer aided recognition would change the game, but we were not talking about such fantasy... we were talking about a watchstander below decks detecting approaching vessels at great distance. Advising such practice isn't a good idea... someone might depend upon it!

Jim

[owly]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I must respectfully disagree here. I've done a fair number of deep sea miles and I've never detected a ship's prop noise at ranges of miles Depending upon this for watchkeeping is folly. Perhaps under some certain conditions of salinity and temperature gradients such sounds might be detectable by some one with very keen hearing in a boat that has little acoustical attenuation in the hull on a day with little sea noise... but such situations are not common in reality.

Adding hydrophones, amplifiers and computer aided recognition would change the game, but we were not talking about such fantasy... we were talking about a watchstander below decks detecting approaching vessels at great distance. Advising such practice isn't a good idea... someone might depend upon it!

Jim

Jim:
I don't advocate it as a first line of defense by any means, but it would be foolish NOT to develop an alertness to which sounds are natural, and which might indicate something of concern. People must rest, and neither AIS or Radar are 100%. As I said, one should use ALL available senses, and if the proverbial "pilot of the Pinta" shakes you awake while napping, heed the call and do a full watch check.
Personally I am hyper sensitive to sound while sleeping........... something that should be cultivated I believe, not in any way discounted.

H.W.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by owly

Jim:
I don't advocate it as a first line of defense by any means, but it would be foolish NOT to develop an alertness to which sounds are natural, and which might indicate something of concern. People must rest, and neither AIS or Radar are 100%. As I said, one should use ALL available senses, and if the proverbial "pilot of the Pinta" shakes you awake while napping, heed the call and do a full watch check.
Personally I am hyper sensitive to sound while sleeping........... something that should be cultivated I believe, not in any way discounted.

H.W.

Well, I quite agree that one should be sensitive to acoustic input while at sea, for there are many clues about conditions and equipment to be had.

But I continue to believe that detecting a distant ship by her prop noise is not a realistic expectation... ever.

Jim

[Discovery 15797]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

But I continue to believe that detecting a distant ship by her prop noise is not a realistic expectation... ever.

Jim

I would quite agree.

At sea (coastal, offshore) I have never been able to detect a ship by her prop noise....there are way too many other sounds going on.

Even at anchor near ports where ferries run close...the prop noise transferred by the hull is not detectible until the ferry is literally on top of you.

If you are single handing and are alerted to a ship by its prop reverberating through your hull...IMHO, bad things are about to happen.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Discovery 15797

.

If you are single handing and are alerted to a ship by its prop reverberating through your hull...IMHO, bad things are about to happen.

Crunch chomp chomp chomp.

[Simi 60]

Making yourself extremely visible is I believe the best method.
I have purchased an inexpensive yellow LED strobe light to fix up top.
Ferry's around here have them and I have seen them on many vessels in south east Asia and they stand out very well.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by FAST FRED

My ocean preference is for a single masthead bright WHITE light.

Colored lenses waste 90+% of the light.

To a ship at 15-30K the response to white will be the same , avoid hitting an anchored vessel or over running a stern.

At 6k or 7k we are for most ships a fixed not moving target that will be avoided.

When below under sail a ship can be heard while still over the horizon , so there is loads of time to go on deck and take a look.

I do a good bit of sailing across and around a busy shipping lane. I have yet to hear a ship while down below, let alone one over the horizon. I hear a lot of gurgling around the hull (my hull,) and the dull whine of the outboard of a powerboat going fairly close by. I regularly anchor within sight of ships going by too. Sometimes I can hear what sound like ship engines in the cool dense air hovering over a calm sea in the morning, but have yet to be able to definitively identify where it was coming from. I wonder in what kind of boat and hull you were able to hear that?

[Paul L]

I know using random colored and flashing lights is very popular in Indonesia and Asia, but it is just plain confusing for a normally properly lit vessel to start picking other lighting combos that they feel would have been far better choices than the internationally agreed to Colregs lighting.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I know using random colored and flashing lights is very popular in Indonesia and Asia, but it is just plain confusing for a normally properly lit vessel to start picking other lighting combos that they feel would have been far better choices than the internationally agreed to Colregs lighting.

If that was in response to me, it would be an as well as, not an instead of.

Like I said, ferries in Australia run them so I am thinking it cant be illegal to run extra lighting that makes you even MORE visible.

[Jim Krause]

Yes- be visible (to sight and radar). On a few chilly night crossings in the Great Lakes (under sail w nav lights), my procedure was essentially: Huddle under a blanket in the cockpit; check position and do a 360° scan over the horizon for ships or other dangers; if none is spotted, press the alarm for 20 minutes and snatch a few minutes of sleep; wake up and repeat the process.

It's surprising how fast freighters can approach. During clear conditions we can usually see them 25-30 min out.

And be sure to check out this book (or read the reviews): https://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Sh...ustomerReviews