night watch

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Chotu

And a bit of nuance :

What's considered offshore?

Where is it appropriate to take a nap?

What’s considered offshore for me is out of shipping lanes and over 100 fathoms under the keel. Maybe add 30 miles off the coast.

That should get you away from most traffic, especially traffic without an AIS.

Not guaranteed but a good start.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

With a wind vane auto pilot and wind alarm set plus AIS and Radar guard zone you could probably have some sleep if the weather permits. Still risky to hit something at high speed, in contrast to heaving to.

Radar will not pick up a log, a container or whale.. and neither will you at night.
Done a lot of night sailing and the usual is you spot it as it goes past the cockpit.. that has included large marker buoys that have broken free, and we were looking out for them after a VHF alert by the Spanish CG being in the area and heading past Alicante.. No radar.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by RickG

Set radar and AIS alarm and heave to.

Cheers, RickG

Why heave too? You are no more of a target underway than you are stationary and you will be exposed to collision for far less time since you will get to your destination a lot sooner.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by StuM

Why heave too? You are no more of a target underway than you are stationary and you will be exposed to collision for far less time since you will get to your destination a lot sooner.

Because you are drifting at almost the same speed as a container, log, buoy or sleeping whale, and hitting them will not sink your boat.

Also you will sleep better and faster. Less motion and slapping, shorter and deep sleep necessary for recreation.

[Neptune's Gear]

You wont see those at night if your awake and fully crewed either. I sleep when I need/want 2, same as Boatman. Radar and AIS on watch....with very loud alarms! I dont worry about wind speed alarms etc - if it gets up, you'll know!

[conachair]

Originally Posted by agpilot88

How do you do night watch if you are single handling a passage over vast massives of ocean?

Usual ocean routine - get off the continental shelf as quickly as possible away from the fishing boats. Radar alarm and AIS alarm set. Sleep in usually 1h stints, then when the alarm goes off go through the check list and update the log or usually just a scrap of paper, otherwise you've no idea what (more often than not didn't) happened. I tend to not really wake up completely, running on half asleep autopilot through the checklist. Anything needs seeing to then big strong coffee and think about what needs done, then do it. Back to sleep.

Rough weather can be a bit dull with the radar on knife edge gains set between seeing other traffic & setting off false alarms all the time.

Marinetraffic density maps can sometimes help keep off the busier shipping routes though usually see very little out there.

Heaving to every night on an ocean passage is completely utterly daft IMHO.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

Because you are drifting at almost the same speed as a container, log, buoy or sleeping whale, and hitting them will not sink your boat.

Also you will sleep better and faster. Less motion and slapping, shorter and deep sleep necessary for recreation.

Think I sleep much better hearing the chuckle of water passing the hull, doesn't sound right when that's not there, part of the 'boat's OK, relax" sounds.

Crewed or asleep not much chance either will see big debris in the water at night.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

You wont see those at night if your awake and fully crewed either. I sleep when I need/want 2, same as Boatman. Radar and AIS on watch....with very loud alarms! I dont worry about wind speed alarms etc - if it gets up, you'll know!

Agree, on a monohull the wind will kick you out of the bed. On a cat, different story.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

Agree, on a monohull the wind will kick you out of the bed. On a cat, different story.

The boat matters not, the sails will slat and rattle the mast and rig if the wind changes.. unless your on a vane in which case you'll cheerfully sail on without notice if its a gradual veer.. on a different course.
Mind, on a cat I sleep either in the cockpit or saloon.. you may chose the owners berth way down.. but even then the slatting and vibration should be enough to rouse one, albeit a bit later.

[CassidyNZ]

Having single-handed across an ocean, I don’t believe there is anything like a night watch. Night and day become one. I slept for an hour, maybe two at a stretch. Then a quick look around and back the bed. Didn’t matter whether it was 3 am or midday. If I was hungry I had a meal. 10 PM or 4AM didn’t matter. When I was hungry I made food. The rest of the time I slept.

I sailed for 5 weeks amongst a world of long-line fishing boats that ply the seas south of Sri Lanka and Indonesia. If there are people who think fishing boats are only within ten miles of the coast, you’re dreaming. I sailed amongst dozens of fishing boats 400nm from land and often came on deck to see lights of five or six of them in my field of view.

Of course that was before AIS but even today, the boats I encountered were too poor to bother with tech that good. They laid line all night and sailed on autopilot all day back to the radio beacon at the start of the line with all on board in bed. I sailed close enough to one or two of them to throw beer cans on their decks and never saw a human being.

If you’re sailing single handed with today’s tech available, you can probably rely on alarms but one piece of advice - stay away from the rumb line - that’s where big ships live.