Sleeping as a couple?

[mvweebles]

So can I assume that the method you and others advocate for solo sailors is as safe as it can be, but you wouldn't recommend it for a crewed boat?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

So can I assume that the method you and others advocate for solo sailors is as safe as it can be, but you wouldn't recommend it for a crewed boat?

To be clear, I'm not "advocating" for any particular method. I take umbrage over your accusation that all solo sailors are "irresponsible." Certainly some are, just as some multi-crewed boats are.

If you'd just said solo sailors generally take on more risk, we'd be exchanging "Thanks".

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

So can I assume that the method you and others advocate for solo sailors is as safe as it can be, but you wouldn't recommend it for a crewed boat?

The thread reads 'couple' not 'solo'.


Nobody here is advocating anything.


This is recommended by most offshore sailors that I know - do keep watch.


And when you sail solo, you must sleep too. And that's that, basically.


But, as has been mentioned, there are also couples that do not keep watch. I do not advocate this attitude.



barnakiel

[barnakiel]

Few sailors are irresponsible. I think everybody, a sailor or not, wants to live forever.


b.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I was reading the thread, and fell asleep.

When I awoke I found it had crashed.

but were you sleeping solo ?

cheers,

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by chrisr

but were you sleeping solo ?

cheers,

No but i was the one on thread watch

[Scorpius]

1st dog watch: 4pm to 6pm.
2nd dog watch:6pm to 8pm.

Set so that when standing traditional 4 on, 4 off (that's right, 4 on and 4 off running the ship and "working in between": maintaining the ship during your daylight hours off watches - except your Sunday afternoon watch which you got OFF) the watches "rotated" every day: midnight to 4am, sleep and breakfast, 8am to noon (lunch then work to 4pm), 4pm to 6pm (first dog watch), dinner, then 8pm to midnight. The next day 4am to 8am, breakfast and work to noon, noon to 4pm, work and dinner to 6pm, second dog watch to 8pm, then sleep to midnight. Then repeat . . . ad nauseum.

[Scorpius]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
I was reading the thread, and fell asleep.
When I awoke I found it had crashed

but were you sleeping solo ?

LOVE IT!

[MJH]

Originally Posted by TheNomadicAspie

The wife and I are considering getting a 35-40 foot sailboat in the next few months. One of the things we were wondering about is how couples handle sleeping? I'm assuming you take shifts sleeping when sailing? Does it depend on conditions? Does anchoring somewhere eliminate the need for "keeping watch?"

Is there a guide or resource that would teach us what we need to know? We've been on the forums and watching YouTubers but need more concrete information about how to sail and realistically what to expect.

OK, I'm reading between the lines of your question. Don't worry, let mother nature take its course...you'll find some way to sleep together...WINK, WINK. Trust me.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[dbraymer]

People used to ask me how many people it took to operate my schooner on a long passage.

I always answered that it really took the same number of people as it took on any long distance sailboat. The number of people to stand watch for a week and always have some one awake and at the wheel. Which is really 4, but you can do it with three, if they are tough, or two if they are really really tough. Other than that you should not sail anywhere for a week at sea without three.

I have stupidly done some 2 man sailing more than three days at sea, and that is of course when the weather decides to teach you a lesson. Better to pick up crew. You can generally find someone in any large harbor that wants a free ride to where you are going. Do all the due diligence as if you were hiring a nanny, a nurse, an irate lawyer, and a sailor. Young wandering females seem the least dangerous to me, but I am a man.

[jblogon]

24/7 watch will be gone soon maybe 5 or 10 years from now

https://www.greatlakesboating.com/20...-driving-boats

[markiobe]

Sorry but that’s just not important. We’re going to be a liveaboard couple with a 12yr old, how the hell are we going to shag??

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by markiobe

Sorry but that’s just not important. We’re going to be a liveaboard couple with a 12yr old, how the hell are we going to shag??

Stick em in the dinghy and tow them behind underway.. on the hook, teach em how to use it and send them to play.

[j.g.evans]

If your wife is not comfortable then your cruising plans will be short lived. Teach your wife to run the boat so she is confident she can get you home if there is an accident. Avoid over night passages at first. They are too stressful. For a single over night 2 can be in the cockpit with one dozing. My wife does most of the steering, especially anchoring and docking. This way I can fend off when there is a problem and there will be problems at times docking and anchoring. Use a low anchor light (mast head too if you have one) that illuminates the boat because the drunks are looking low and ahead if at all.
Go for it, it is a great lifestyle and you will meet a lot of interesting cruisers.

[Amapola]

For the most part, we travel 50-60 miles per day and then anchor. If the weather is settled, we trust the anchor alarm and both sleep soundly. During a storm, we both usually stand watch. When making an overnight passage, we take turns.