Nightmares

[sluissa]

In sort of relation to ssullivan's http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ats-12696.html

I've been having occasional nightmares about the boat ever since I've got it. I know some of you probably have had them too, give some examples, in detail if you please.

First nightmare after buying the boat, I think was dreaming that it was sitting in the marina and the water around it froze up, cracking the hull and causing a slow yet steady stream of ice cold water to flow into areas inaccessable.

Second was a dream pretty soon after I brought it around to the house. Dreamed that it had managed to drag anchor and find one of the few rocky places on the bay, a rock jetty, and just bang into that all night causing unknown amounts of damage.

Third, and just last night, the one that made me think of posting this. Huge unrealistic(in this area at least, except maybe for a VERY LARGE hurricane) storm came up with 10-20 foot breaking waves and rolled the boat several times dismasting it.

I always wake up immediately, look out the window, and the boat is usually just sitting there peacefully at anchor. Sometimes there will be a bit of rough weather, but never anything to seriously worry about... yet...

[ess105]

I wouldn't say I've had any nightmares but I've certainly had some weird dreams. I once dreamed that I was navigating a narrow pass and the next thing I know I had sailed over the top of a hill. I was then stuck with trying to figure out how to drag the boat back up the hill to get it into the sea. Please don't explain what this means as I don't want to know.

[Islandmike]

I once dreamed that we were navigating a canal, the water kept getting shallower and shallower. I finally had to get out and put a line over my shoulder and pull her through until we reached deeper water then just kept going. Tivoli is 14 tons, and deep keeled, weird. Who knows why we dream such things.

[jolly-roger]

Sluissa,

Ha....... forget the dreams, go spend some time on yer new boat, spend a few nights, have the anchor break free in the middle of the night, or a sudden storm in the middle of a perfectly calm day that changes everything..... and your nightmares immedately become second hand, because you will then have REAL horror stories to displace them....Good luck.. JR

[Capt Hook]

No weird dreams but one night when we were at anchor my first mate woke up in the night and saw a jack tar, hair tied back, bare to the waist and baggy pants tied up with a peice of cord. He looked down at me for a time and then walked off through the bulkhead. I never knew a thing and wife said it wasn't scary. Spooky eh?

[Pelagic]

Used to have regular dreams (nightmares) about the boat and its operation. Once the superyacht was a bus and I was doing a tour of the narrow streets in London (very tight turns). Quite a few scary ones about onboard fires, no engine when you need reverse, pirates and storm conditions at anchor.
Lots of dreams are I think just dress rehearsals of how you will act in a stress situation onboard and I think it shows that you are taking this stuff seriously.

My worst nightmare was in the BVI’s where we had chartered with some friends. One night as we were sleeping forward under the hatch to catch the breeze, I dreamt I was suffocating, drowning and something was trying to choke me. I must have made some noise because my girlfriend woke up, turned on the light and screamed!
I had a fairly large octopus wrapped around my face, still alive and spurting ink everywhere. How it got on deck and fell through the hatch on top of me no one knows, as the other couple were still asleep when the screaming started! I had been slimed!

[David M]

I have dreams about the boat I skipper all the time...some are nightmares, some are nice and some are just bizarre. I think it is pretty normal.

It might actually be a good thing so you never get complacent. Eternal vigilance!

[Alan Wheeler]

Who knows why we dream such things. __________________
S/V Tivoli

Warning, may bore you to tears and you think you are having a bad dream.

It's simple really. Our brains are mighty powerful. Even if we can not remember things, that does not mean the memory is not there. Each night when we enter REM sleep, our minds go back in history sifting through information we have collected since we were born. It is doing much like the computer HD doing a defrag. The information you too in, in your last awake period, is run against information already stored. We "see" in our minds these snipets of information and our mind runs them together of which we often "see" as this random mix that often makes no sense. Years ago I used to suffer from nightmares. I learn't a simple trick. When you wake up from such an event, you analyse the dream and the things you may seen during the day. Sometimes some small little thing clicks and you can see how that fits. It is all just purely seeing or thinking things during the day, and your brain shuffling and orginising and storing all that info.

[David M]

I read the brain is also repairing, replacing and fixing stem cells. Sleep is a physiological necessity for all mammals and most fish. Some mammals have the ability to shut down one hemisphere at a time. This way they can maintain consciousness which is necessary for some species survival and yet can do the necessary brain "maintenance".

A study was done with ducks lined up. The ducks on the ends had one eye open towards the potential danger and the ducks on the other end had their eyes open toward the possible threat the other way. They would move occasionally so they could get sleep with the other hemisphere. As a group they protected each other yet they were all able to get the necessary sleep.

[ssullivan]

I think my worst nightmares lack drama. I'll wake up after a long LONG LONG dream of doing a 100nm passage or somthing silly like that and be like, "why did I just spend all that time dreaming about nothing?"

Otherwise, I don't remember my dreams, but I do remember the information my brain processes during them. It's strange... in physics, the dreams always were where my difficult problems were solved and where my best creativity comes from.

I literally wake up with all sorts of ideas every morning. Many are for new businesses or patent type stuff. Some are ways to fix boat issues.

Right now, I'm counting on some dream to hopefully steer me in the right direction while I'm in FL.

[Alan Wheeler]

Some mammals have the ability to shut down one hemisphere at a time

I sometimes come across the odd Human that is trying that technique :-)

[seafox]

When you wake up from such an event, you analyse the dream and the things you may seen during the day.

You shouldn't watch when I am having my solar shower. It has been the cause of many nightmares.

[senormechanico]

Last night I dreamed that I had woken up from dreaming that I was Hillary Clinton. In my dream I told others of my dream and they all said, "So what? Everyone dreams they are Hillary Clinton!"


Now THAT'S a nightmare!! Ewwww!!!

Steve B.

[ess105]

Maybe you're still asleep and you really are Hillary Clinton.

[imagine2frolic]

While sleeping in the V-berth of Frolic a long time ago. I dreamt I was resting in front of a warm fire. The smell of the burning wood was a delight. The warmth of the fire on my toes was a delight. I woke to a fire in the chainlocker, and the boat half filled with smoke. Now that dream was a NIGHTMARE at 2am on a cold winter night on S.F.Bay..............