Examples of a two crew watch rotation for an ocean crossing?

[Godshalk]

Originally Posted by slug

It changes all the time




Local time or GMT is an issue on long passages

I'm curious what people find best re time. GMT is simple and requires no changes but time vs. sun will be weird and change. Local time means getting all crew to change their watches, and ship's clocks, at the same time, impossible when people are asleep; also, watch changes will be later or earlier than number of planned hours.

[Roshni]

Live aboard now and cross ocean and coastal sailing with myself experienced and wife less so.
We are very flexible with watch and consider coast, shipping, conditions.
Always respond and encourage her to wake me for any queries (even moon appearing on horizon!). Always bank sleep from before departure and on voyage. I will do the solid night hours offshore ,12 to 6 with doze (alarms). Very important to look after yourself for when you need it and set boat up for your wife so you have best sleep. Do calm night sailing first and before ocean crossing.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Crew of three is fantastic. 1-1/2 years ago, my best friend (and frequent crew when I was delivering), my wife, and I went from San Francisco to Ensenada, a steam of 500 nms in about 75-hours. We each stood two 3-hour watches plus a single 2-hour watch at night. What a luxury - allows you to get 4-hours of sleep at night. And meals became really interesting.

I ask that my crew wake me immediately with any questions - don't hesitate. Worst case scenario is coming up the companionway in a sleep-induced fog without time to figure out what's going on (Example: Ever tried to figure out which end of a cruise ship is the front end at night? I rest my case....).
Peter

We very very rarely sail with crew. On one of the occasions that we did, the crew who was an experienced tall ship watch keeper was very suspicious of 8 hour rotating watches

It worked well. During the debrief he said that with such a long watch he felt more responsible for the boat. If something minor was amiss, especially early in the watch, he felt more inclined to fix it rather than wait until the next watch change.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by SVHarmonie

There is no "right" answer for this. It depends on the individuals involved. Flexibility is important so everybody operates at a reasonable level of alertness.

When sailing by ourselves, my partner and I usually use a [2 on/2 off] schedule. I find I get enough sleep in 2 hours that I can operate well. There is no way I could enjoy maintaining useful function for a watch that lasted from 00:00 to 06:00. Other people find that 2 hours is just not restorative enough and need a longer break.

With two crew we find it takes us about 4 days to really get in the swing of the watch schedule. On Day 5 of a passage we don't feel sleep deprived at all, and can go on forever after that happy, alert, and relaxed.

With a larger crew, it gets a lot easier. If you have four available in a rotation rotation, a [2 on/6 off] is practically luxury.

A cruising boat that is double-handed offshore must be a boat that can be single-handed. Then the second shipmate is a real luxury!
Even with 2 on board, if you sail conservatively you can meet your sleep needs. 8 hours for sleep and personal hygiene, 3 hours for eating, leaves 13 hours for each of you, for the rest of the day.

2 hr on, 2 hr off, it sounds crazy to me. By the time you get sorted below and fall asleep, you only get 90 minutes sleep before you have to wake up and get ready to go on deck. Repeat ad-nauseum. I would go catatonic in that sort of schedule - it sounds like what they do in high-intensity interrogation of prisoners.

What we do, and it worked for up to 6 days at a stretch:

After we have dinner together around 1800, she is on watch until about 2300. I get 4 hours for napping or boat tasks as needed. Then I am on watch 2300 until sunrise, say 0600. I have no problem with a 7 hour night watch, and she gets a nice night's rest. That way, after breakfast, I am tired enough to sleep well for 5 hours from 0700 until noon. After lunch I take over until about 1500 then she is on watch until 1800, so I get another couple hours of sleep if needed. I only need 6 hours per day. One blessing of old age.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I like sailing with minimum 4 people on board. 3 then do two 4 hours watches each, all at the same time, and I am in reserve and not in the watch rotation, do all the nav and comms, much of the cooking, and come on deck in case of bad weather, technical problems, hairy collision avoidance, etc. If someone is tired I'll relieve him.

Bingo. This is my practice.

[skipgundlach]

We're an anomaly I believe, though it worked a treat for us:

Watch stander, upon the FIRST indication of drowsy/tired, wakes off-watch, makes a pot of coffee, and prepares to brief.

Off-watch takes over with coffee in hand, post briefing. Relieved watch goes below, brushes their teeth, and gets into bed/berth.

That way, absent some horrible situation where both have been up and awake for extensive periods, off-watch is never exhausted, and quickly refreshed, perhaps to the extent of a full period of sleep.

This is passagemaking, after all; aside from tweaking the sails, maybe, and keeping a watch for other boats, and making periodic checks of whatever is being used or might be likely to fail, there's not much to do unless you're in heavy weather, in which case both might be up and at'em, anyway.

After a 9 day passage, we arrived rested and comfortable; having Chris Parker on our side helped...

[Paul Howard]

My wife and I began doing 4hrs on and 4hours off when we began doing ocean crossings.
She decided she just did not get enough sleep, as it takes her some time to fall asleep, where I can doze off in less than a minute from lying down.
Also, she is more of a night person and I am an early riser.

We switched to me lying down after dinner at 6pm and I am off watch until midnight. I often would get up during that watch just to check with her and am always on call for any questions, but that is my off time for the night.
I take over at midnight (we call each other ten minutes before the watch change time) until 6am, sun up, and I go to sleep for an hour or two before having breakfast together in the cockpit.

The autopilot is in charge and the watchkeeper looks around the horizon a maximum of ten minutes apart. Minor sail adjustments and course changes are OK, but reefing or tacking when she is on watch requires calling me, though I usually tack or reef only after alerting her, even if I have to wake her.
Hourly notations of GPS positions in the log book and wind state are recorded, along with sightings of lights (Passenger cruise ship passed to starboard several miles away), fishing boats (two boats, pair trawling to port, changed course by ten degrees until past them), etc.

Having a radio for the on watch helps (shortwave receiver/multiband portable) and a Kindle.

Then we do 3hours on and 3hours off during the day until 6pm.
We have done this for up to 30 day passages and about 130,000nm and are OK about it. The first couple nights can be tough staying awake until getting used to the hours. We do not change the hours, nor do we change the clocks across time zones until reaching port.

[UYA]

Food for thought:

A little while ago I talked to friend about watches. He is a sailor but also a pilot and thus deals a lot with irregular sleep schedules. He said the following:

In order to implement a sustainable watch system you need to take the sleep pattern of your body into account. During a sleep we cycle through different phases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_cycle
It is important that you are woken up after a sleep cycle and not in the middle of one.
He suggest to plan the watch system accordingly. That's at least what he does.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

Hi all -

I'm curious as to what crew watch schedules look like for couples cruising around out there.

Do you have examples you could share? Do you run one type of watch for shorter sails (a few days) versus ocean crossings? Do you run a set schedule at all? Are you meticulous in your schedules or fluid?

I've done some multi-day sails single handed, but my wife has never done any and we want to start doing some and we're going to plan some coastal cruising in the next year and then begin a circumnavigation in 2022.

Just looking for some practical experience and knowledge. Thanks!

I think a lot depends on the boat. A Tayana 37 should be good for 150 nm per day so if you're just port hopping watch schedule should not be a problem. Catamarans are good for 200nm per day, so they're rarely out for more than a ferw days. I'd want radar, AIS and a strong auto pilot on board. 24/7 watches are necessary if you want to avoid big problems. The closer you get to land, the more aware you need to be. Sail to weather and avoid the whales. Three crew is the magic number for shift watches (2 - 4 hour shifts per crew) but for just two. I'd think 4 hours on, 4 hours off would work for most people. This 2 hours on, 2 hours off deal I hear about makes me cringe as nobody ever gets enough sleep. I once did 6 hours straight in high seas and no auto pilot (everybody else on board was seasick) and I was beat by the end. Often times the "off party" sleeps in the cockpit or salon so occasional emergencies can be dealt with quickly.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

Hi all -

I'm curious as to what crew watch schedules look like for couples cruising around out there.

Do you have examples you could share? Do you run one type of watch for shorter sails (a few days) versus ocean crossings? Do you run a set schedule at all? Are you meticulous in your schedules or fluid?

I've done some multi-day sails single handed, but my wife has never done any and we want to start doing some and we're going to plan some coastal cruising in the next year and then begin a circumnavigation in 2022.

Just looking for some practical experience and knowledge. Thanks!

We tried 4-on 4-off to Hawaii and it was very tiring for us, particularly if it takes you some time to fall asleep, eat, personal hygiene. On the return we went with 6-on 6-off and it was much better.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Donald Bryden]

My suggestion is for you to keep your wife happy. We started our cruising with a four on four off during night hours. During the day, we keep a good watch, but we don't have any set pattern. When one of us wants a break or to nap, we ask for the other to take over. The wife does the cooking and I do the dishes, so that is another natural break in our routine. After a short time, my wife decided she didn't like our night system and suggested that she take the watch until midnight. Then I take the watch until 0500, then she takes over until I wakeup. It works good for us. I enjoy the night watches and most importantly she likes it this way.

[George DuBose]

Originally Posted by slug

2 hours Is a sprint

The problem with sprint mode is that all ship cleaning and tasks get neglected

Longer watches give the off watch time to keep the boat in order and get some rest

Amen Slug.

Skylark likes to cruise with a minimum of three giving four hours on and eight hours off. We discuss what night shifts the individual crew prefers.

Myself, I like to watch the sun rise, so the 0300 to 0700 is fine with me.

An Englishman once told me that it is psychologically easier to wake or be woken at your watch time and then have 20 minutes to take over the watch.

Plenty of time to dress and make a coffee.

[barnakiel]

I want to add this to our ocean watches discussion:


We met more than one crew of two who actually kept watch only over some parts of the day. At other times, they switched the radar alarm on, the AP on, and went to their bunks - both crew at the same time.


Given scarcity of traffic on some long offshore routes, this watchnotkeeping system seems to work for those who have no fear of death and little respect for other mariners.


After all, solo sailors sail watchnotkeeping too, and much faster, in far more dangerous boats.



Cheers,
b.

[capt04530]

USCG studies have shown that an 8-4-8-4 hour watch schedule is best to allow proper crew rest and minimize fatigue...

[Bundyon]

Depending on number of competent crew onboard, I favour the 3 watch system, ie; 3on 6off. If we are two out, then 4 on 4off. But usually only of a night time as I find we are both up & about during the day, if one is tired, go take a nap.
Years ago during my time on Submarines, if we were on a 90 day patrol, we would work a two watch system of 6 on 6 off. If we were surface running, we would work the 3 watch system of 3 on 6 off.
I don't favour 6 hour watches onboard my boat but I did find that on a Submarine, the two watch 6 on 6off worked well & gave plenty of time for sleep & recreation, ie; reading, conversation , cards etc.