Watch Keeping Single Handing

[MicHughV]

A ship just over the horizon, where you can't see it from your seat in the cockpit of your boat, can be on top of you in the space of 20 minutes or so.
For this reason, in my single handed days, I used a kitchen cooking timer, these are spring wound. I would set this to go off at 20 minutes, take a look around, re-set it and go back to sleep. I would always sleep in the cockpit at night. After a while, you can develop a rhythm. Besides watch keeping, waking up every 20 minutes or so, also give me the opportunity to check sail trim, etc.

All things considered, the number of ships I saw at sea were remarkably few. I only ever saw whales once, from a distance. Never any containers, but occasionally some half submerged trees.

Needless to say, a good radar reflector and running lights is a must.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by owly

The object of this thread was to find ways doing watch keeping without exhausting yourself. It's pretty much of a no brainer to sleep in the cockpit for fair weather summertime and tropic sailors, but that's not a solution for every situation obviously

You mentioned the Cal 20 Black Feathers so you know about the Single Handed Transpac Race. (SHTP) San Francisco to Hawaii.

Those that sail that race talk about this subject a lot and one guy has even written a book about race prep and sleep.

A few cats have completed that race of 2100 miles but many more on monohulls

https://www.sfbaysss.net/archive-sht...tsThru2012.htm

https://www.sfbaysss.org/main/shtp-2021/

Sleep section 2-10

https://www.sfbaysss.org/oldsite2013...irdEdition.pdf

[Oeanda]

In the fishing fleet when offshore we’d just leave the deck lights on and drift if we had to catch a few couple hours beauty sleep between hauling gear. Got a small generator, or enough battery power to make yourself very obvious? That should give some peace of mind. I also spent many a night crossing the Hecate on autopilot staring into blackness and hallucinating over a radar display while the rest of the crew slept. This second option probably looked safer on paper but I’m not so sure it really was. A little risk is the spice of life

[Don C L]

Didn't we have a thread once about all the hallucinations folks have had when they've been singlehanding? I remember hearing all sorts of conversations, and engines, off my quarter in the blackness in the wee hours...

[sinnerman]

Single handers, after a few days of little or no sleep will start to hallucinate, in which you may run into an ex-wife or girlfriends. Things could get nasty...

lol

[MJH]

Originally Posted by owly

Single handing violates all the rules. You cannot possible keep a proper watch 24/7, and if you could you would be so exhausted that you could not make rational decisions.

Many people do it, and if you are single handing it makes sense to minimize risks.

I've come to the conclusion that the optimal boat for single handing is a catamaran with a bridge deck cabin with all around view. With such a boat, you could nap in a cabin just a few steps from the cockpit, and in my case at least where I sleep in a recliner instead of a bed, wakening and taking a good look around without having to climb a companionway would make returning to restful sleep quickly much easier.

Lacking such a boat, it seems that the best alternative is to have a means to scan all around without leaving your place of repose. I've given such things some thought, and find that there are several possible alternatives........ I doubt that I'm the first to consider the alternatives. With my reclined sleeping position one obvious answer is to have a lexan dome and an elevated sleeping position......... Open your eyes and have a "look see". I've though about a sort of periscope with a rotating upper mirror in a "glass" view port........but that would be difficult to engineer... perhaps. Technology offers solutions too. We now have light amplification cameras. They could be located anywhere, but would need an actual rotating glass lens pod with a windshield wiper... but they could see when you and I could not. They could also offer zoom from wide angle to great magnification while amplifying low light.
AIS and radar offer guard zones, and most folks who single hand depend on that. You can't protect against containers, logs, whales...... Headly Nicole is believed to have hit a whale for example. There will always be risk. It is something we have to accept. One couple for example simply vanished........ No bad weather, nothing.... Probably propane, but who knows.

I can and do live with risk. I do things other folks would not even consider, but I like to cover my bases as much as possible.

Has anybody addressed this issue of watch keeping for single handers seriously? I've not seen it yet.

I have sailed solo many times including numerous trips into British Columbia and two voyages to Alaska. However, those were coastal with anchoring every night and a decent night's sleep despite whatever the circumstances might have been. Sailing solo on an ocean passage is another story.

My sole experience sailing offshore solo was crossing the Gulf of Mexico from Key West, FL to Galvaston, TX fourteen years ago in a new-to-me boat. To make it more interesting the boat loss all electrical power after two days. Thankfully I had a Monitor windvane, handheld VHF, and a Garmin handheld GPS with a large stack of batteries.

I slept in the cockpit on the port side facing the Monitor with my right arm wrapped around the winch. At night I would point the bow into the darkest part of the western horizon hoping to avoid the many oil rigs and reefed down. Toward the end of those those 6-7 days I was hallucinating but did recognize the symtoms as they were illogical visions and sounds. In retrospect, I suspect dehydration was part of it as well.

That experience makes me appreciate the ability of the Vendee Globe nonstop solo around the world sailors. I consider that race the most difficult undertaking of all sporting events due the extreme solo human element extending over many months.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[japawil]

Originally Posted by owly

It's easy to condemn single handers as foolhardy, but there are a lot of them as well as single hand events.... the Mcintyre 580 transat for example is currently running between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean....... all single handing. Of course the Ostar, the Jester Challenge, the Golden Globe, and the Globe Vendee. And we have many highly respected single handers out there as well.

It's just a fact of sailing life.



The object of this thread was to find ways doing watch keeping without exhausting yourself. It's pretty much of a no brainer to sleep in the cockpit for fair weather summertime and tropic sailors, but that's not a solution for every situation obviously


As I previously said, a cat with a bridge deck cabin or pod is a great option. It gives you shelter, and warmth when needed, as well as view. It also gives you a location that is mere steps from the tiller, as well as reducing the fatigue of living on your ear (heeled over). My cat of choice would be Richard Woods Sagitta for this kind of sailing.... Your mileage may vary ;-)


Reality of course is different for many of us. Monohulls are very affordable, and often the choice is between being able to undertake your adventure, or having to work to support a boat you cannot really afford to own. I personally would rather spend money voyaging that maintaining a boat. Perhaps someday I'll write Zen and the Art of Sailboat Maintenance ;-)


Even when you are not sleeping, you may be reading etc, rather than in the cockpit because it may be cold, wet, etc. On a passage of 30 days or so, this is likely to be the case frequently. Unlike many folks, I've spent a lot of my life outdoors, working in the cold and rain and snow. Comfort is a big deal where fatigue is concerned.


The dome on Black Feathers is interesting........ but the location is odd. being right over the companionway. It would allow for a peek outside from the steps without opening the slider, but hardly a lounging area.



Imagine a dome or other suitable structure in coach roof situated to allow for a rotating mirror..... perhaps over the settee table. That table could have a mirror at 45 deg........or suitable angle (variable) to give you a panorama by rotating the upper mirror... a periscope basically, but without the tube. Obviously not useful at night, but something you could use when reading, cooking, etc.


Technology is fantastic these days with day night security cameras, and they take almost no power. They could even be located at the masthead avoiding the salt spray... or on a radar mast at the transom.



This sort of thing obviously is not "insurance" against an accident, but it IS a hedge. I've never been a timid fearful sort, but I'm not careless either... I prefer to minimize risks within reason. In an ideal situation, I would have a catamaran, but the narrow beam older designs that are generally within reach do not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Beggars as they say cannot be choosers.

Perhaps a pilothouse mono would fit the bill?

[owly]

Originally Posted by japawil

Perhaps a pilothouse mono would fit the bill?

Definitely worth thinking about..... but most are HUGE. For single handing, it might make sense to sacrifice some cockpit for a sort of pilot house. A cross between a hard dodger and a pilot house. A dedicated pilot house would take a pretty big bite out of a 30' sailboat... a good length for a single hand voyager.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

At night, when you would be most likely to need to sleep, being awake and on watch will do nothing to prevent you from hitting a container, log, or whale.

Get a steel boat. Scorpius's stem is a piece of 5/8" plate 8" wide on edge with the hull plates welded to it either side and the bottom of her long keel is 3/4" steel plate. After all, it's just part of the ballast. Steel boats are legendary for surviving collisions - although I'd be loathe to hit, or be hit by, a deep-sea vessel.

[thomm225]

Steven Callahan's 21' Napolean Solo had this set up that allowed him to keep watch if he wanted a quick look, but he usually slept at night in the cabin.

He crossed the Atlantic West to East with crew and entered the Mini Transat race but dropped out due to weather.

Later his boat sank possibly from being hit by a whale and he crossed the remaining 1800 miles in an Avon six man life raft with no windows just the hatch/opening.

http://www.stevencallahan.net/images.../solo21-22.pdf

[Cpt Mark]

Stan Honey wrote a very long piece about this. Do a little research and you should be able to find his stuff. Alos go to SSA website. Single hander sailing association. Tons of info there

[Hoodsail]

Good Winter season reading is Andrew Evans' book, Singlehanded Sailing. On pages 14-21, he describes his approach to off-shore singlehanding by sleeping in the cockpit in a hammock, facing aft. Small kitchen alarm clipped to his harness that goes off every 20min & resets automatically. Idea is to return to your "bunk" before becoming completely awake, so easy to fall back into deep sleep. Lastly, he sets electronic alarms to minimum level of comfort (eg. AIS alarm at 1 mile). Interesting discussion about sleep science (Dr Claudio Stampi, Piotr Wozniak) and off-shore sailors (Ellen MacArthur: aver 5.7hr/day divided into 9 naps. 2000-1 Vendee Globe) approach to sleeping.

[Siberian Sea]

I single hand long distance and overall I just live in the cockpit. I only go below to get some food or check on things. In foul weather I just sleep in my rain gear and shelter the best a can behind the dogger. When I do sleep it just for a short time maybe 1-5 hours at most and often this is in the daylight hours. I go for weeks at a time and never cross a ship so overall I don’t feel it to risky. Near the coast and in heavy shipping lanes I do what I can to keep a vigilant watch. The few times I did have a real close encounter with a ship was in the day, I tried to call them on 16 and channel 13 but never got a response. I took actions to avoid collision and I never saw anyone on deck. I think they had no watch and just relied on their AIS and other electronics. I’ve sailed many Catamarans as I do yacht deliveries for a large charter company and cats suck as they don’t offer good protection for you at the helm from the weather like what can be found in a mono hull. Yes, I know you can get canvas around the cat helm but I still prefer a small cockpit with hard dogger. But that’s just me, I know there are many who feel differently and that’s ok. Just don’t overthink the single handling ordeal, keep watch is the least of things you deal with alone out there. Have confidence in yourself, you will be just fine.

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by sinnerman

Single handers, after a few days of little or no sleep will start to hallucinate, in which you may run into an ex-wife or girlfriends. Things could get nasty...

lol

After 42 hous awake in bad weather I went on deck and saw I was sailing through a forest. Really scared me so I grabbed the helm and steered around the trees never hitting any. Took a few minutes to figure out that they might not be really there. Had to rethink the situation about where I was etc to make them disappear. At that stage a good sleep is needed so I went below for a few hours after reducing sail and just slept.

[Skipper Lee]

I thought and expected that I would read at least one comment that someone sleeps during the day and stays up at night .
You would be at least visible to others in the daytime and they may need to give you a long blast to wake you or they may alter course once its apparent that you are not.
Is sleeping during the day a thing?