Watch Keeping Single Handing

[owly]

Originally Posted by 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?

Daytime napping is all well and good.......... but it is unrealistic for many people to stay up on watch all night long. It goes against our circadian rhythms.

[MicHughV]

Radar use can be mystifying.....

Some years back I was headed to Maine, when the radar alarm went off during the night. I don't recall how far offshore I was, but probably 10-15 miles or so.
Sure enough, on the screen were two blips in front of me. I got my binoculars out, but could see no lights.

I kept an eye out for vessels in front of me, but could see nothing. Weird, I thought, running without nav lights maybe ?

The targets kept coming closer, or should I say, I was getting closer to the targets, but still I could see nothing.

I altered course a little to avoid the targets as we were head on.

Pretty soon, I thought I must see a vessel of some kind, as I was only yards away.

The blips passed by my side, and I took the spotlight out to see what the hell that was.

They were radar reflectors mounted on lobsters traps.....way out there..well, mystery solved, though for the life of me, I couldn't understand their location so far out to sea.

[owly]

As someone said in a recent post............ single handers will single hand.


That means that on a single hand long voyage there will not be the kind of watch people theoretically keep when they have a crew.......... There is probably a whole lot more snoozing going on during night watches than we care to admit. The rules are unenforceable.... largely due to a lack of will.... not to mention jurisdiction.


My original thesis that there could be ways to at least enhance watch keeping when you are in the cabin seems to have little appeal, but most folks here are not long distance single handers..... if any.



Boats like Black Feathers, Roger Taylor's Ming Ming II, and the various boats Sven Yervind and others of their ilk sail have at least some provision for a sheltered lookout in the form of a dome, or built up observation area.


My ideas of a mirror system or a camera system seem to have no takers at all.... And that's understandable. At the very least a windshield wiper would be necessary. Modern digital cameras take very little power, nor do LCD screens. I can see a 4 camera array at the masthead, or on a radar mast, that you can switch on in the cabin if you want. With cheap solar, and really impressive batteries we've come a long way in terms of power, and this would be trivial... particularly next to AIS and radar.



I'm one of those guys who would prefer that someone else pioneer things, but in this case there are no "takers".

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by owly

My original thesis that there could be ways to at least enhance watch keeping when you are in the cabin seems to have little appeal, but most folks here are not long distance single handers..... if any.





I'm one of those guys who would prefer that someone else pioneer things, but in this case there are no "takers".

That's 'cause they're all out there right now and probably not interested in tuning in to a cruising forum.

[owly]

Originally Posted by Don C L

That's 'cause they're all out there right now and probably not interested in tuning in to a cruising forum.

I agree with that............ sailors sail.

[Herb Miller]

I was thinking that in this day and age, some sort of satellite surveillance over the major oceans could be very helpful. It could be subscribed to just for the time a person is single handing. The satellite could provide alarms if vessels are within a specified range. (Of course this could smack of big brother - and cost a bunch).

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by owly

Daytime napping is all well and good.......... but it is unrealistic for many people to stay up on watch all night long. It goes against our circadian rhythms.

Also from my experience, I can usually see the lights on ships better at night than the ship itself in the daytime.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Also from my experience, I can usually see the lights on ships better at night than the ship itself in the daytime.

My experience as well... especially the working deck lights of fishing vessels, which are often seen before the vessel itself heaves up over the horizon!

Jim

[markxengineerin]

My ideas of a mirror system or a camera system seem to have no takers at all...

I'm working on this
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ge-258096.html

Definitely not a trivial problem. I would love to see some example footage from cruising boats, if anyone has tried already. Long term plan would be to use AI for a continuous watch, recognizing any obstructions/vessels/etc. If we can make self-driving cars, I imagine this is possible too. AIS + Radar + Camera + other simple alarms (wind gusts, heel angle, etc) would make for some good sleeping for me. Plus the camera has benefits for looking at sails, anchoring, docking, and navigating shallow waters and reefs.

[B_Wieberdink]

I am 73 and single handing my 31 on the crowded North Sea and the Irish sea. I take naps of 20 minutes at night, because I can see the ships far better at night than in daytime. I have radar and AIS alarms.
I take my naps in the heated cabin because outside it is often to cold at night to get to sleep very well.


Bert

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Radar use can be mystifying.....

Some years back I was headed to Maine, when the radar alarm went off during the night. I don't recall how far offshore I was, but probably 10-15 miles or so.
Sure enough, on the screen were two blips in front of me. I got my binoculars out, but could see no lights.

I kept an eye out for vessels in front of me, but could see nothing. Weird, I thought, running without nav lights maybe ?

The targets kept coming closer, or should I say, I was getting closer to the targets, but still I could see nothing.

I altered course a little to avoid the targets as we were head on.

Pretty soon, I thought I must see a vessel of some kind, as I was only yards away.

The blips passed by my side, and I took the spotlight out to see what the hell that was.

They were radar reflectors mounted on lobsters traps.....way out there..well, mystery solved, though for the life of me, I couldn't understand their location so far out to sea.

I’ve experienced similar situations with swordfish long line “high flyers” in the Gulf Stream.

[Discovery 15797]

I've been reading this thread over the past few days and have to chuckle a bit to myself because I single-handed countless times within Puget Sound/PNW (inland and coastal), and just completed my longest single-handed ocean passage. Fiji to Guam, 28 days and 2800 miles (crossing the ITCZs were especially slow this time).

Single-handed sailing is not illegal. Failure to keep proper watch would be considered a violation of rule 5 should an accident occur. Insurance will not likely cover a person who is single-handing. But, as previously mentioned there are a multitude of sponsored events/races for single-handed sailors.

Sleep/wake patterns while single-handing are highly dependent on location. The Atlantic and coastal areas tend to have more traffic so would require a shorter sleep period. In the middle of the Pacific my sleep periods were sometimes as long as 2 hours. (I hear the gasp of condemnation from many readers...most of whom likely lack actual experience.) I have confidence in my radar and my AIS alarms to awaken me if any target appears. (In the vast Pacific there are few shipping lanes, and ship sightings are rare. In 2800 nm I spotted 3 ships, all in the northern hemisphere.) Also, any change in boat attitude/motion, wind strength, or sounds brings you to a wide awake state almost immediately. I often sleep in the cockpit under my hard dodger and bimini. As mentioned, you can see the glow of lights of a ship or an island at night well before it is within visual distance of your eyes or radar or AIS. Also, I personally found that whole 20 minute nap thing is really unsustainable for more than 1 week or so (which is perhaps why people who try to take that approach sometimes do hallucinate). When I single-hand I am more acutely aware of my vessel and my environment and any changes in either. My focus is on the boat, on the weather, and on the horizon. As for flotsam and jetsam, most of it is small and won't be seen until you're practically on top of it unless the seas are dead calm. At night it won't be seen at all. The largest thing I've seen so far is a mounted car tire and a 55 gal plastic drum. And no camera in the world is going to spot that car tire or a hunk of wood that is bobbing just below the surface of the ocean with ocean swells and >1 foot wind waves (which for all practical purposes a calm day on the ocean).

Finally, for all of the people who condemn or pass critical judgement on single-handed sailing I ask you to chew on this for a bit...the vast majority of boating accidents/collisions occur on boats with more than 1 person aboard.

[ChrisJHC]

Re heaving to:
I’m not convinced that there is a significant reduction in likelihood of a collision between a yacht sailing reefed at say 5 knots and one hove to at 1 knot.

Let’s say your AIS / radar can detect approaching vessels at 25 nm.
With a combined closing speed of 25 knots (ship 20 knots, yacht 5 knots), this gives you an hour between detection and collision.
At a combined closing speed of 21 knots (yacht hove to), this takes 1.2 hours or an extra 11 minutes.

This is, of course, assuming that you and the approaching ship will occupy the same piece of water at the same time.

There are obvious benefits if you hit an undetected object (unmarked reef, shipping container), but how often does that really happen these days?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Discovery 15797

I've been reading this thread over the past few days and have to chuckle a bit to myself because I single-handed countless times within Puget Sound/PNW (inland and coastal), and just completed my longest single-handed ocean passage. Fiji to Guam, 28 days and 2800 miles (crossing the ITCZs were especially slow this time).

Single-handed sailing is not illegal. Failure to keep proper watch would be considered a violation of rule 5 should an accident occur. Insurance will not likely cover a person who is single-handing. But, as previously mentioned there are a multitude of sponsored events/races for single-handed sailors.

Sleep/wake patterns while single-handing are highly dependent on location. The Atlantic and coastal areas tend to have more traffic so would require a shorter sleep period. In the middle of the Pacific my sleep periods were sometimes as long as 2 hours. (I hear the gasp of condemnation from many readers...most of whom likely lack actual experience.) I have confidence in my radar and my AIS alarms to awaken me if any target appears. (In the vast Pacific there are few shipping lanes, and ship sightings are rare. In 2800 nm I spotted 3 ships, all in the northern hemisphere.) Also, any change in boat attitude/motion, wind strength, or sounds brings you to a wide awake state almost immediately. I often sleep in the cockpit under my hard dodger and bimini. As mentioned, you can see the glow of lights of a ship or an island at night well before it is within visual distance of your eyes or radar or AIS. Also, I personally found that whole 20 minute nap thing is really unsustainable for more than 1 week or so (which is perhaps why people who try to take that approach sometimes do hallucinate). When I single-hand I am more acutely aware of my vessel and my environment and any changes in either. My focus is on the boat, on the weather, and on the horizon. As for flotsam and jetsam, most of it is small and won't be seen until you're practically on top of it unless the seas are dead calm. At night it won't be seen at all. The largest thing I've seen so far is a mounted car tire and a 55 gal plastic drum. And no camera in the world is going to spot that car tire or a hunk of wood that is bobbing just below the surface of the ocean with ocean swells and >1 foot wind waves (which for all practical purposes a calm day on the ocean).

Finally, for all of the people who condemn or pass critical judgement on single-handed sailing I ask you to chew on this for a bit...the vast majority of boating accidents/collisions occur on boats with more than 1 person aboard.

\

Regardless of ones opinion for or against singlehanding I do see a couple of problems in your post.

Maybe nitpicking but failure to keep a watch is a violation of rule 5 whether or not an accident occurred.

Second, since the vast majority of boats have more than one person on board it would then follow that the vast majority of boating accidents would involve those boats. What would be meaningful would be to compare the percent of accidents on boats with one crew vs those with multiple crew and when operated in a similar way IE long passage, coastal, etc.

[Skipper Lee]

Hi Owly,
Your correct there but I think it only goes against our circadian rhythms for a few days, like Jet lag.
I worked swinging shifts for many years. 2 weeks days 2 weeks afternoons and 2 weeks nights, repeat. Sucks and likely not the best rhythm but you get used to it.
Certainly if I did a 28 day crossing going to night shift would be considered by me but probably not for just a 30 hour single hander. I've been 35 hours Ko Samui to Pattaya with 3 hours sleep, Daytime. Gulf of Thailand is not made for sleeping at night at all. My first night watch there I swore I saw land where it should not be but it was just an endless horizon of fishing boats. Your probably gonna cross over a net there, So much traffic I was scared by all the traffic though and would never sleep in the gulf unless anchored or with someone trusty. Period!
I would certainly not worry about the insurance issue as policies are mostly written to absolve insurers, Leaks or any number of maintenance issues that can be imagined are not covered. I imagine hardly any boats that sank and were recovered are found without some or all the liability on you. I get insurance cause its required and so I can get a slip but I have never had have much dough into my boats.

Sure it would be cool to have the Nav version that has intelligence and alters course around the blip then safe and sound returns to course without bothering me built in while I sleep or make Ichiban. I suppose there's no Knighthood with that though.

Interesting topic, I just supposed more people would sleep or nap during the day.