Singlehander's danger: Sleep deprivation

[AdriftAtSea]

That seems to be the pattern for many singlehanders... staying awake at night and hoping the big boats are paying attention during the day. 

Catnapping is a good idea, but they have to be really short catnaps...since 15 minutes is about the max for a ship to be spottable to it arriving where you are. :)

[Bill NH]

There are clearly times where I've felt safer doing the catnap routine and times where it's too risky...  Having spent many years on tankers and tugs I'm pretty familiar with the factors that influence where large ships lay their courses.  Even with all the ships out there, they are not evenly distributed around the ocean but do tend to be found in "high probability areas", especially when near a coast...  It's here that prior planning helps because sometimes you can go hours without losing sight of ships around you.  Along the FL keys and up the east coast to Jupiter Inlet is a prime example.  And once when departing Gibraltar I counted 23 sets of lights from one horizon to the other!

In 1990 I ran a ship up in Alaska working on the Exxon Valdez cleanup, and we had a box in the wheelhouse that I set with a key and the mate on watch had to walk over and hit the button every 12 minutes.  If he missed it he had 60 seconds of alarm in the wheelhouse before an alarm went off in my cabin.  I guess too many crab boats were fishing to exhaustion during the openings and then on the way back running up on islands in broad daylight with the entire crew asleep.  Everybody in Alaska was fitting these devices at the time, I think at the "suggestion" of their insurance companies!  Not sure if they're still made, but it was basically a commercial version of the singlehander's kitchen timer!

[Lynx]

I would imagine if a powerboater knows  the regs well enough to know he is supposed to have it on (assuming it is operational), he would also know how to use it.

Maybe not.

Most that I have been around do not even know how to use the VHF or to drunk to care. Radar does helps avoiding the small rain couds and a good MX weather will help with the big ones. A lot cheeper to.

On my long passages I use a timmer or a buddy boat to help me stay awake.

[Sonnie]

Hey guys,

I ended up crossing from WPB to Whitesand ridge. I left at sunset and crossed onto the banks in the early am. By the time the sun was rising I had been up for 24 hours or so and found the best way to stray awake was to sing loudly. Don't know why but it worked. Must have been a funny sight.

Cheers.

PS - Adam - you don't have to pull your car over to sleep, that's what those bumps between lanes are for, they are "napping zones".

[Pappy Jack]

The longest I've stayed awake is about 65 hrs. and I've done it TWICE :o. Needless to say, I was worth a darn at the end but the job got done. The good thing is that I could take breaks from time to time. I found that if you  just laying down, sleep would be nice, is better than sitting down for a "cuppa Joe". At least for me any how. Another thing is, I was younger then, early 40's. I'm in my late 50's now and couldn't ever think of doing that again ;). Also, eating something crunchy kind of helps ???, also doing isometrics. When all else fails...SLEEP!!! Oh, and don't even think about using drugs >:( for the obvious reasons!

Fair winds,

Pappy Jack

[Shipscarver]

There has been a fair amount of research on sleep and over-the-road driving awareness. Limiting sleep to periods of 12 minutes will normally prevent you from slipping into a deep sleep and being fogged out upon awaking.  Yet, the 10 - 12 minute periodic sleep pattern seems to serve quite well for keeping a person functioning at a high level for prolonged periods.

[Artful]

Well with my limited short sailing experience, have made four long passages, the last one being 2 days fourteen hours, of which was a class room exercise.  Being I have radar with built in alarms as well sonar also with alarms, I left Cape Breton and sailed to Newfoundland St. John's in late October.  I set myself up with first hour on hour off watches then moved on to two hours with ending up in four hour watches, all the while testing my systems for responce.  With the aproach of fronts, ships and whales all systems worked perfect, alerting me with plenty of time to react.  With this I was able to arrive in St John's harbour at 0230 rested and alert. 

[Lynx]

What boat and what systems? Boat speed and sea conditions? Thanks.

[Shipscarver]

Artful -
Your set up sounds great! However, my limited budget probably precludes that sort of serious expenditure.  May we ask how much you invested in such a system?

[CapnK]

There has been a fair amount of research on sleep and over-the-road driving awareness. Limiting sleep to periods of 12 minutes will normally prevent you from slipping into a deep sleep and being fogged out upon awaking.  Yet, the 10 - 12 minute periodic sleep pattern seems to serve quite well for keeping a person functioning at a high level for prolonged periods.

That's interesting. Also, a year or two ago there was an article in Outside magazine about a scientist who was studying long-term sleep deprivation. His main subjects were (drum roll):

RTW sailboat racers. :D

[Artful]

The boat in question is a 33Morgan O/I, the systems are all by Ray Marine, including the echo pilot, with a large chart plotter.  The cost not counting my labour would be some where around 30, 000.  This also includes a new helm and pedestal, would insert picture but can't seem to get it to work

[CapnK]

Artful -

The instructions for using the sailFar Gallery are here:

http://sailfar.net/forum/index.php?topic=256.0

Hope that helps!

[Artful]

Thanks for the help pictures started now

[nick]

Here are my two cents on singlehanding, having done many many 16-18hr days, one 3.5 day passage and one 10 day passage:

The 16-18hr coastal hopping days are tedious and boring for singlehanders, because you can't really go below and relax for any amount of time. I also had limited or difficult winds, meaning the windvane wasn't working. I basically hand-steered from Amsterdam to Lisbon, which sucked.

The first 2-3 days of a solo passage suck badly, because you're nervous about the new environment, trying to manage sleep etc. Which is why I think trips in the 300nm vicininty are harder than the longer ones.

I personally do the cat-nap thing, and after a few days you can ditch the alarm clock, because you wake up on your own. You also get that sixth sense thing, and wake up whenever the boats movement changes even slightly. Outside of shipping lanes when I haven't seen a ship for days, I have slept for up to an hour - Becalmed with all the lights on, I've also slept for several hours without watch. It's a difficult thing, but I think it also depends on where you are... If you're in the Straight of Gibraltar, you need to be more savvy than if you're in the middle of nowhere outside of shipping lanes.

I've met several singlehanders that just just go to bed for eight hours every night on long passages... I call these guys The Fatalists.

These CARD systems... I meet so many people that flatly deny that big ships run RADAR across the Atlantic - There is so much mis-information about 'What the big ships actually do', I'm not sure what to think... They seem like a good idea, but I really don't know? I know the French love them - I think it's law for the minitransat fleet to run them. I've been thinking about getting one for my Transatlantic, but I have little money, and it's a big expense...

Nick