nickrj
New member
Hello all,
I'm not sure why I haven't ever posted in this forum... I think I bypassed it direct for the Liveaboards because I thought this was all about planning the Jester Challenge race, and not necessarily for small boat singlehanders... Anyway, Mac77 asked me to maybe post something here, and sitting onboard in the marina, I found a WIFI hotspot, and had little else to do!
For those interested, I am sailing back to Australia on a Contessa 26. I've sailed from Southampton to Amsterdam back down to where I am now, in Gran Canaria. I did it in many small hops, except of course Biscay and the Lisbon to Canaries trip. I've written about my experience on my blog, so I don't really see the point of double-posting, however maybe I can mention a few things I haven't spoken about before.
Firstly, the issue of sleep is a recurring problem for me. I recently spoke with some notable singlehanders, from four time circumnavigators to Vendee Globe racers, and their sleep tactics are rather interesting. A lot of us I'm sure attempt to adhere to the '20 minute rule', which is all about supposedly spotting a tanker on the horizon within the alotted time, so it won't have enough time to hit you. I adhered to this rule on my Biscay crossing, which was difficult on a number of levels, but I won't go into them. However, for my Canaries trip, I really had difficulty justifying ten days of 20minute naps. At times, especially when being becalmed, I slept for several hours without a lookout. While this may be leaving a lot to fatalism, I am beginning to think tanker collision is statistically a complex occurence.
Above mentioned singlehanders are more interested in REM cycles and sleep patterns, in order to keep their sanity, and to keep their boats running quickly, than they are about horizon checks, and I find this very interesting. Consider the chances in non-shipping lanes, of two boats (yours and a tanker) being in the same lat long grid, at exactly the same time. I have met several solo sailors 'on the circuit' who in actual fact (and I find this pretty insane myself) that go to sleep for eight hours every night... This all brings up the issue of Radar and AIS aids, which will then in turn bring up issues of power generation and wave/rain noise on said equipment. AIS is probably the smartest thing one can do, however for me, collision with an ISO container is what really gives me the heebie jeebies. Luckily we sail in slow old boats though, right? Let's hope none of us have to do a collision test to justify that comment!
Also, on a slightly different note, I am considering putting a cutter stay/inner forestay to A) provide additional strength, and as a 'backup', and B) to run a second headsail in tandem for my coming downwind trip. With all this in mind, I then looked out of my port window, and spotted a cutter rigged boat. This made me wonder: Given boat balance, over-powering etc, if I were to run an inner-forestay, what would the effect be of running a small sloop as a cutter? Regardless of this potentially silly cutter idea, I'm still quite set on an inner-forestay for safety and for a perfect downwind setup... Does anyone have any thoughts?
Cheers! nick
I'm not sure why I haven't ever posted in this forum... I think I bypassed it direct for the Liveaboards because I thought this was all about planning the Jester Challenge race, and not necessarily for small boat singlehanders... Anyway, Mac77 asked me to maybe post something here, and sitting onboard in the marina, I found a WIFI hotspot, and had little else to do!
For those interested, I am sailing back to Australia on a Contessa 26. I've sailed from Southampton to Amsterdam back down to where I am now, in Gran Canaria. I did it in many small hops, except of course Biscay and the Lisbon to Canaries trip. I've written about my experience on my blog, so I don't really see the point of double-posting, however maybe I can mention a few things I haven't spoken about before.
Firstly, the issue of sleep is a recurring problem for me. I recently spoke with some notable singlehanders, from four time circumnavigators to Vendee Globe racers, and their sleep tactics are rather interesting. A lot of us I'm sure attempt to adhere to the '20 minute rule', which is all about supposedly spotting a tanker on the horizon within the alotted time, so it won't have enough time to hit you. I adhered to this rule on my Biscay crossing, which was difficult on a number of levels, but I won't go into them. However, for my Canaries trip, I really had difficulty justifying ten days of 20minute naps. At times, especially when being becalmed, I slept for several hours without a lookout. While this may be leaving a lot to fatalism, I am beginning to think tanker collision is statistically a complex occurence.
Above mentioned singlehanders are more interested in REM cycles and sleep patterns, in order to keep their sanity, and to keep their boats running quickly, than they are about horizon checks, and I find this very interesting. Consider the chances in non-shipping lanes, of two boats (yours and a tanker) being in the same lat long grid, at exactly the same time. I have met several solo sailors 'on the circuit' who in actual fact (and I find this pretty insane myself) that go to sleep for eight hours every night... This all brings up the issue of Radar and AIS aids, which will then in turn bring up issues of power generation and wave/rain noise on said equipment. AIS is probably the smartest thing one can do, however for me, collision with an ISO container is what really gives me the heebie jeebies. Luckily we sail in slow old boats though, right? Let's hope none of us have to do a collision test to justify that comment!
Also, on a slightly different note, I am considering putting a cutter stay/inner forestay to A) provide additional strength, and as a 'backup', and B) to run a second headsail in tandem for my coming downwind trip. With all this in mind, I then looked out of my port window, and spotted a cutter rigged boat. This made me wonder: Given boat balance, over-powering etc, if I were to run an inner-forestay, what would the effect be of running a small sloop as a cutter? Regardless of this potentially silly cutter idea, I'm still quite set on an inner-forestay for safety and for a perfect downwind setup... Does anyone have any thoughts?
Cheers! nick
