Briefing night-watch

[pugwash]

I came back from Brest to Plymouth the other day with my son aged 27 as crew. He knows how to handle a boat, having capszied a Topper often enough as a kid, but nothing about navigation and was somewhat scathing of my concern as we wended through the first two shipping lanes north of Brittany. After dark we did two-hour watches and I told him: "The radar's on and set at six miles so wake me if anything comes closer than about three miles, or if you're worried."

The first watches went smoothly. We were motoring in a pool of miraculous phosphoresence.

At 3am I was woken from a deep sleep by the engine suddenly being cut. "Can you come up Dad, these fishing boats are doing something strange."

I popped out of the hatch and saw something I'd rather forget. Not fishing boats. We had a freighter in front and another astern, distance in each case about half a mile (but hard to tell at night). They were passing left to right and making parallel courses. It seems the first one gave way to us, and our sudden appearance surprised the pants off the second one which turned to port.

My son said: "I didn't call you, Dad, because I knew they had to give way to us."

The situation sorted itself out with both vessels continuing toward the east and ourselves to the north with Eddystone coming up dead ahead.

It was now my turn to go on watch and I went below again to get into my clothes and wake up a bit. After ten minutes or so I went on deck to find no son. He had immediately turned into his bunk. And hammering down on us very fast from the east was a huge container ship. It missed us by at least half a mile but what scared me was that I didn't know it was there and in my fuddled state, thinking separation zones, wasn't expecting ships to go both ways.

So nothing happened but I gave myself a great fright. I didn't rant at my son because it was only slightly his fault. I should have kept a closer check on the situation. I should have laid down absolutely what I expected of him. I did not tell him to stay on deck until I appeared, and to brief me on the different lights in sight.

My question is this. In these circumstances, when you're a skipper about to put your head down, how do you brief your crew? What specific instructions that make you confident enough to close your eyes and leave him to it?

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[jamesjermain]

I think you have answered your own question in the body of your post: clearer instructions were needed at the outset, but also, I think, a person with such limited offshore experience needed some one-to-one guidance and instruction.

It is difficult for someone with years of experience to put themselves into the shoes of a complete beginner and realise just how strange and incomprehensible the sea at night can be. I would not have left your son on watch on his own. I would have made sure he and I had spend at least one watch together in a shipping lane during which time I could have helped him identify lights, assess the direction the vessel was moving, shown him how to judge a closing bearing, when to take avoiding action and when to stand on.

On a single night passage such as this, an experienced skipper is quite capable of doing a double watch in benign conditions, or even remaining on watch all night, without losing too much efficiency. On this passage I might have taken an early watch below to get a bit of rest, if not sleep, just before dark or before reaching the shipping lanes, with strict instructions that I should be called if anything appeared. I would then have spend a watch with the newcomer and then taken a watch on my own. In mid-summer the newcomer would then have a watch which would be mostly in dawn light the following day. This, I have to say, is how my father introduced me to night watches and how I introduced my wife, although in both cases the newcomer had a lot of day cruising under their belts.

However, in an ideal world, I would rather not sail overnight two-handed with someone with so little offshore experience. A third crew member and overlapping watches would be a much better and safer bet.

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[TheBoatman]

John
I think you ought to go to church this w/end after that experience and give thanks to which ever God you worship<s>.

From your post I would have to say that if the watch is single-handed and doesn't have any real night navigation/light reckognition skills I would probably have "dozzed" in the cockpit rather than go below as the crew are more likely to wake you if there is a problem. As far as briefing them goes you did it but in this case your son didn't quite stick to the plan did he? You briefed him on the radar and told him to get you if any vessel closed the 3 nm limit ring. He must have seen the running lights long before he cut the engine the problem was he didn't understand what he was looking at and despite the lights closing his position and the radar target was within the 3 nm limit he didn't wake you to ask your advice.

You can give the most comprehensive briefing but if the person being briefed doesn't understand the basics then you really should be thinking of a plan B where you have more control.

Glad that your still here to tell the tale!!

Peter.

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[tcm]

i think you gave pretty close to the correct instructions anyway! Fine, as you say you are ultimately responsible but you did say "wake me if anything closer than 3 miles" . Next time ( and in future i will too) repeat "three miles, okay!!!? NOT oh well, that doesn't matter, NOT oh it's only one boat - THREE MILES max - in fact better is 4 miles and closing OK??" or suchlike.

Praps sons see fathers as "dad" first and skipper second "oh, yerknow what he's like.." etc.

incidentally, my radar is tons easier to read/use mid channel with the "trail" function on so it shows the position of a ship plus a "smear" of where it's been - long smear is a fast craft, short trail is a slower one.

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[Robin]

I try to time kips to avoid being asleep at 'critical' points rather than setting any rigid watch routines but SWMBO is very reliable, can read the radar pretty well and will ALWAYS call me if in the slightest doubt. I have complained a couple (well maybe more) of times about being woken for no real reason but really that is how it should be! In your case he apparently did not obey your brief since the 2 ships were clearly closer than your stated 3 miles!

It helps if your radar is clearly visible down below. On our last boat I could see it easily from my bunk on our current one I cannot, though I can see it from the galley and of course the Nav table where it is mounted. I am not a fan of cockpit radar UNLESS it is a repeater for another below, but that is another discusssion.

The shipping lanes off Ushant are MUCH better after the French moved them a bit more north last year and allow only passenger vessels (not too many of those) in the inshore lane, it used to be a long time crossing especially if as we do it is from Dartmouth so the angles are not as good.

SWMBO had revenge on me one time - yelled 'SHARKS!!!!' and I said something rude and went back to sleep, not believing her claim that one was alongside looking at her. It was on our old boat where I could see the radar from my bunk and we were in the last of the (pre 2003) lanes headed southwest under engine and with the Furuno radar set to 'plot' tracks of target vessels. She turned off the 'plot' so that the next time I took a one eyed peep as she knew I would I could see targets everywhere on 6ml range but no track traces, in fact everything was clear or clearing easily but I was up top PDQ, but her 'shark' had by then gone. However once in Camaret other overnight arrivals were all talking about the huge basking sharks seen in the lanes, some 30ft long they were........It cost me a dinner ashore too.

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[Peppermint]

Aways tricky.

I sail quite a lot with inexperienced crews and it means little or no sleep at times.

The secret is to be well rested at the outset, pick your moments for a nap and be available for all of the tricky bits without exhausting yourself.

Knowing how long you can do without meaninful sleep is useful and finding away of testing your alertness is useful too. I do sums in my head periodically to see if it's all still working. Tiredness can sneek up just when you need to be alert, like for entering harbour. My last trip Brest to Portsmouth, with a crew of 4, 3 inexperienced, was 56 hours. I spent 4 X 2 hours asleep, 2 of these in the cockpit, and was OK on arrival.

Your crewing difficulty is compounded by the family thing. With a charter or race crewmember I would have ensured they understood how the kit worked, understood why my instructions were as they were and that they agreed to comply.
If they didn't my displeasure would have been expressed. It's trickier with family were preconceptions come into play and there is a reluctance to lay it on.

Statistics would indicate that you'd be unlikely to be run down but few things are as sobering as awaking to a close encounter.


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[Goodge]

One thing that sprung to my mind was that when you came on deck for your watch you did not know the whereabouts of your son. He could have gone overboard and ten minutes later you would not have had much chance of finding him in the Channel at night. You should have also have a system for changeover too.
You need time to 'get up to speed' about conditions, position etc before he returns to the land of nod.

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[BustinAround]

Definitley better briefings, but you can't really expect a people to come to terms with a busy sea at night, or what is important/isn't important on a briefing alone.

I'd be an advocate of get a lot of sleep before you go, doze in the cockpit in the benign bits of the crossing and be wide awake for the busy bits. If there's only two of you then you've just got to deal with the fact that you aren't going to get any sleep!

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[tome]

My wife and I did Lymington to Brest in July, and I also enjoyed 4x2 sleep periods which was fine for me. However, it's taken 4 years to get to this stage and in the early days I had little sleep as I was being called up regularly.

With novice crew I expect to be called and try to brief them to call me early. On a channel hop, I would pick out a couple of opportunities for some rest (say between or after shipping lanes). I used to try desperately to get some sleep, but have come to realise that this isn't necessary - as long as I lie down and rest I'm fine.

I've done channel hops single-handed a couple of times so have the confidence to know I can do it without any rest if I have to.

Finally, the handover between watches is important and you should describe position, course and speed, wind strength and trend, marks and obstacles plus shipping etc whilst allowing the on-coming watch to wake up and get the feel of the boat. I normally make a hot drink for the new watch before turning in.

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[Peppermint]

Re: I agree

particularly regarding the change over.

From experience I'd also warn anyone to watch out for the effects of cold and wet conditions. They can reduce your endurance and your abilities quite suddenly.

On this kind of passage. Warm drinks and regular snacks are more important than long unbroken sleep.

The problem for solo watchkeepers, even on 2 hour watch's, can be staying awake. That can result in a very similar outcome to the one that started this thread. ie The ships are very close before the situation is realised.

I remember crossing Lyme Bay on starless night were I was surprised to find 40 minutes and 3 miles had slipped by somewhere. I was steering at the time too.

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[Benbow]

>handover between watches is important<

Completely agree, that is where the skipper erred in the above tale. If you come up 10 mins early (with a cup of tea), the off watch person should have quite a lot to say to you ! - Lights over there, but falling behind, saw something over there but its gone now, its bl**dy cold suggest you put a hat on, and finally the offwatch plots the position and the new watch checks it. That whole palaver makes it clear to a new person just how seriously you take this watchkeeping business.

I also sympathise with the skipper, I find it very hard with relatives to not upset them by sounding too hectoring and nit picking. For some reason this is less of an issue with people I know less well - or maybe they just don't tell me!

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