Fatigue management

[rptb1]

I had an interesting experience sailing recently when very tired, including my first real attempt at mini-sleeps and a number of hallucinations. You can read about it at http://tammynorie.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/who-said-that/

I had a look for a thread about the issue of fatigue management but couldn't find one. I'd like to hear the thoughts of solo long-distance sailors on this matter, and the techniques they use.

Jester Challenger Bill Churchouse touches briefly on his methods in this interview with Jake Kavanagh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKjJi1EH3dg

What other important factors are there?

A few I've gathered from other sources include:

• giving up caffiene so that it's more effective when really needed
• managing body temperature
• modafinil

I think I need a battery of techniques, and to practise them in advance of my attempt at the Jester. But beyond my own needs, perhaps this thread can be used as a repository of ideas and a place for discussion of fatigue management.

 

[oldvarnish]

I've read your blog entry - very good.

I've clocked up a few thousand s/h miles and you will find, as I found, that being on the ocean is a completely different experience to the coastal sailing you described. It's far easier to manage your rests simply because there's less to worry about and I am sure you will find a pattern that suits you.
Your sleeping pattern is clearly unusual, but for me the kitchen timer round the neck and 20 minute intervals works fine. I would avoid any kind of drug, bar coffee and chocolate.

 

[Independence]

I agree with 'oldvarnish' and am not a fan of any type of drug which might keep me awake.

Before my first challenge in 2008 I was particularly nervous at sailing through the night and in addition getting myself over tired. Roger Taylor suggested I get as much night sailing in as possible prior to the challenge in order to overcome this fear. I did this with a 5 day trip out towards the Atlantic and was surprised at how quickly I found a sleep pattern right for me and how comfortable I got managing the boat in the dark.

I haven't done the Baltimore trip but I have a sense of it being more challenging from a sleep perspective than the Azores and Atlantic challenges where you eventually get far enough off-shore to be safer. I tend to take 10 minute knaps during the day for the first few days and stay awake at night. As the passage progresses I extend this to 30-40minutes and eventually 60minutes.

I'm very conscious of not allowing myself at any time to get over tired. Whilst I'm not always successful in this (particularly in heavy weather) I have used 2 kitchen timer clocks to make sure I wake when I planned to.

 

[andlauer]

Bonjour
I think that there are two main rules.
the first one is to anticipate fatigue and rest or sleep BEFORE being tired.
The second is to take advantage of any small time of rest. I've slept between two waves.
The idea is to keep a 24 hours of watch in reserve at any time of the voyage. it is frustrating because when you are fine and the weather great you go for a snap... but it' the price for safety.
Eric

 

[2nd_apprentice]

The Uberman sleep pattern sounds interesting but it does take up to a month to get into:
http://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/uberman-2/

Some sort of managed polyphasic sleep is without doubt preferable to simply staying up.

 

[boatingjohnson]

really enjoyed the blog...very informative and enlightening

 

[jesterchallenger]

Much the same for me in 2008 and 2010. I don't drink alcohol on board and avoid tea or coffee. That way, with a bit of practice, I can fall asleep as soon as I shut my eyes. Eric is right, sleep or catnap before you get tired so that you have a 24 hour reserve. English Channel can be a bit of a nightmare, but there are still opportunities to top up your sleep reserve with short catnaps. I wouldn't say that thirty 2 minute catnaps equals 1 hour of sleep, but it's a lot better than no sleep! Finally, before setting sail, make sure you get a really good night's sleep before and start catnapping as soon as you're underway - you never know when you'll need that reserve.

 

[andlauer]

Bonsoir
I forgot to mention for persons who have problem to sleep before being tired or situation where it is difficult to sleep; the usage of auto-hypnose.
just have a look at the training method from Johannes Heinrich Schultz
Eric

 

[Pye_End]

Sleep and fatigue was a particular concern for me in JAC2012, though perhaps not as extreme as the symptoms you describe.

I did the usual 15 minute catnaps for the first two nights till at the continental shelf (coming back I was not far off being rammed by a French fishing ship, which was a start reminder to pay attention!). I had no trouble getting plenty of sleep with this system, but waking after a nap on day three in the new light of day I hallucinated a ship on my bow, but after some rapid heading changes realised it was my brain playing tricks, so at that point started doing 45+ sleeps. It was useful having hallucinated before some years ago after a long and arduous North Sea passage.

There after a few good days of rest, there were two nights on the trot where the conditions picked up, and I found that I could not sleep with the noise, so ended up heaving to and getting some sleep on the floor for a few hours, but still felt fatigued for the next few days before a much bigger blow settled in - which I definitely did not sleep a wink in!

At some point my small portable radio vanished, but for two days and nights I could vaguely hear it somewhere - I could almost understand the speech, but not quite. Could not find the source of the radio anywhere. After returning to the UK I found the radio. It was switched off and nowhere where my bunk so it could not have been that, and months later read of a similar account of single handed sailors hearing a radio that was not there.

On the way back I settled for a 15 minute sleep round one of the headands the morning before arriving in Plymouth. An hour or two later I awoke, and the scenery had changed considerably - I felt very lucky as there was plenty of land and other boats about! I had read about this previously, but still it did not stop me relaxing 12 hours too early.

I had a number of energy drinks (some are better than others) for night time sailing over the final few days. No idea if they made a difference, but seemed like quite a good idea at the time.

One big lesson for me was that by far the best bunk in the boat is right next to the mast, which I do not use for coastal sailing. It now has a set of lee cloths ready for 2016. It is much quieter than the forepeak 'safe' bunk, both in terms of noise and boat movement, so hopefully in 2016 I can improve sleeping in poor weather. However the fatigue of using 15 minute catnaps for several days for me is still an issue - I feel refreshed and fine, but function poorly, and I envy people who find this less of a problem.

Hopefully more French fishing ships will be on AIS for the next challenge. The one I met clearly had nobody on watch of any sort - probably because it was lunch time!

I am interested in your comments over body temperature - can you give more information on this?

 

[rptb1]

I am interested in your comments over body temperature - can you give more information on this?

It's just a lead so far. A friend wrote to me:

I would look into thermoregulation as a relevant physiology
hack; it works splendidly for me when getting through the gray hour
at the end of an all-nighter. For me, at least, a drop in core
temperature is the proximate trigger for loss of consciousness; with
a mug of hot liquid in my hands, my internal movie slows and gets a
bit sepia-toned, but it never comes off the spool and jump-cuts.
I'm not sure whether you're equipped for hot liquids on your boat.

So it's something I want to look in to and experiment with rather than something I have evidence about.

 

[co256]

"At some point my small portable radio vanished, but for two days and nights I could vaguely hear it somewhere - I could almost understand the speech, but not quite. Could not find the source of the radio anywhere. After returning to the UK I found the radio. It was switched off and nowhere where my bunk so it could not have been that, and months later read of a similar account of single handed sailors hearing a radio that was not there."

I can confirm the small portable radio theory... It was a Radio 4 Play and bloody awful too! Sorry to those who like them but I do not!

"However the fatigue of using 15 minute catnaps for several days for me is still an issue - I feel refreshed and fine, but function poorly, and I envy people who find this less of a problem."

As previously mentioned, 3 x 20 minute sleeps does not equal 1 hour of sleep. A 20 minute catnap merely extends your time until "knackered and useless state". It only works for so long too, a scale of diminishing returns! If we sail for several days at a time we all need some periods of sleep beyond 40 minutes and for extended passage making some sleeps of 1 hour plus. Even professional single handers can't survive for very long without some quality sleep time.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Hopefully more French fishing ships will be on AIS for the next challenge. The one I met clearly had nobody on watch of any sort - probably because it was lunch time!

I have only used an AIS receiver since 2013, although in 2011 I used an AIS transponder for a Pacific Crossing that only found ships near main ports.
My experience since fitting the AIS receiver that not a single sea going fishing boat does not have an AIS transponder. Even off some of the developing countries such as those in West Africa the fishing boats all have a transponder. And even Lyme Bay which has always been a problem for me in the past with fishing boats, now from my experience universally the fishing boats have a transponder.

Last year I did come across a fishing boat about 3 miles away a couple of hundred miles south of Santa Maria that didn't show up on the AIS for about half an hour but then miraculously appeared, maybe he had switched it off because he thought I was a pirate.

In terms of sleeping I am always amazed that while I religiously have my 15 minute lie downs all night and don't think I sleep a wink how refreshed I am. But then sometimes my 15 minute lie downs take longer than others - perhaps I sleep without knowing it :-}. Remember one crewed ocean voyage when one crew member left at Panama because he didn't get a wink of sleep between Antigua and Panama - most of the crew had a big smile because of the loud snoring that came from his cabin throughout the time he was off watch.

I am a firm believer in the two [2] kitchen timers. I like the mechanical ones as I can set them when I am half asleep with just a quarter turn.

 

[Pye_End]

My experience since fitting the AIS receiver that not a single sea going fishing boat does not have an AIS transponder.

That is comforting to know. After the 'fishing boat experience' I did reflect somewhat that I had spotted a ship with no AIS far from land, but what I didn't know was how many more I had not spotted whilst asleep. However, that particular 'numbers game' was something that you have to take with you on a challenge like this, and so best not to dwell on it too much whilst out there.

I am a firm believer in the two [2] kitchen timers. I like the mechanical ones as I can set them when I am half asleep with just a quarter turn.

Ditto. Had a mechanical with a clip which stayed on my clothes near my ear, which was ideal (and a second digital one on the chart table when needed. However the mechanical one broke on the way back, and I have not been able to find the same model (or anything quite like it) since. A year and a half left to find a suitable replacement.

 

[jerrytug]

Any good? (or is that not the sort of thing you want?)

 

[Pye_End]

Ta. Possibly - only if it has a clip on the back. Quite a few on their website. Have emailed them.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Ditto. Had a mechanical with a clip which stayed on my clothes near my ear, which was ideal (and a second digital one on the chart table when needed. However the mechanical one broke on the way back, and I have not been able to find the same model (or anything quite like it) since. A year and a half left to find a suitable replacement.

I buy them from the Pound Shop or if I can the 99P shop, like can openers and cooker lighters they have a limited life span on a boat so buy them in quantity and don't pay too much for them in my humble opinion. I am not a believer in you get what you pay for. The can openers that last the least time in my experience are the ones I've paid £6 or £7 for.