Noob: so you're in the middle of the ocean...

[Ubergeekian]

Slight drift here, but concerned with sleeping on passage singlehanded.

My boat came with C.A.R.D. radar detector fitted (are these still being made?), with an alarm volume which could be set from quiet to pretty loud. The analogue display is very basic (8 points of the compass), but sufficient to very quickly let you know there's a big ship within your horizon and on what rough relative bearing.

Mine came with one of these too. Is it any good? I haven't tried it yet, and since I'm about to do a big rewiring I need to decide whether to keep it or not.

 

[Babylon]

Mine came with one of these too. Is it any good? I haven't tried it yet, and since I'm about to do a big rewiring I need to decide whether to keep it or not.

Mine certainly works in tests at sea (pointless inshore), but as I've never slept on watch I've never actually needed to be woken up by it. However it uses very little power (0.045 amps) and - as you already have one - I'd keep it wired in.

See: http://www.survivalsafety.com/c_a_r_d.htm
Also: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2968

 

[snowleopard]

The North Atlantic covers around 6,000,000 square miles. From a yacht, the bit you can see at any one time is about 10 square miles. The bit you occupy at any one time is about 1/50,000 of a square mile. The chances of getting hit on the open ocean are therefore pretty slim.

In the course of various passages, excluding the first and last 48 hours, my experiences of meeting other shipping have been -

ARC: - 3 yachts (+ 1 rowing boat deliberately found!)
OSTAR: 1 trawler
Antigua - Bermuda: 1 yacht
Bermuda - Azores: 1 ship, 1 mobo
Bermuda Azores (again): nothing
Azores - Portugal: nothing
Azores- UK: nothing
Azores - France: nothing

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Get a yacht, park it at Warren Point and I'll come and crew May Bank for Blues On The Bay, but don't expect to go very far from the mooring

 

[cimota]

Slight drift here, but concerned with sleeping on passage singlehanded.

My boat came with C.A.R.D. radar detector fitted (are these still being made?), with an alarm volume which could be set from quiet to pretty loud. The analogue display is very basic (8 points of the compass), but sufficient to very quickly let you know there's a big ship within your horizon and on what rough relative bearing.

See: http://www.survivalsafety.com/

Not off topic at all. I would suspect that for many 'couples', they might as well be sailing single-handed just due to the relationship and not wanting to leave someone sitting up alone. That's a great help for the single sailor and even for the small crew.

 

[prv]

I seem to have had the opposite - boats and ships seem to have a magnetic attraction for each other out on the open ocean!

I quite often saw ships on my watches when crewing on 2 passages across the Atlantic,

Depends where you are. Coming up from the Azores last spring on Stavros, we had a period of at least five days straight in which we didn't see a single other vessel. That's with two dedicated lookouts (one each side of the ship) and a powerful radar, all operating 24/7, so if there'd been anything there we'd have seen it. Lots of dolphins, and the odd whale, but no ships.

Coming out of Gibraltar a couple of years previously, though, it felt like a motorway!

Pete

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Gorgeous bird!

Nice fish

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Heave to

Looking

 

[Ubergeekian]

Mine certainly works in tests at sea (pointless inshore), but as I've never slept on watch I've never actually needed to be woken up by it. However it uses very little power (0.045 amps) and - as you already have one - I'd keep it wired in.

Thanks - that's very helpful.

 

[mcframe]

The North Atlantic covers around 6,000,000 square miles. From a yacht, the bit you can see at any one time is about 10 square miles. The bit you occupy at any one time is about 1/50,000 of a square mile. The chances of getting hit on the open ocean are therefore pretty slim.

Hence the statistical reason for WWII convoys - yes, there were more ships together in a small area, and it could be catastrophic when attacked, but overall it *reduced* the chances of detection by U-boat.

 

[steadyeddy]

Noob in the middle of the ocean.

Seem to remember a royal navy frigate off of Norway on exercise helmsman fell asleep and the officer reported him and he was sacked,a bit harsh i thought a good rollicking would have done.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Has anyone tried to heave to in the eastern med where the seas are short and steep in Force,8-9 bf. I think it is a lot more difficult than the long seas in the Atlantic

I did it only once ,but then I had a 17meter mast and about 1100sq ft of sail in the water under the boat .

Nope... but done so a good few times in the North sea, which has similar conditions.... nowhere near as pleasant as heaving to in atlantic rollers, and you don't sit as steadily.... but still works.....

Not sure about using my sails as a sea anchor though!!!

 

[Woodlouse]

Seem to remember a royal navy frigate off of Norway on exercise helmsman fell asleep and the officer reported him and he was sacked,a bit harsh i thought a good rollicking would have done.

Two hundred years ago he'd have been flogged, or even hanged. Sleeping on duty is still a serious offense, especially when you're at the wheel of a warship.