sleeping at sea

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lilianroyle

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I have never managed to sleep on a boat in which I am in charge. The longest passage I have made would be about 66 hours during which time I dont think I slept a minute (2 very competent crew) I imagine long passages where I become at one with the rhythm of boat and sea, how tired do you need to get before this happens. How do the rest of you find it.
 
Just recognise that you are no use to man or beast after 66 hrs without sleep so you might as well nod off anyway.

Cultivate the ability to power zizz - those 10-20 minute eye closing then wake up and look around. use of an egg timer to ensure you wake up will actually help you sleep.
 
It depends on the person.

People like yachtmaster jimi, will sleep the whole way across the channel and probably beyond

I've been left on deck after skipper and first mate (after a long period of watching weather, getting up every 4 hours, helping other crews in to Cherbourg berths etc) changed seasick pills after taking Stergeron for probably a 24 hr period to Boots own when we ran out, and they suddenly went under while sitting in cockpit and couldn't keep eyes open any longer. They came back up a while later, and I was having such a good time I didn't want to hand the helm over.

We trusted each other a great deal by that point. It seemed to help.
 
that's basic stuff though, so needs a differentiator.

If someone with years of experience is on deck and others asleep, would you require a call? Someone that has night sailed in a busy area like Solent or Channel for years, presumably needs to call skipper less than on a cross atlantic crossing if no experience of colregs at all?
 
Those are the words that always work best for me - then you get 5 mins to listen in to their discussion, and can appear on deck with full confidence that a decision can be 'made' in a couple of seconds. This also ensures that the crew think you have second sight, tee hee!

How about single handing though? What do people do?
 
Very difficult to sleep on long passages especially when the boat is rolling downwind.

As had already been said, grab power naps when you can!

The slightest thing to do with the boat wakes me up. A winch click, sail flap, speed change etc.. luckily domestics don't.

cheers

Ian
 
Not sure if there's anything to be gained by admitting that I do sleep at sea - I get tired and generally don't have any trouble dropping off... But then I'm one of those people who don't worry about drilling holes in the bottom of their boat for some good reason and fitting a seacock to it (some people seem to worry about standard marine practice), taking the log impellor out to clean it (I do make sure I've got the impellor blank ready next to me when I remove the thing though.) etc etc. Perhaps I should worry more.

Anyway I didn't set out to be provocative so:

Perhaps of more interest is the number of times I've woken up and gone on deck because I didn't feel quite right about something. Invariably when I stick my head out of the hatch there is shipping, or something that that crew haven't noticed. Not necessarily an imminent or immediate danger to the boat - just a sort of sixth sense that something ought to be watched.

Makes the crew awesomely impressed though...
 
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Perhaps of more interest is the number of times I've woken up and gone on deck because I didn't feel quite right about something. Invariably when I stick my head out of the hatch there is shipping, or something that that crew haven't noticed. Not necessarily an imminent or immediate danger to the boat - just a sort of sixth sense that something ought to be watched.

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No, the most likely interpretation is that you sleep through most such 'incidents'!

I would strongly advise against putting any trust in your 6th sense!!
 
I never sleep at sea but sometimes I rest my eyelids for a moment and find we have sailed through a timewarp and are instantly 20 miles further on /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I fully agree with fatipas comment that you can only sleep soundly if you KNOW the crew will call you when its appropriate.I would rather have one hour of deep untroubled sleep than 4 hours of fretting if anything untoward is going on.
 
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How about single handing though? What do people do?

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I believe the trick is to identify the nasty bits that need a fully functional skipper, and the bits where not much is likely to take you by surprise. I often seem to find myself crossing a wide bay and heading for a nasty little headland. Then it makes sense to 'power-nap' on the easy bits. I find I can doze in the cockpit for 20 mins, stand up look round, check the chart, doze again for 20 mins. Then as you approach the critical bit you are reasonably rested, wake yourself up and put some coffee on.

In fact I think the same is true when you have a crew; skipper fiddles the watches so that he is on-watch for the critical parts of the passage.

I know that I am totally useless after just 24 hours without sleep - I hallucinate horribly, the sea becomes vertical, stars become ships and more worringly ships become stars. So I make a very concious effort to get some sleep when I can.
 
I sleep beter at sea than at home, I have total faith in my crew if I didn't they would be passengers not crew, besides they have a vested interest one day the boat will be theirs!
 
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I have never managed to sleep on a boat in which I am in charge. The longest passage I have made would be about 66 hours during which time I dont think I slept a minute (2 very competent crew) I imagine long passages where I become at one with the rhythm of boat and sea, how tired do you need to get before this happens. How do the rest of you find it.

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Just remember: every good skipper gets at least 8 hours sleep a day .........

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........ and anything he gets at night he treats as a bonus!
 
There's a lot to be said in that. My best uninterrupted sleep tends to the first post-dawn off-watch. By then I'm tired, the crew is a lot more independant and navigation errors are less likely.

During the night off-watches I'm happy to lie in the bunk not worrying about whether I get to sleep, just happy to be warmer and with eyes unfocused. If I drift off then great, and it often happens.

When I'm not skipper then I'm straight out like a light at any opportunity.

I agree with the others about wanting to feel sure I'll be called if there's a problem, but do expect crew members to trust their judgement of when that is - i.e. an experienced crew who I've sailed with for a long time might well tack, gybe, pass a couple of waypoints without calling me but another might call me each time they saw a boats lights.
 
I find the same thing as many of the posters here - sleep like a log when I'm crew but now I'm usually skipper it's a different matter. Trust in your crew makes a big difference though. For night watches, I try to set up a system where I can 'float' and be on call or napping as conditions dictate, otherwise it's sure that my watch will be boring and their watch will be full of stuff that needs my attention!

This weekend was the delivery trip for our new boat, two 120+ mile legs and I slept very lightly because the boat is unfamiliar, so every little creak and rattle kept me awake. As I get more used to her, that'll get easier but a skipper is never really away from the pressure of having the boat and the crew's lives depending on your actions.
 
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