Sleeping onboard?

As Master of the vessel I have no intention of sleeping in the crew's focsle. Apart from a weekly inspection, I would not set foot in there. Even then I make sure I have a loaded revolver with me in case the mutinous curs give any trouble.
 
Feet to the bows in the forward cabin - as others have said, that's where the reading lights are. Underway we use an aft cabin for less motion and so that the person on watch can rap on ceiling if needed.
 
I was surprised to find that one of my regular crew members always sleeps head first in the forecabin. He just prefers it that way, and who am I to judge? That was a rhetorical question, by the way.
 
Thwart ships in the focsle after turning it into a double, I once slept feet first in the cave like quarter berth,it only had about two feet sticking out, and when I woke up I couldn't get out.
 
RupertW said:
Feet to the bows in the forward cabin - as others have said, that's where the reading lights are.
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I sleep in the aft cabin the opposite way round to what was intended (the bunk is an odd shape and it's wider that way). I just fitted another reading light at the other end :) (and a USB socket for phone charging).

Pete
 
Out berths are in the ends of the hulls and the only sensible approach is feet first, especially in the aft cabin where the last part has restricted headroom because of the deck shape. I find 2 problems: The pillows regularly fall on the floor as there is nothing to keep them in and it's a PITA to get in or out when there is someone else in there with you. They tend to get a kick in the head as I turn round.
 
I had a friend years ago who thought that the plural of spouse was spice. He soon discovered the more accurate version - the plural of wife is strife :eek:. Life's so much simpler when wife + lover + best friend add up to just one person.

Sleeping anywhere but the forepeak means emptying the quarter berth of all the junk that lives there or dropping the dinette table and doing a jigsaw puzzle with the cushions, so we always sleep in the forepeak, normally feet first. If we've driven up a sloping beach like in Bembridge, we'll go head first and have been known, in a rolly anchorage, to sleep (well, try :disgust:) across the V berth.
 
The thing is this. Over hundreds of thousand of years humans have developed an instinct to keep our backs to the rock/tree/wall etc in case we were being crept up on during the night. e.g. we all sleep at home with feet towards the bedroom door or at least with our heads/back against a wall, and feel odd if we sleep the the other way round. So sleeping in the fore cabin in the logical position with feet forwards and head/shoulders at the widest part of the berth conflicts with this instinct and makes us feel a bit unsettled. The odds against being crept up on while asleep in the fore cabin are minimal so you can relax.
 
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