That feeling, when alone on a boat ...

[jimi]

Is it just me or do you occasionally get the feeling you are not alone, shadow over your shoulder in the corner of your eye, little voice in your ear telling you to check something ... or is it merely the onset of madness ;-)

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I was not alone in the car yesterday, driving by myself back from the boat, the presence piped up and said, 'gas, you didn't turn it off, did you?'. I phoned the marina this morning.

 

[ProDave]

your boat is haunted.

 

[sarabande]

The voice of conscience, the little nag of experience, the whisper of prudence...

If it's any consolation, Jimi, having found myself running through a check list aloud last week, I was going to post a thread about talking to yourself when on board solo. I am told that talking a task through wears off after a month at sea. There's a super-sense that that comes sailing with me, a sort of djinn sitting on the shoulder, making comments and asking questions. On land, he's probably there as well, but I am more aware of him at sea - and even on the mooring.

Definitely not madness, just you getting in touch with your atavistic self

 

[MoodySabre]

I find that I stop thinking about all the day to day rubbish that is usually in your head. The singularity of purpose brings about a heightened sense of being.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

"Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking", Malcolm Gladwell: is a book that explores the gut feeling and demonstrates that we have this built in situational perception that is constantly evaluating the situations we are in, especially at a speed that we could not consciously replicate. We probably have tuned out from it as part of modern living but it would have been a very necessary survival trait a long time ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Is it just me or do you occasionally get the feeling you are not alone, shadow over your shoulder in the corner of your eye, little voice in your ear telling you to check something ... or is it merely the onset of madness ;-)

Martín Alonso Pinzón (the Pilot of the Pinta) can't be on your boat, he's on mine. Maybe ghosts can have multiple incarnations.

 

[savageseadog]

Guilt complex in operation

 

[stevebrassett]

Signs of madness:-

1. Talking to yourself.

2. Arguing with yourself.

3. Sitting in sullen silence, refusing to talk to yourself.

 

[Seajet]

Pilots - even aces like the late great Test Pilot John Farley - have mentioned this too and reckon it has saved their lives on more than one occasion.

 

[PeteCooper]

I have experienced many situations when alone on a variety of boats where 'something just felt wrong' and although I won't claim it has saved my life it has helped to improve the situation.

 

[DownWest]

Everybody talks to themselves, just some do it aloud.

And quite a few of the latter live in France..... Not me, I hasten to add ;o)

As for the little guy on one's shoulder, pointing out one's mistakes. Very useful.

 

[Kukri]

Only when single handed. Maybe the part of our brain that does “interaction with humans” finds another task?

 

[alant]

Is it just me or do you occasionally get the feeling you are not alone, shadow over your shoulder in the corner of your eye, little voice in your ear telling you to check something ... or is it merely the onset of madness ;-)

Its Alexa.

 

[coveman]

Neptune?

 

[Quandary]

I can only recall it once, we were in Portpatrick in our Achilles 24 after only our second or third trip across channel and it was getting windy, I decided that I would not subject my wife and kids (the youngest was just walking) to a scary crossing that might put them off for good so sent them to Larne on the ferry promising I would come home when things quietened down, as soon as they were gone I set off. Once clear of the Galloway coast, while it was already getting dark, the sea was not as bad as I anticipated but it was very murky and wet, (this was long before boats had sprayhoods). Progress was desperately slow, I just had dead reckoning and an RDF so there was plenty of doubt and uncertainty.
Hours passed, I was really miserable, then someone joined me, I thought she was female because of her voice but while I never saw her or really understood what she said, she cheered me up. The loom of the Maidens light appeared on the clouds to starboard and I was eventually able to get a bearing on the light itself, as soon as I had my true position my companion was gone.
I told the story in the club and was ridiculed on cross channel passages for years but who ever she was I was not prepared to deny her.

 

[mdonnelly]

One dark winters night I was out sailing solo. All was well until I heard whistling from down below. I nearly messed my trousers as I peered through the companionway into the darkness. It turned out to be somebody whistling on Channel 16!

 

[Balbas]

My "lizard brain" is definitely active when I'm about to do something stupid and often stops me for just a fraction of a second - *usually* long enough for the normal part of my brain to catch up.

I don't know if I have a silent companion, but if I do I should imagine he spends most of his time silently tutting and shaking his head.

 

[solent clown]

I can only recall it once, we were in Portpatrick in our Achilles 24 after only our second or third trip across channel and it was getting windy, I decided that I would not subject my wife and kids (the youngest was just walking) to a scary crossing that might put them off for good so sent them to Larne on the ferry promising I would come home when things quietened down, as soon as they were gone I set off. Once clear of the Galloway coast, while it was already getting dark, the sea was not as bad as I anticipated but it was very murky and wet, (this was long before boats had sprayhoods). Progress was desperately slow, I just had dead reckoning and an RDF so there was plenty of doubt and uncertainty.
Hours passed, I was really miserable, then someone joined me, I thought she was female because of her voice but while I never saw her or really understood what she said, she cheered me up. The loom of the Maidens light appeared on the clouds to starboard and I was eventually able to get a bearing on the light itself, as soon as I had my true position my companion was gone.
I told the story in the club and was ridiculed on cross channel passages for years but who ever she was I was not prepared to deny her.

beautiful.

 

[Seajet]

Quandary,

I know Portpatrick very well by observation having had many a night in The Crown, ( or second choice FernhillI ) when attending aircraft trials at the nearby West Freugh range -I always requested a room with a sea view - the other way looks over the graveyard !

Though one can see Ireland from there on a good day, I don't fancy the entrance at all in stiff conditions, I should think the comical RDF newbies would be amazed by now would be the least of your concerns !

One quiet night sailing past the Nab around the south of the Isle of Wight, I and schoolfriend crew both distinctly heard the creak of oars - as in a big rowing boat like a ship's gig; we checked it wasn't the boom in the gooseneck, and could both hear it clearly, but the vis' was clear - the sort of night it never really gets that dark.

On a return trip from Fecamp, ditto only RDF and a pretty stiff F6-7 all the way across in quite big seas, both crew had disappeared below with fatigue and seasickness; as we approached the Nab I banged on the hatch asking for an RDF fix and a shattered figure appeared telling me in quite forthright terms what I could do with my RDF !

I had no autohelm and was very fatigued myself, so made the near - fatal, common mistake of ' seeing what I wanted to see ' - when a strong feeling, almost a voice over my shoulder, said ' beware ' - I'd been heading straight for Selsey rocks, thinking it was the Nab light.