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Boat Forum / Cruising / July 2008Single handing and watch keeping
Here is a link to a single handers thoughts on watch keeping > http://www.latitude38.com/changes/Changes07-08.html#moonduster A little background on Wayne, An Apple multimillionaire exec who quit to enjoy life. Said to be a little eccentric. Actually, he is probably keeping better watches than crewed boats. Gordon Gordon: That was one of the few honest descriptions of singlehanding I have read. Jon Eisberg who livens up CSBB says much the same thing. I am planning to single hand cruise the east coast next year. That is a much, much tougher situation than a 3000 mile downwind run to the S Pacific. AIS won't help because 95% of the traffic you encounter along the coast will be non-AIS equipped recreational and fishing boats. I believe his point that 150 mile legs are the toughest, but that is exactly what I may be doing. I have done the ICW and I never want to zig zag through Georgia and S Carolina again. So, I guess I will tough it out with the radar alarm watch on and a kitchen timer set at 15 minute intervals. I don't really expect to get much sleep during a 24-36 hour run up the coast. David ... > So, I guess I will tough it out with the radar alarm watch on and a kitchen > timer set at 15 minute intervals. I don't really expect to get much sleep > during a 24-36 hour run up the coast. ... The radar alarm is less than perfect. We recently had a container ship slip through two alarm rings in weather where I would usually be pretty confident of getting a hit. Keep in mind that you need 6 min to do a proper radar plot (by hand) and closing speeds may be ~30 knots. Sleeping 15-20 min between visuals will pretty much guarantee that you'll sleep through some contacts that you ought to plot but the ocean is big and with a little luck you should do okay. I have an AIS system on order so I can't say how well it works, but the idea is good. The largest and fastest targets should be AIS equipped. On our last passage I tried caffeine gum and found it very useful. I used some Canadian Army surplus stuff that tastes terrible to me (bought it through Amazon.com) so there was no chance of an overdose. I found I could reliably control my caffeine dosage so that I had enough to keep me alert through the watch but not so much that it disrupted my sleep. YMMV. But, I was surprised at how well it worked for me. -- Tom. > Here is a link to a single handers thoughts on watch keeping > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Actually, he is probably keeping better watches than crewed boats. > Gordon I made an electronic gizmo with a digital timer that plugs into a deck outlet. It can be set to whatever period one wishes but I chose 1200 seconds or twenty minutes. On the top is a large waterproof pushbutton. If I do not push the top button to stop the count within the twenty minutes, a very loud piezzo alarm sounds which will awaken the dead. I stand up, slowly do a 360 degree scan using mainly peripheral vision, lie down again and press the start button for another countdown. I found that I usually awaken by about the 1180 count. I have found that I can easily do at least 12 to 14 days of this without any mental effects. After that, unless I have a longer deep sleep, my mind starts playing tricks. It is a simple and very effective device to make. I had previously bought a couple of clockwork kitchen timers but found them to be too quiet to ensure that I was awoken. I also have found that the radar is not the complete answer due to rain, squalls and large waves. Hopefully the AIS receiver I installed earlier will provide a not perfect but better answer. After receiving confirmation of Larry's advice that I can install a more powerful piezzo alarm than the little one it was supplied with I bought a truck reversing one ($7) to make it different to the others and thus instantly identifiable. regards. Peter |
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