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hi to everybody

I

ilbianconiglio

New member
hi there,
i'm the new one in forum, i guess, writin' from italy so my apologies for my uncorrect sailwords-english (just trying to improve day by day but it's not so simple...:)

i'm reading a book about singlehanded sailing and i used to sail with a friend of mine on a stainless steel schooner, so i feel comfortable in doublehanded sailing; i'd like to try to singlehand but some points look not so clear to me,as sleeping behaviour Would i train myself day by day (or whenever i sail) in partial sleeping?
it's better some partially rest during the night?
...and on the other side, to supply power to an autohelm 1000 (for a 9 mt.boat) wich kind of solar panel should i use?i'm suppose to sail in mediterranean where self-steering (by "wind helm") cannot work

thanks in advance
 
Hi Ilbian (I'm guessing that's your first name)

The generally accepted sleeping technique for singlehanders is to take short 20 minute naps as frequently as possible. Any longer than that and the brain goes into deep sleep which is difficult to wake up from easily, futhermore it allows large ships to creep up over the horizon and get within collision distance. So take lots of 20 minute naps whenever you can, whenever the boat allows it. I usually start taking them in the early afternoon of the first day out so that by the time it gets dark my mind is already accustomed to the procedure. Don't worry if you don't fall asleep during the 20 minutes, just lying down and resting is beneficial. Eventually your body will learn to drop into sleep quickly and wake up quickly. This may take a few days though. Make sure you carry a couple of reliable timers with loud alarms to wake you up.

As for what solar panel you should get, it would be hard to answer without knowing more about the power drain of your autohelm. But a good rule of thumb is to get the largest panels you can possibly put on the boat, because it probably is not going to supply all your power needs anyway. Even if it did, you are still going to have to worry about what to do when you have cloud cover for days at a time. The question then becomes, 'how often are you going to need to run the engine to charge the batteries?' (Or if you have no engine, how much time must I self-steer because I'm conserving power?)

There are others that have more experience with totally using solar on small boats, perhaps they can respond.

Mark/Alchera
 
Hi Ilbian,

You're doing better with English than I'd do with Italian. Mark's advice about sleep strategies is pretty much what many of us do within 200 miles of a coast and near shipping lanes. In mid-ocean, I rely on AIS and radar with a guard zone set at around 20 miles and sleep when I'm tired.

Why won't a wind vane work in the Mediterrian?

I rely more on my engine to charge the batteries than solar. As mark said, any cloud cover or shade from the rig and sails really reduces the charge out of a solar panel.

Best of luck to you.

Bill Merrick
 
My own personal routine is to do as Mark suggested and get as many 20-25 minute naps as I can during the day. With practice you'll get good at waking up, looking around for a minute or two and then going right back to sleep. I don't sleep any more than that when I'm within 150-200 miles of California because of the shipping. I have occasionally slept more than that when the fog is so thick that even if I was awake I couldn't avoid a collision with a ship.

That's sort of a fatalistic attitude, I suppose.

I keep up that routine while doing longer passages but when I'm more than 200 miles off the California coast I try to get 90 minutes of sleep between midnight and 3:00 AM. Staying asleep for 90 minutes allows you to get into REM sleep, stay there, and then come out of it again and that makes a big difference in overall alertness. For my body, it's not crucial to get that 90 minutes for a 2-3-4 day trip but on a trip that is longer than that, it's really important.

I have noticed that for me, there's a really big difference between getting an hour of sleep and getting 90-120 minutes.

I know, myself that I can keep this routine of naps and 90 minute sleeps for about 6 days. At that point I have to get about 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep or I lapse into serious stupidity and feel really sick.
 
thanks for suggestions,i'm gonna do my best to make some practice;
i've got few infos about autohelm1000 (in charge on a boat of a friend of mine) but i'll look forward about rigid-solar panels (and prices,too!!) and wich kind of autonomy they have in order to run an autopilot like that.

Probably, a wind vane in mediterranean could work(i've seen just a pair of samples as aries or mustafà by malingri, but always set up on boats going out mediterranean and facing trade winds) but i'm pretty sure that it needs an on-going setting at least because we're facing often changing wind. I would like to have much infos about wind vane and their prices;any suggestion about?

thanks and goodbye

p.s. ilbianconiglio means "thewhiterabbit" (comin' from the wonderland tale, of course) roughtly translated; somebody tells that rabbit it's an ominous on boat but here we're still on land and that one is off every misfortune of course ;)
 
So, White Rabbit, what is your name?

Regarding wind vanes. I suspect that the reasons you may not be seeing many of them in the Med is that they arn't as easy to use as autopilots. In addition, they are not particularly useful on short day sails with many tacks and they require a higher level of skill in sail trim. They do, however, offer an alternative to constantly feeding a battery bank to supply an amp gobbling autopilot and hand steering.

In some cases, the wind vane may also serve as an emergency rudder if the main rudder breaks.

The most respected and recommended wind vane seems to be the Monitor although other well-known models have very ardent fans. The smart move if you're thinking about getting a wind vane is to select the model you want and then shop for a used unit in good condition. A new wind vane, with the emergency rudder option will cost $4,000 to $5,000 US. A used unit will probably cost about half that. It's not unusual to see wind vanes offered for sale that are over 5 years old but have never been installed on a boat. In other words, they're new. This is old technology that is fairly unwanted except by singlehanded racers and cruisers.

Good Luck
 
Seeing as you are in the EU, I would suspect that the Monitor windvane may be considered a bit 'exotic' and if a autohelm 1000 steers your boat I am suspecting it is a smaller vessel. probably a good bet to look for a european-built piece of equipment,especially if in the used market., I had a Navik which steered my previous boat well, or you might consider a Windpilot self-steerer - both of which are built over there.

Jim/Haulback
 
...and there's also the Aries which seems to work well for smaller boats - now made in Denmark, with spares from the U.K. for the older model (plenty around which you could probably pick up 2nd-hand) ...
Would you hope to sail outside the Med at some point??
Ciao!
 
good suggestions, i'll try to find info's about wich wind vane (used) fits for my purpose; the boat-not mine yet but it's going to be mine within next winter, as i hope-is a small 9 meters, built in espana during the 70's, with a moderate overhanged stern, good stem (not cutted as i often see today in our harbours), quite well balanced. Nowadays i sail with a friend of mine on a 50ft.schooner where an autohelm5000 works quite well and he suggested me to use the 1000' for a boat of 27ft. is strong enought

She's supposed to sail inshore but i've read about some guys rounding the world with that boat so probably it worths more than it seems.I'd like to spend some time sailing around here in mediterranean, full of amazing place to sail and to visit. Furthermore, i don't even think about myself as an oceanic/singlehanderv seaman, just tryin' to make experience and experience and then see what's gonna happen

we usually say "good wind", so i do
bye

p.s. as requested, my name is marco :):o
 
My undertanding is that the Navik is no longer in production. Plastimo no longer ships parts. Even the UK-based suppliers can't sell me replacement parts and their backstock is depleted. BOO!

It's a great product, I have no idea why they discontinued it.
 
Sleeping durng SSTP

I want to know a little more about sleeping during the SSTP or coast passages. Does one do a little practice run at home over the weekend to figure out what the best sleep pattern is or does one just start the race and decide now is a good time to start sleeping the 20 minute schedule? I wouldn't think the race is a good time to find out if one is Owl or Lark as the article suggests. Any thoughts.
 
pfschmidt said:
I want to know a little more about sleeping during the SSTP or coast passages. Does one do a little practice run at home over the weekend to figure out what the best sleep pattern is or does one just start the race and decide now is a good time to start sleeping the 20 minute schedule? I wouldn't think the race is a good time to find out if one is Owl or Lark as the article suggests. Any thoughts.
Click to expand...
Hello and here's what I did when I started racing single handed. I don't know your experience but the first race tackled should be an overnighter. That way you can gradually build up confidence in small steps. The schedule here in Southern California is a race a month during the full moon starting off with an overnighter, than a 100 miler than a 700 miler (every other year, SHTP qualifier). With the first two under your belt and a couple of offshore excursions by yourself the confidence builds unbelievably fast.
Without radar I set my timer for every 30 minutes so that I could just sit up and scan the horizon. That's the time it takes for a ship to hit you from the time you sight the light of a 100 foot mast until it hits you at approximately 30 knots (depending on your height). Hopefully he's doing less than 30 knots.
It's easy to just sit up, take a 360 degree look around and go back to sleep for 30 minutes. Once you get a couple of hundred miles offshore you can relax and that comes naturally. Ships don't follow the same course that we do. That's what works for me. Hope this input from a first timer helps.

Rich
Horizon
Contessa 26
--------------
 
pfschmidt said:
I want to know a little more about sleeping during the SSTP or coast passages. Does one do a little practice run at home over the weekend to figure out what the best sleep pattern is or does one just start the race and decide now is a good time to start sleeping the 20 minute schedule? I wouldn't think the race is a good time to find out if one is Owl or Lark as the article suggests. Any thoughts.
Click to expand...

Anyone doing the STP must have already done a 400 mile qualifier, so that's a good time to get an idea of what sleep patterns will work, since that's at least three days and nights usually. I doubt if practicing at home would help out very much, since you aren't subject to the same demands of sailing a boat 24/7 at the same time, so the fatigue and stress factors would not be similar. As for coastal passages, I find that is a completely different can of worms, unless you are well enough offshore. I'm not comfortable going to sleep anywhere close to the shore because of the local fishing traffic and hard bits of land to run into if I should fall asleep longer than I intended.

- Mark
 
pfschmidt said:
I want to know a little more about sleeping during the SSTP or coast passages. Does one do a little practice run at home over the weekend to figure out what the best sleep pattern is or does one just start the race and decide now is a good time to start sleeping the 20 minute schedule? I wouldn't think the race is a good time to find out if one is Owl or Lark as the article suggests. Any thoughts.
Click to expand...



If you have AIS enabled, that will definitely help you to sleep safely for longer (with an alarm set) - but only when well offshore since, as already mentioned, when close to shore, it's a different kettle of fish - too much traffic to relax/sleep for long periods. Whether you're Owl or Lark is really irrelevant - you do what you have to do to be safe.....

Enjoy!

Jeanne
Cape Town
 
pfschmidt said:
I want to know a little more about sleeping during the SSTP or coast passages. Does one do a little practice run at home over the weekend to figure out what the best sleep pattern is or does one just start the race and decide now is a good time to start sleeping the 20 minute schedule? I wouldn't think the race is a good time to find out if one is Owl or Lark as the article suggests. Any thoughts.
Click to expand...

Summer 2007 I did my 400-mile offshore qualifier (it took me 4 tries to get it behind me). One of the most surprising things I learned was the CUMULATIVE affect of sleep deprivation. It wasn't too bad on day one or two...but by day 4 my 20-minute watch cycle was leaving me pretty fried. My whole experience narrowed to a tunnel vision view of my tasks. I was able to do what was needed, but I feel that I missed much of the experience.

Mark is correct…the qualifier will show you what this means for you…your body, your boat, and your frame of mind.

My 20-minute watch cycle was prompted by a little windup egg timer. I tried the fancy electronic ones, but they do not survive the salt and the occasional drop to the cabin sole. And I used mine even when awake…just to prompt a horizon sweep and to keep me on my toes.

Richard
Libations Too
Pearson 323
 
By the way, if anyone wants a great timer for this sort of thing, get the 'Screaming Meanie'. I've got three of these on the boat I use for TransPacs. One I keep next to me on low alarm volume, then one out of reach at middle volume, then one in the middle of the boat at the highest volume. It's pretty impossible to sleep through one at the highest volume.

http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?Item=MEANIE

- Mark
 
I think it is a bit different for everybody, depending on your mind/body rest requirements. probably best advice is to get out there and try it for yourself - this is the only way I can think of to see what does or does not work.

My first time I was all fired-up over the 20 minute nap cycles business you read so much about, but found that this just made me stupid after a while. Now I just lay down and go to sleep and wake up naturally - about every 1 to 2 hours - then I get up, check course and set of sails, have a walk around on deck to check everything out, and if all is well, go back to sleep. Of course, I (like to think) that I wake up immediately should movement of the boat change or wind pick up etc..

I can go on like this for, quite literally, months at a time.

I know some will give the line that a ship will charge over the horizon and run you down in less than 20 minutes. This is one of the things you have to deal with in your head, before you go offshore by yourself.

Coastal is a bit different....I try to anchor at night if at all possible, failing that I do a long offshore leg and only sleep when I am at least 10 or 15 miles off the beach and heading offshore.

Jim/Haulback
 
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