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Sleep strategy?

S

svShearwater

Shearwater & Spadefoot
Is there already a thread about this somewhere? What sort of strategies have people tried? What's worked? What hasn't?
 
your body can become accustomed to a lot... sleep schedules when racing solo are usually determined by the boat and conditions, not the skipper, from what i've learned. at least if you're sailing hard with a kite up. realistically, given shipping, if you sail the boat conservatively (to where it won't wipe out in a 30-ish knot squall) you can sleep as long as you want. there's nothing to hit on the way to hawaii, including shipping (aside from the first and last night)

20-minute egg timer at night (i actually use an iPhone but carry a non-smart phone back up) and longer naps in the day time when the wind stabilizies.

good luck
 
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The only thing I know is that resilience in the face of lack of sleep is one of the main things that goes as you get older. :(
 
For me this timer (pic) was the second best piece of equipment behind the autohelm. Set it on my chest and crashed.

The first 24 hours you will be wired and awake crossing the shipping lanes and the last 24 you will be excited to finish. In the middle you should sleep in the day as all the action is at night. I took 30-45min naps from sun up to around noon. Then up and eat, chores, emails ect. until around 3-4, then naps again until dusk. Up all night riding the squalls and then repeat the next day.

I did not get rummy until the last few days and only over sleep the alarm twice. As a backup for us old dogs (I am 67) I always drank water before my naps and worst case I knew I would never sleep more than 2 hr before mother nature would wake me up. I was also amazed that while sleeping my subconscious seemed to wake me if it sensed something was wrong with the normal sound and/or movement…..Good luck

IMG_2090.jpg
 
Thanks for the responses. How much are you sleeping below deck versus in the cockpit? I imagine there are times when you really want to sleep, but don't want to be very far from the action.
 
I took a bean bag one year but it didn't really work - I needed to stretch out. Not a problem on Shearwater but spadefoot's cockpit is more like mine.

By the way, a custom for SHTP skippers is to use their boat name as a middle name. Chris might have a problem with that!

Is she going to start posting here?
 
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My ears aren't good enuf for the egg timer or that little timer that Scanmar gives out. My all-band receiver sits right above the head of my bunk. I can set it to come on at any times I want it to. I set the tuner to WWV at LOUD, and the resultant "beep beep beep...." wakes me right up. No way to sleep in Harrier's cockpit, too wet and no way to stretch out. Boat is small enuf that my bunk is handy to the companionway and I can control the mainsheet from there and easily escape topside for more involved corrective activity. When and for how long I sleep is generally dictated by a good maxim for singlehanding: "Never get too tired, it causes you to make mistakes". Off shore, traffic is generally no problem....compared to coastal. The AIS covers us for the big ships and the smaller fishing boats are not normally out where we are. Squalls will generally wake anyone up...perhaps not early enuf, tho.
 
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