Single handing 120 miles out..Challenges and Questions

[unhinged schoolboy]

So...it was time to head out in the new boat and get wet. Leaving lake and bay sailing life behind, I purchased Predict Wind and an Iridium Go Sat phone and began planning trip departures and weather routing runs on the software and watching for a window in Galveston's September storms to make my journey. Despite putting Croatia as my final destination in my journal I only planned a 120 mile SSE location from Google Earth as my destination, this had me beating to the dominant SE Gulf winds and then reaching home. Storms persisted all month and I consulted a virgin Delphi at the oracle of Apollo and got a prediction that said I could sail through a two day possible window of only a few scattered thunder storms an good wind...thanking the virgin, I set my trip in motion.

All was as foretold and Daffy and I found our selfs closed hauled heading out in semi threatening skys playing some head banging music and eating popsiscles pretty much all day. Evening began to roll around and this is where I question the whole...virgin...thing. Things got dark and i found myself throwing reefs in the main and hauling in some jib. 30 knot winds..Boom, just like that. I found out quick that I did not have enough sail up to forereach into the wind and found myself in total anchors, when the wind let Daffy loose we ran south with it for about two hours. When it abated and with the smell of ozone still fresh in our senses from a near lightning strike, we turned back SSE and gleened from our experience over a hot coffee. This was about the time I first started yawning.

Judging my radar at various ranges from oil rigs, I felt I could grab 20 minutes so I set two alarms and took my hand held GPS to bed with me. Waking in stark terror 20 minutes later and getting beat up by Daffy in the companion way i was able to see that we were still ok....not about to be twisted up in an oil rig...Cool. At this point I judged my little naps effect figured I could get a couple more of them in by morning...Another bout of weather dashed that.

By morning I was tired and turned back...reaching all the way home. Fretting every little thing played a heavy toll on me, up and down the companion way 200 times checking this and that..climbing down the hull checking on steering..throug hulls etc was very taxing. I imagine after time the things i sweated wont be as big a deal as i made them to be and i will be relaxed and not consuming a million calories. The sleep I got in was not enough to make up for the intensity level I was working at and I was exhausted when I got back

Any thoughts?

 

[justsomeguy]

Any thoughts?

Sounds like quite an experience. Say no more about the "virgin's" prophesy. Have you consulted the bible on singlehanding?
http://sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition2.pdf

 

[unhinged schoolboy]

i've read several books on single handing, however, I dont think I read Bob's...I'll get it

 

[justsomeguy]

I dont think I read Bob's.

I don't think Bob had anything to do with Andrew's treatise.

 

[JamesG161]

Any thoughts?

Who is WE?
Who is Daffy?
Sounds like you need to learn to "nap" at the Helm.

Radar guard zone timing/distance needs to include, time to recover from...

Waking in stark terror

____
You cannot sleep on Watch or Guard Duty. You are relying on your instrumentation as the "watch"
Jim...

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

single hand offshore, I set a timer at 20 minutes, and sleep, usually in cockpit. Get up check horizon, check sails and course, reset and go back to sleep. That's about the time sleep that many offshore singlanders use. Have done ir successfully crossing the gulf

 

[uncledom]

I set radar alarm at 5 miles, AIS alarm at 4 miles, I set my iphone for a 20 minute nap and I take that nap clipped in. I usually take the low side so my back is against the combing and I only need two or three naps in an 8 hour period. This lets everyone else take the day shifts and get normal sleep. It works great with a two or three man crew.

 

[rgranger]

Who is WE?
Who is Daffy?
Sounds like you need to learn to "nap" at the Helm.

Radar guard zone timing/distance needs to include, time to recover from...


____
You cannot sleep on Watch or Guard Duty. You are relying on your instrumentation as the "watch"
Jim...

I'm guessing Daffy is the name of the boat.

 

[Jackdaw]

Curious - what was your watch/sleeping plan going into this?

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Snip
playing some head banging music and eating popsiscles pretty much all day.
snip
Any thoughts?

Head banging music and popsicles are bad juju. That's where you went wrong.

 

[capta]

Do you have an RF main?
I set my kitchen timer @ 12 minutes (the time it would take for a vessel traveling @ 18 knots and my vessel doing 6 knots, to get close enough to each other that it soon could be a problem, from a perfectly clear horizon from on deck, not the cockpit) when I was single handing. This only failed me once and that was a military vessel traveling a great deal faster than 18 knots. Good thing his radar made a horrific screech each revolution.
Whether singlehanding or not, I usually take a reef on the main at sunset for the night, just on general principles. Not so much on the jib, as it is easy to roll up at any time.
I think it much wiser for a single hander to do his cat napping in the day time rather than at night, as his vessel is much more visible to other vessels and there is much less chance of being run down in daylight.

 

[rgranger]

Curious... who here advocates a hove-to for cat napping?

 

[Jackdaw]

Curious... who here advocates a hove-to for cat napping?

You have to develop a pattern/system where you can sail while napping. Thats the entire purpose.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Curious... who here advocates a hove-to for cat napping?

No single-handers.

The idea of sleeping while sailing alone just feels wrong, however, what can you do? You have to sail and you have to sleep. Just don't do it inshore or in busy shipping lanes.

I think it much wiser for a single hander to do his cat napping in the day time rather than at night, as his vessel is much more visible to other vessels and there is much less chance of being run down in daylight.

I'm skeptical of that idea. At night, everyone out on the open water has their radar on and are using it, they plan for encounters with passing vessels. During the daytime, they pay less attention because they can see and don't consider that the other guy isn't looking. They may have their radar on, but they aren't using it.
I know there is that sentiment towards single-handers that some sailors express, "I'm tired of standing their watches." But really, who is out there standing the single-hander's watches, 20 miles off shore at 1am in the morning? In my experience, it's the commercial shrimpers and cargo ships. It is pretty rare to come across another pleasure vessel offshore at night.

20 minute naps seem like a long time to not have a look around though. I suspect that is a fairly common segment of time among single-handers. While sailing offshore somewhere north of Jacksonville, I recall seeing a set of running lights on the eastern horizon and only a few minutes later (maybe 10) we were being hailed to prepare to be boarded by a coasty 82. I remember how amazed I was at the speed with which she was suddenly on our stern. Those 82' cutters traveled somewhere between 18 and 24 knots, so a fast fishing boat could also do that.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Will Gilmore]

Evening began to roll around and this is where I question the whole...virgin...thing.

Those Pythians are notorious for sending mixed signals. Remember the king of Lydia consulted the Pythian Apollo before going to war against Athens and was told he and his soldiers would march across the desert in heavy boots. The king took this as a good sign. It turned out the heavy boots where shackles and they marched across the desert as prisoners of war. I also noticed you made no mention of making an offering to the temple. Could this be a 'you get what you paid for' situation?
BTW. Awesome adventure. I admire what you are trying to do.


-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Kings Gambit]

This all sounds reminiscent of the typical CF of a novice in a new boat "heading out" to nowhere special. Advice. Learn more about cruising and weather issues b/f trying a trip across the GOM, or to that "ultimate" destination across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[Jackdaw]

First of all, when you are single-handed passage making, you have to accept that you are breaking one of the primary mariner's tenants; that someone is ALWAYS on watch.

Once you accept that you have to manage risk vs the fundamental need for humans to sleep. The widely accepted best practice is to take 30 minute cat-naps when you can. Day and night. You need to because you cannot cap-nap enough only at night. Normally in a bean bag near the companionway. You set one or two 30 minute timers. You also have AIS and RADAR directors on, as well as broadcasting AIS. If risk condition warrant you forgo a sleep session and wait until things are better. You rig the boat and sail plan for the worst possible conditions expected while you nap.

 

[Ron20324]

... Good thing his radar made a horrific screech each revolution.

That wasn't his radar- it was the collision alarm They installed them after that nasty incident at the lighthouse.

 

[uncledom]

I think it much wiser for a single hander to do his cat napping in the day time rather than at night, as his vessel is much more visible to other vessels and there is much less chance of being run down in daylight.

I usually sleep through out the day and night in 20 minute increments when single handing. If not I just do 20 minute cat naps and 4 or more hours at a time during the day if with crew. Single handing is tough for long periods and I would rather have crew (friends) aboard rather than cat nap the whole trip. I'm pretty sure you can get volunteers easily enough if you need help sailing multiple days rather than risk going it alone.

 

[JRT]

Honestly I'm lost on his English.