Running at Night

I've always done 2hr shifts, whether I had 4 persons onboard or just 2. Day and night both. I don't remember why I decided that, but it seems to have worked out fine over the years. And I really love cruising at night. Of course, cruising sedately at 8 knots is a lot more relaxing and allows more time to react than in a higher speed boat at double that speed.

I absolutely love running at night, but only in good weather and not in highly frequented waters.
Watch shifts ad libitum, usually about 2 hours, depending on personal weariness.
Arriving the harbour in the morning hours, after the first boats have already left, is a welcome benefit of night-runs.
On some legs we could start really early in the morning and will still be too late for a nice dock/slip in the targeted harbour,
this silly race for dock-space is much more tiring than running at night.
But other cruising grounds might require different tactics.


Approaching Danish island Bornholm at sunrise, Baltic Sea, 2006

Here was our experiance running at night. Would rather have had a crew of 4. I will not run at night once I am cruising the inside passage, too many logs and deadheads. The biggest issue on the west coast are crab traps.....

The Alaskan Sea-Duction: The Big Voyage

GeorgS said:

I absolutely love running at night, but only in good weather and not in highly frequented waters.

Watch shifts ad libitum, usually about 2 hours, depending on personal weariness.

Arriving the harbour in the morning hours, after the first boats have already left, is a welcome benefit of night-runs.

On some legs we could start really early in the morning and will still be too late for a nice dock/slip in the targeted harbour,

this silly race for dock-space is much more tiring than running at night.

But other cruising grounds might require different tactics.

Approaching Danish island Bornholm at sunrise, Baltic Sea, 2006

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Beautiful shot and nice looking boat. Is it a custom build or production boat? Any more photos of the boat?

BobH said:

I guess it depends on what you mean by "going to sea". If you are crossing oceans, I agree, only two would be risky. But going up and down the coast I don't see it being a problem since there should be places to bail out. Doing the ICW at night, for me, absolutely not, no matter how many people on board.

Bob

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Sure, I don't disagree......especially singe night runs into the second day afternoon....

As I said...just be ready for the consequences...which can be as simple as a turn and short run to a safe dock/anchorage.

The problem with fatigue...it is actually worse than alcohol use....at least by some that have studied both ad nauseum. The second to fatigue is loss of attention due to boredom and complacency.

So you don't realize just what you are doing sometimes till the paradigm shift catches up and you are on the rocks or worse.

As far as the ICW...that's a matter of comfort level. If something serious happens...in most places help is only minutes and at worst a few hours away.

Thanks, Cardude! It's a Pedro Donky 30, please look here PedroBoat - Pedro Boat - Models for further informations.
Most boats built in the Netherlands are semi-custom - we specified an oversized chart-table and keel-cooling for instance.


Another shot from 2006, as we don't have this boat anymore.
"Butt" means "flatfish", just to avoid questionable questions from the beginning ;-)

psneeld said:

Sure, I don't disagree......especially singe night runs into the second day afternoon....

As I said...just be ready for the consequences...which can be as simple as a turn and short run to a safe dock/anchorage.

The problem with fatigue...it is actually worse than alcohol use....at least by some that have studied both ad nauseum. The second to fatigue is loss of attention due to boredom and complacency.

So you don't realize just what you are doing sometimes till the paradigm shift catches up and you are on the rocks or worse.

As far as the ICW...that's a matter of comfort level. If something serious happens...in most places help is only minutes and at worst a few hours away.

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Wholeheartedly agree about this sentence: "The second to fatigue is loss of attention due to boredom and complacency.". But that's a problem not only present when running at night.

I routinely make the Michigan to Wisconsin crossing of Lake Michigan solo at night. (Much preferred to solo daylight in dense fog, which I've also done a couple of times). Virtually no traffic except for the big lakers and they're impossible to miss on the radar. On one occasion I lost a raw water pump on one of the engines while enroute....punched on the autopilot heading hold, pushed up the power lever for the second engine to maintain my schedule, and went below to replace the pump. Popped up every ten minutes to scan the horizon for lights, and check the radar. Essentials are coffee, radar, chart plotter, autopilot, two engines, and a good forecast of winds and waves from Passageweather. A moon is a big bonus. Overall trip is eleven hours (day/night). I'm pretty amped up when I'm alone out there in the dark...no problem staying alert for a single overniter. More than one nite/day would be another story.

GeorgS said:

Thanks, Cardude! It's a Pedro Donky 30, please look here PedroBoat - Pedro Boat - Models for further informations.
Most boats built in the Netherlands are semi-custom - we specified an oversized chart-table and keel-cooling for instance.

Another shot from 2006, as we don't have this boat anymore.
"Butt" means "flatfish", just to avoid questionable questions from the beginning ;-)

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Very cool! Thanks for the pic!

Not sure if I would want to try to maintain all the teak on that other boat. Holy moly!

Age and routine play another factor.

Those that routinely stay up late and live on below normal levels of sleep will due better. Or that are currently on a night shift at work or even a shifted "retired" schedule.

Youth also allows more fleibility.

On overnight passages we do two hour shifts from 10 pm to 6 am if there are two of us. If there are four of us, then we do three hour shifts in a way that one person is replaced every 1/1-2 hours.

Since these are generally just overnights or 48 hour trips, sleep is caught up on during the day when it is easier for one person to be on watch.

Again...an overnight is doable for most people.

Lack of sleep has many different effects on people and individuals are effected differently.

But it takes weeks of cycle change to effect any effect and there is no "banking" sleep or getting a good rhythm by trying to catch up when you aren't used to that rhythm.

The scientific study that confirms all of that was doe by the USCG, the Army, and NASA as well as others. It may be about 14 years old at this point but I haven't read anything more current.

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5211/docs/GuideForMaritimeOperations.pdf

Could there be new evidence? Sure but I haven't seen it yet.

Even if you don't do an "overnight" passage, you can still make up miles by leaving before sun up and travelling a couple hours after dark. At 7.5Kts this is a no brainer. an extra 30 miles per day with a nap or two in the middle of the day. A good way to get used to running after dark without a total commitment. The people who anchor would like this method. Marina cruisers, maybe not so much unless in south Fl where marinas are every mile.

Sailor of Fortune said:

Even if you don't do an "overnight" passage, you can still make up miles by leaving before sun up and travelling a couple hours after dark. At 7.5Kts this is a no brainer. an extra 30 miles per day with a nap or two in the middle of the day. A good way to get used to running after dark without a total commitment. The people who anchor would like this method. Marina cruisers, maybe not so much unless in south Fl where marinas are every mile.

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Yes. Great advice. Same goes for running in bad weather, heavy seas, big winds, fog, dark, etc.

Start with a little at a time.

As a side note - One of the coolest things about cruising at night is the chance of seeing phosphorescence. It doesn't happen often, but when it does -it is absolutely amazing.
I've seen a really good show of phosphorescence only once, but I'll remember it forever.
For those who haven't had the chance, it' is jaw dropping, like watching a really good show Aroura Borealis (Northern Lights) but in the water.


Tough to explain - Here's a vid which gives an indication.


Sorry for the diversion - Back to sleep deprivation.

For those of us hitting the Alaska waters in the summer, 18 hour days are very easy to do, but with great stops every 20 or 30 miles not much need to do so. I've a friend who does Port Townsend to Ketchican or Juneau non stop thus avoiding the need to clear Canada customs. Seymour Narrows is the primary timing issue (to get a sleigh ride either way), discounting the weather of course.

But not singlehanded for all those boaters I know, debris watch is pretty important in a few spots.

I'm really glad to see there's sailors who enjoy night runs - I not infrequently do it for sport - different and interesting perspective on nearly every aspect of boating.

As to watches - stood 6/6 as a routine on submarines - then got associated with the brown water navy that preferred the grunts' 2/2. I seemed to prefer the 2/2 as did a lot of people more accustomed to the 6/6 or 4/4 of the haze grey navy. Maybe for the reasons referred to by Wayfarer

Great discussion.

AusCan said:

As a side note - One of the coolest things about cruising at night is the chance of seeing phosphorescence. It doesn't happen often, but when it does -it is absolutely amazing.
I've seen a really good show of phosphorescence only once, but I'll remember it forever.
For those who haven't had the chance, it' is jaw dropping, like watching a really good show Aroura Borealis (Northern Lights) but in the water.

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The phosphorescent glow-show has been amazing lately here in the Persian Gulf. Perhaps its the cold water with the change of seasons? Big, giant pieces of glowing "things" that the kids love to collect.

Even the best boaters can screw up "running" at night. This was last weekend during the Ocean Volvo Race. They hit a shoal/reef going 19 knots in Indian Ocean near Mauritius. No one was hurt.

psneeld said:

Going to sea with a shorthanded crew to begin with is a gamble.

With no flexibility, sea sickness, sickness, injury, excessive fatigue can change things fast.

Not saying don't do it, but be ready for the consequences.

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I totally agree with this. Any plan that doesn't allow for personel replacement is dangerous. I consider 3 the minimun and 4 optimum. However, I tend to operate with an abundance of caution. So far it has stood me in good stead.

Most I have done is 23 days 24/7 with only two of us, (pacific crossing) but other shorter passages too. We started with 4 on 4 off, but always tuned it up for the day, how we were feeling, the weather etc.

Probably ended up tending more towards longer shifts than shorter ones as by the time one got below, wet gear off, and got to bed a short shift ended up with little more than a nap which is hard to do over multiple days.

With only two people it can get a bit solitary, as you are not both up at the same time for many hours in the day.

Shorter passages (measured in a few days), we did some runs that ended up as a few 2 - 3 hr naps in a 24 hour period, but that can only be maintained short term. It is amazing how much a lack of sleep catches up with your judgement and mental acuity.

I would imagine that half of my boating experience has been at night. On the Western Rivers and Inland Waterways on commercial towboats the watches are split 6 on 6 off with the Capt. taking the "front" watch (6-12) and the pilot taking the "back watch" (12-6). I always enjoyed the "back watch" during the midnight to six in the a.m. period there were little or no distractions- no cook coming up and complaining about something, no calls from the dispatchers changing orders, no deck personnel whining about there girlfriends-just you and the river.
As mentioned above, your body does adjust- to this day I only sleep about four hours at a time and really try to take a nap everyday. I drink coffee black due to not turning on a light to add sugar or cream.

ulysses said:

I always enjoyed the "back watch" during the midnight to six in the a.m. period there were little or no distractions- no cook coming up and complaining about something, no calls from the dispatchers changing orders, no deck personnel whining about there girlfriends-just you and the river.
As mentioned above, your body does adjust- to this day I only sleep about four hours at a time and really try to take a nap everyday. I drink coffee black due to not turning on a light to add sugar or cream.

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Amen on the 12-6. It does turn into a bit of a vampire watch in the winter, though. At least up north, it does. You're only on watch in the daylight for 4 hours a day. And why, oh why, are the cooks always the source of so much freakin' drama???

What are your hitches like? I find that after a month, 6 and 6 kinda beats me up. Also, I recently gave up most of my coffee habit. I switched to decaf, just for the taste, and I only drink it every once in a while. I've found that the little sleep I do get is much better quality.

Dave:
I have not done any commercial stuff for quite awhile. They were normally supposed to be 30/20 but usually ended up 40/15. The longest was 84/15. I believe the reason the cooks were so drama filled, and this is not meant to be sexist due to many were male, is that they encountered all members of the crew and listened in on all table conversations. There biggest joy was to stir up one watch against the other it seemed. The engineers were typically the easiest to get along with and presented the least amount of trouble, probably because most were either deaf or very hard of hearing.

ulysses said:

They were normally supposed to be 30/20 but usually ended up 40/15. The longest was 84/15...

There biggest joy was to stir up one watch against the other it seemed.

The engineers were typically the easiest to get along with and presented the least amount of trouble, probably because most were either deaf or very hard of hearing.

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84 days of 6 and 6 would be a real killer. No thanks...

I find that many crew members enjoy causing trouble like that. My current Captian also likes to stir the pot. It can make things fun in small doses, but is mostly really annoying.

It's great having an engine crew you can get along with. Makes things so much smoother. There are few things more counterproductive than a 'deck vs engine' mentality. You're literally all in the same boat together...