Cell phones on Watch

[Finally Fun Again]

Books on tape for long passages are wonderful! Prevents boredom while one is free to SEE and still HEAR even at night while on watch. I also use a small kitchen timer clipped to my shirt and set/re-set every 15 minutes in case I nod off....alarm wakes one up!!!

 

[eagle419]

Books on tape for long passages are wonderful! Prevents boredom while one is free to SEE and still HEAR even at night while on watch. I also use a small kitchen timer clipped to my shirt and set/re-set every 15 minutes in case I nod off....alarm wakes one up!!!

Speaking of timers etc., I reckon hard wired watch alarms are a good thing.

Here's our 'Watch Commander' which is usually set at 20 minutes. The first warning is a silent flashing light, next a beeping sound, finally a very loud siren, waking the off-watch crew who are rarely impressed.

Resetting requires getting out of the very comfortable helm chair and crossing to the chart table.

 

[Simi 60]

I simply use the countdown alarm built into the phone and or watchdog on opencpn.

 

[Medic]

This is an interesting thread because in about 8-10 days I will be starting a journey north on the Upper Mississippi, Cairo, IL to Minneapolis, MN (actually Stillwater, MN). When aboard my previous boat, and while at sea, the person at the helm very frequently would read a book or whatever. Couldn't text because it was not possible. We also had one of four monitors set up to play DVDs. Once every 20 minutes a pretty quiet alarm went off and the helm person would scan the horizon, check the radar, check the AIS, check the gauges, etc. It was darker than dark at night, we were moving at 6.8 knots (a sweet spot for fuel), and the highlight of a shift was if we had a cruise ship or other big ship, on radar. STILL, ON MY UPCOMING TRIP, WITH MY 27 YEAR OLD SON, THERE WILL BE NO CELL PHONES AT ALL AT THE HELM. Many of his generation could look down and not even think to look up for hours. He will only be at the helm while I close my eyes for maybe 10 minutes of each hour, and I'll be literally less than 18" away, but still...........

 

[Medic]

Oh, and when that "pretty quiet alarm" went off the person at the helm had 15 seconds to get up (it was purposely a few feet away from the helm chair) and shut it off or the world's loudest alarm woke up and scared the feces out of everyone less than about 10 nautical miles away.

 

[rgano]

Good luck on the Mississippi in its current state of unrest.

 

[Imp]

When aboard my previous boat, and while at sea, the person at the helm very frequently would read a book or whatever. Couldn't text because it was not possible. We also had one of four monitors set up to play DVDs. Once every 20 minutes a pretty quiet alarm went off and the helm person would scan the horizon, check the radar, check the AIS, check the gauges, etc. It was darker than dark at night, we were moving at 6.8 knots (a sweet spot for fuel), and the highlight of a shift was if we had a cruise ship or other big ship, on radar. STILL, ON MY UPCOMING TRIP, WITH MY 27 YEAR OLD SON, THERE WILL BE NO CELL PHONES AT ALL AT THE HELM. Many of his generation could look down and not even think to look up for hours. He will only be at the helm while I close my eyes for maybe 10 minutes of each hour, and I'll be literally less than 18" away, but still...........

Though my late skipper & I were voracious readers during daylight, we never read after dark while on watch because the light would have affected our night vision. At the rate cruise ships, freighters & other sea-traveling denizens travel, 20 minutes is quite a stretch to be otherwise occupied. We did 360's every 10 minutes or less & always kept a wary eye on the radar screen. I never found night watch boring, though, & in fact often extended my time extra hours to give the skipper more sleep. I still miss the cozy solitude in the cockpit, & those amazing night skies that made me feel I could reach up & touch the stars. When I returned to land life one of my most difficult adjustments was looking up from my bed only to view the confining white ceiling.

 

[Imp]

When you get two things that require one sense, like driving and texting, it doesn't work for anyone. Much easier to drive and talk on speaker phone.

It's been a few years since I last read the stats, but as I recall, using a speaker phone while driving is nearly as likely to be fatal as holding the phone to your ear. Both are unnecessary dangerous distractions. A while back I spied a guy in a pickup who had just traversed the Neuse River bridge in New Bern take the immediate turn afterward while holding a cigarette in his left hand & a phone in his right. I always wondered what body part was steering & whether he was kin to the fellow I'd seen light up while pumping gas at Walmart.

 

[psneeld]

Distracted driving, boat or otherwise, is the problem.....not an object.


That is why some conversations make handsfree driving dangerous too.



Without a disciplined watchstander ANYTHING can be a dangerous distraction.