compulsive typist
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.
1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"
10 - 19 posts
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.
20 - 49 posts
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.Originally Posted by pfschmidt
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
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100 - 199 posts
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
Ocean Navigator
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
20 - 49 posts
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
100 - 199 posts
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...sp?Item=MEANIE
- Mark
100 - 199 posts
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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