can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Defyr - Nightwatch



Greetings from a nightwatch everyone! We have had a really pleasant and easy sailing from Bahamas to Bermuda. Headwind for 4 days, but also sunshine and perfect, moderate winds. So we have only had one person at a time on a watch. And even though we have had more than enough free time between watches, I have sometimes found it hard to stay awake at night. Maybe it's because nothing happens and you know, it's night! Those of you, who sail, already now very well what it's like at the nightwatch, but maybe someone who doesn't, will find this nightwatch-simulation useful.

1. Go to sleep 7 pm even though you are not at all tired. Make sure that family and friends of yours are having a good time in the room beside you. Don't close the door, because you would soon run out of oxygen and be burning hot (you know, cabins in the sailingboats are not that big!). To make things more authentic, switch on some engine like a motorbike, next to your bed. It seems like everytime you go to sleep the batteries need to be charged with the engine, which is situated next to your bed.

2. Ask someone to wake you up at midnight. When the time comes, you have just reached a good sleep. You look at the person who wakes you up, and slowly get the peaces together. Oh, the nightwatch... Yes I know, you would like to crawl back to your bed, but you just have to get up.

3. Lets pretend that your bathroom is the sailingboat. Take your laptop with you and make sure you have for example google maps on. You also need a black screen to resemble the radar. If you see the citylights from the window, put a back sheet or curtains over the window. Conditions should be damp, and if you have a pillow to sit on at your watch, make sure it's a bit wet. Also, make sure that the room is not too warm, it's a bit cold in here by nights. If you want to have a feeling of sailing in the south caribbean, you should take at least one shower with clothes at your nightwatch.

4. Now the actual nightwatch begins. At least every fifteen minutes go and stare out of the window covered with a black sheet. Make sure you see no lights anywhere. No lights? Well same here, almost never any lights. Then go and see google maps, I mean plotter. Make sure your bathroom is still where it's supposed to be and that other ships (blue triangles) are not trying to drive over your bathroom. No, triangles? Then switch to the black screen. Stare at the black screen and see if there is something other than clouds. Well I guess there aren't, at least not here in the Atlantic. So this is the routine for the next three or four hours. Don't fall asleep even though NOTHING interesting happens!

5. Want to sail also? Hang two white sheets in the bathroom ceiling. Go on tightening and loosing the sheets every once in a while. You can also make them bigger and smaller according to the wind. All the time Look up to the bathroom ceiling, where windex is supposed to be. You should mumble some sailingstuff like: "the wind is shifting all the time, why does it have to be that much headwind, don't you dare dying on me wind..." The more you can speak sailing jargon that no one understands, the better!

6. When your watch is over, go and wake your friend or spouse. It's their time to watch out that nothing bad happens to your bathroom. You try to be gentle and use the phrases like "take your time, and have something to eat", even though you actually want to shout them to move on and fast, you want to go to sleep! You brief the one following you. "Keep the same direction we have had all the time, there is nothin on the raydar, no AIS-boats and no visual of anything. Have fun!" You can repeat the nightwatches for several days to get a feeling of a longer sailing.

Actully there are good things in the nightwatch also. Awesome stars and maybe the moon will also light your way. It's really beautifull. And even though you almost never see other boats, you really have to watch out for them. Yesterday night we saw a bigger vessel, that didn't send any AIS signal. So, stay awake and watch hard! :)

In finnish: www.saaressa.com



Previous | Next