Where do you sleep ? Do you anchor when you sleep ? How much sleep do you get ? I have been asked all of these questions on a number of occasions. Every skippers answers will differ. Mine are as follows:
Where do you sleep ?
NINJOD has a lot of space below for sleeping. I use the main saloon area. Either side of the main saloon is a long seat that doubles up as a bunk. Each bunk has a very large lee cloth that stops me falling out when NINJOD is leaning over.
The port (left) side is my dry bunk. It has a waterproof Ocean Sleep Ware sleeping bag and an Ocean Sleep Ware pillow case. The dry bunk is only used when I take all my wet gear off (rarely !!) or am in port.
The starboard (right) side of the main saloon area is my wet bunk. I picked this side because it has the chart table on it and I am very likely to sit at the chart table in wet gear. I spoke with Clare at Ocean Sleep Ware and after some discussion she made me a couple of 2 meter square Ocean Rugs. These are basically micro fleece blankets backed with a waterproof Exeat outer layer. One of the blankets is wrapped around the cushion, the other covers me and moves about the boat as required. I have another Ocean Sleep Ware pillow case this side, these are basically waterproof fleece pillow cases that you can put what you want in. In my case some of my spare clothes live inside them.
The roaming rug is very nice in the cuddy. Over easter while out in the North Sea it started to rain. I sat with the blanket wrapped around me in the cuddy, the waterproof outer backing layer kept me dry.
Very warm, very functional, very comfortable.
Do you anchor when you sleep ?
Nope, I try to keep the boat moving. I have a number of electronic systems and alarms that keep me on course and let me know if anything starts heading towards me. Most of the time NINJOD is steered by its NKE autopilot. The autopilot steers a course relative to the true wind direction. The wind is rarely constant in direction or force, each little knock or gust (lift) is automatically handled by the autopilot. If a large wind shift occurs, something that will change my course significantly, a loud alarm sounds.
How much sleep do you get ?
This varies from skipper to skipper, for me on NINJOD I have system that seems to work well. My alarm clock is a Screaming Meanie 220, it is VERY loud. I try to write a log entry every hour or so and as evenings draw in I use an hourly cycle to manage log entries, watch keeping and sleep.
For example, if I log at 20:00 I then spend the next 30 minutes checking navigation, keeping watch, trimming sails etc. The final 30 minutes of the cycle are spent sleeping in the wet bunk. When the Screaming Meanie sounds at 21:00 I get up, have a quick look about, log and start the process over again.
Obviously conditions dictate a lot of what can be done and when it can be done but this simple routine works well for me. If I get thrown out of sync I do my best to get it back in a routine as quickly as possible. I don’t usually feel tired the following day with this pattern, If I do I pop a 30 minute sleep in during the middle of the afternoon.