What exactly does the Capt expect when you are on nite watch?

[CBinRI]

It appears that you have the right thoughts in mind. Also, if you are on watch alone at night I would strongly suggest that you wear a harness and tether yourself to something.

[Ericscoth]

I love sailing at night. I have done about a weeks worth of overnight passages and I have never felt more one with the boat. I recommend doing watches in pairs if possible , wear an inflatable PFD and stay tethered in the cockpit, know your planned course and heading, keep a good eye out for other ships and know the lights to spot the difference of barage in tow and freighter. If you think the wind will pick up, reef just to be safe and if you have crew enough, 3 hours on and six off work out great. Most of all, enjoy it, there are a lot of sailors out there that never experiance the joy the sailing at night.

[AjariBonten]

Don;t forget to mention the STARS....... OMG, on a clear moonless night, well out of sight of land ........... un-BE-leivable!!!!! Enjoy, there is NOTHING like being out to sea at night ..........

Other than that, ditto all of the above.

[sailaway21]

Makes no difference, ship or boat. The first rule is to call the Captain before things get out of hand. The most common mistake is to not wish to disturb the sleeping Captain or crew. Trust me when I say that most Masters prefer a call, oh say, fifteen minutes prior to your starting to blow the danger signal and certainly well before she's over on her beam ends in a squall. Given that both events are likely to wake him, if not throw him from his bunk, it is much better to call in time for him to maybe have a cuppa jow while contemplating the situation. There is a reason he/she is the Captain, not calling him out in a timely fashion makes him no more use than a passenger as the trouble is already upon the ship. Make 'em earn his money!

If you're to sleep on watch, while single handling, you might as well do it below where you can be comfortable. Setting an alarm clock for periodic trips topside is far better than just nodding off in the cockpit. Nodding off may result in your waking up in fifteen minutes, an hour, with the dawn, or to the sound of rending fiberglas. Decide on an appropriate time interval and use some means to stick to it. Better yet, sleep in the daytime so as to take full advantage of your vessel's greater visibility during daylight hours.

[RickLaPaz]

Originally Posted by Dewey Benson

Rock,

How fun! First night on watch!

I like that list from Mahina Tiare that Tom sent you a link for. Your list was pretty good too.

One note that I feel needs extra attention. the Mahina list say's "keep a 360 degree lookout". I cant stress this enough.

All too often people ignore the stern quarters when on watch. Make sure you look all around the vessel frequently. Here in So-Cal there is a great deal of commercial shipping as well as a hefty Naval fleet. Theese guy's can come up on your stern faster than you can believe. Freighters move at 17 knots or so and can turn from a small dot to overshadowing monstrosity in less time than you will believe.

Dewey

The late evening I spent off of San Diego and TJ while trying to discern the lights from three seperate Carnival ships was freakin' hilarious. The first two passed with a mile of clearance, but the third one was most difficult. On radar he seemed to stay on a collision course for about 15 minutes, despite my 25 degree turn to starboard. The captain was hard to raise on 9 or 16 'cuz the Canadian Navy and our Boys were playing war games somewhere in the area. I made another turn to starboard just to be sure and the captain comes on and says-(insert thick accent of your choice here) "Hey you 56 foot sail boat, why are you f'ing with me? Where are you going?" So in my nicest, most mature voice I could muster, I politely told him to tell his 2,000 passengers to turn off their g-damn cabin lights so I could see his red and green.

To which he told me to get f'd. But he finally did a litle move to his starboard--passed each other with 2000 feet between us..........

[Sailormann]

I encourage the crew to put the coffee on about 15 minutes before they wake me up. Outside of that - tether themselves to the boat and don't hit anything.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by AjariBonten

Don;t forget to mention the STARS....... OMG, on a clear moonless night, well out of sight of land ........... un-BE-leivable!!!!! Enjoy, there is NOTHING like being out to sea at night ..........

Other than that, ditto all of the above.

I can only agree, its one of the best times at sea, turn off the auto pilot and pick a bright star and hand steer by it rather than the compass, garenteed you will not fall asleep and time dose fly. (regularly check the compass, stars do move)

[Raggbagger]

Night watch is my favorite especially if your on right before dawn , you get the stars and the sunrise . Now if your out far enough away from land and light polution I think this will be your favorite too . As far as responsibilities go , everything mentioned above is good in particular make coffee for the next guy and or a sandwich . I think it puts the person coming on duty in a frame of mind that fosters an enthusiasm to stay awake and look after you whyle your sleeping . Simply enough take care of fellow crew they take care of you .

[nolatom]

Good advice all.

Keep a small waterproof flashlight with a red filter (or tape a piece of red plastic shopping bag on the bezel) in your pocket always. And another brighter white one for checking the sails or lighting them up if traffic nearby needs to see you. I dive, so the 4xAAA or 4xAA dive lights, respectively, work well and aren't too bulky for a pocket.