SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Sleeping underway risk

8K views 30 replies 25 participants last post by  LoboPops 
#1 ·
As I was off watch a few days ago and lying down below I got to thinking about what would happen if we hit something.
We were going about 7 knots.
If you are lying down with your head forward and the boat hits a container or the pilot does something bad and you hit a reef or rock, I suspect it would be about the same as being dropped on your head from at least a couple of feet.
Almost certain neck injury probably death.

I slept with my feet forward but I noticed that not all the crew did that.

Am I the only one who thinks of weird stuff like that?
 
#2 ·
Sure there is a risk of injury, but consider: when you are dropped on your head from at least a couple of feet, there's basically no friction. When you're lying in your berth, there's a lot of friction that keeps you from sliding forward as fast as you would be if you had fallen a couple of feet.

I've also noticed in those crash-test-boat videos that the boat didn't generally stop short when it hit something, but would skirt sideways or ride up it. I think the boat will absorb quite a bit of the impact.

I think damage to the hull is probably more of an issue that damage to your neck in the situation you're worried about.

That's not to say there's not a lot of sources of injury in a collision. Falling through a hatch or into the cockpit is pretty scary.

Anyway if you're concerned, you could wear a bike helmet while you sleep. They compress and absorb a lot of the energy of impact :)
 
#3 · (Edited)
I don't sleep all that well at sea, so I spend most of my time wishing I could sleep better. I nap much better during the day..than at night.

I'll sleep either in the quarter berth..because if the boat falls off a wave I won't go airborne....in that case my head is facing foward..
Or I'll sleep in the port settee where I have a crib rail set up...head faces aft there.

I've also slept on the cabin floor..in wet foulies..and on the cockpit floor because it was too stuffy below...

I think the ability to stay in the bunk, if you fall off a wave is more of a concern than hitting a container.. so, good strong lee cloths or a tight quarter berth are important.
 
#6 ·
I think the ability to stay in the bunk, if you fall off a wave it more of a concern than hitting a container.. so, good strong lee cloths or a tight quarter berth are important.
Definitely.

Bruises, broken bones.. all possible if you can't secure yourself in your bunk well enough when the boat gets airborne off of a big wave. Which way you're facing becomes kind-of irrelevant in rough weather - it's more important that you stay in there at all.
 
#10 ·
I think this is the most "out there" thread I have seen yet.
Sailing is probably the safest sport there is & if you are worried about which way to sleep in a bunk and DYING, quite possibly you should find something else a little less dangerous, like staying on the couch.
 
#11 ·
I confess I've never tried sleeping on board a sailing boat in anything more than 35 knots , 4 - 5 metre swell and with only occasional white caps. Max speed around 7 - 8 knots. That was bumpy but not out of control. We were close hauled so lee berth was pretty secure.

I could well understand the worry about injury in wilder seas or on board a faster racing machine where they are coming off the top at speed but in a slow boat surely less of a problem provided decent lee cloths and the like.
 
#17 ·
I tend to agree with Hartley here. While the chances of injury if standing, are high no doubt, I still think that in a cruising boat or even an average racer lying down you are going to be relatively safe and much more likely to suffer an injury from simply falling onto e.g. a winch handle.

There comes a point when you have to weigh up the risk v the probability. Sure its a gamble but one simply cannot cover every eventuality.
 
#18 ·
Interesting topic and a near duplicate from May 2011.

At sea for parts of five decades in the USN on many different classes of ships and berthing was always feet aft for fore and aft bunks.

I don't know why other than to make it consistent so stinky feet weren't near noses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: davidpm
#21 ·
Your question emphasizes the need for an awake and alert lookout on watch while underway. This is difficult to achieve when singlehanding on an extended voyage or a couple cruising together.

The potential risks of striking objects underway include floating but submerged trees and shipping containers. These are difficult or impossible to see at night and don't appear on radar.

In blue water, you can't anchor for the night somewhere protected. in inland and coastal waters, you usually can!
 
#26 ·
I registered so I could reply to this.

I've raced and cruised offshore several thousand miles, some of it single-handed and did the same in the Pacific Northwest inland salt waters for years. I've been there when boats hit rocks, logs and sand bottoms.

I would never sleep head-forward. You can make all the silly hypothetical arguments you want, but I'd prefer to risk having my feet slammed against the bulkhead than my head.
 
#28 ·
I feel honored that you registered so you could add to my little thread. Thank you for your comments. Welcome aboard.

I'm in agreement with the group that says that the risks are very low. I've personally never heard of a spinal injury on a sailboat due to sleeping head forward.

The alternative for most boats is very simple just sleep head forward. It's not like I'm recommending something ridiculously hard like always wearing a life-jacket (which I also do by the way).

We all make dozens of judgement calls while on the land and on the water every minute.
Look both ways before crossing the street.
Wear a condom
Is my head low enough to clear the boom.
Check the paper chart to confirm what I think the gps is saying.
Throw the pillow to forward or aft on the bunk

The list goes on and on, what is one more minor consideration.

I think that the difference between people that are "lucky" and people that are "unlucky" is that the "lucky" ones make hundreds of very small, maybe unnoticeable choices not out of fear but because they have a habit of visualizing events.
That visualization causes them to subtly change the way they handle lines, walk on the deck, navigate everything.

These subtle changes never matter 99.999 percent of the time.
But rare events happen much more often than we expect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%29
 
#30 ·
If I laid in my rack worrying about hitting a container I'd not be sleeping anyway.
In the Navy you put you head where the light was in the coffin rack - didn't matter which way it was facing. We had belt straps to hold us in on submarines and the smaller ships.

I've only owned 4 boats - all of them had berths that were designed to be feet to bow.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top