On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 11:52:34 UTC, "Dan"
wrote:

: Nick wrote:
:
: Not quite that far. Dipping distance(nm) is 2.08 * SQRT(height in
: metres). 3 metres gives a horizon at 3.6 nm. The 21 metre ship has
: a
: dipping distance of 9.5 nm. So at 13.1 nm you will see the tops of
: the
: masts and at 3.6 nm you will see the hull down to waterline.
:
: So it aint gonna hit you in 10 mins.

If it's a HSS it'll have time to hit you, circle the area
machine-gunning survivors, nip back home and come back with a wreath
in ten minutes.

Ian

Ian Johnston wrote:
On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 11:52:34 UTC, "Dan"


If it's a HSS it'll have time to hit you, circle the area
machine-gunning survivors, nip back home and come back with a wreath
in ten minutes.

In which case keeping a watch wouldn't have done you much good anyway!

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 12:00:09 UTC, "Dan"
wrote:

: Ian Johnston wrote:
: On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 11:52:34 UTC, "Dan"
:
:
: If it's a HSS it'll have time to hit you, circle the area
: machine-gunning survivors, nip back home and come back with a wreath
: in ten minutes.
:
: In which case keeping a watch wouldn't have done you much good anyway!

How long does it take to arm a Stinger missile?

Ian

Ian Johnston wrote:
On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 12:00:09 UTC, "Dan"

wrote:

: Ian Johnston wrote:
: On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 11:52:34 UTC, "Dan"

:
:
: If it's a HSS it'll have time to hit you, circle the area
: machine-gunning survivors, nip back home and come back with a
wreath
: in ten minutes.
:
: In which case keeping a watch wouldn't have done you much good
anyway!

How long does it take to arm a Stinger missile?

LOL! Yes. A day out cruising. Pasties: Check, Suntan Cream: Check,
Stinger Missile...

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 10:11:57 -0000, "Duncan Heenan"
wrote:


"New Conservative" wrote in message
.. .
Hi all,

I haven't actually sailed a boat yet but plan to later this year. I am
therefore still a bit green when it comes to the intricacies of the
subject.
Say I'm keen to visit the West Indies and I'm leaving from say
Southampton, England. I'm on my own and will need to sleep every day,
even if only for a few hours. Is it safe to let a boat 'sail herself'
while I catch some shut-eye, or is this a no-no? Can it be done safely
or would I have to drop all sail and just bob around in the dark for a
while until I've awoken? Obviously it'd make for a shorter passage if
I could somehow keep going 24/7. And ideas? Thanks.
--

Martin Smith, the New Conservative Party.

http://www.newconservativeparty.org

Is this a troll?
If you've never sailed, I suggest you get some instruction and experience
before ever thinking about single handing. Tat process will answer most of
your questions.
There is a breed of looney (I hope you are not really one of them) who has
bought a boat and set off with no idea of how to sail, and they are usually
the ones who end up in the newspapers or in the morgue. Learn from their
mistakes, and take one step at a time. Such people are a menace, especially
to the rescue services.

It's okay, most of them don't have emergency locator beacons or file
sail plans anyway. so that solves that issue.
Darwin works !

New Conservative wrote:

I haven't actually sailed a boat yet but plan to later this year. I
am therefore still a bit green when it comes to the intricacies of
the subject.
Say I'm keen to visit the West Indies and I'm leaving from say
Southampton, England. I'm on my own and will need to sleep every
day, even if only for a few hours. Is it safe to let a boat 'sail
herself' while I catch some shut-eye, or is this a no-no? Can it be
done safely or would I have to drop all sail and just bob around in
the dark for a while until I've awoken? Obviously it'd make for a
shorter passage if I could somehow keep going 24/7. And ideas?

Sailing alone over longer distances is not something that many people
experience, so there tends to be a broad range of responses when this kind
of question is asked. One thing you can be sure of is that people who sail
alone will give you vastly different responses compared to those who do not.

Having said that, I think you may be getting ahead of yourself. Why not
give this issue some thought _after_ you have sailed for a few years and
made a few coastal cruises. By then you will have made a few of the
mistakes, and experienced one or two of the terrors, that we ell have, and
you will be in a position to answer quite a few of your own questions.

Also by then you will have gained enough experience to put forth questions
that are worth spending time answering.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:33:02 GMT, otnmbrd
wrote:

Don White wrote:
Not sure if it's practical to set your autopilot and then set your radar to
issue an audio alarm when something comes within 10 miles or so.



Audio alarms for radar have a tendency to sound, based on "sea -
return", so many people all too often turn them off.
If you plan to singlehand, add an AIS with CPA alarms. No guarantees,
but coupled with radar, it might help increase your safety factor.....
course, this doesn't address the surfacing sub issue.......

nothing will be foolproof

The question was asked by an inexperienced sailor. There are many
expensive devices available, but there is nothing like a real "24 hour
watch". This skipper needs crew.

Remember a few years ago when "Coyote" ran into a fishing boat off
New England? That was Mike Plant, one of the most experienced
single-hand racers on the seas. His boat was commissioned with the
latest (and expensive) gear to make it as safe as possible.

"Around the world alone" is dangerous. Even if they don't care
about their own safety, they should not be endangering others.
Maritime regulations are specific about a constant, 24 / 7 watch.

This skipper needs crew.

Ships can come over the horizon in about 10 minutes to your position if
moving at say 22 knots. They seldom keep a good lookout at sea in my
experiences, and a small boats lights at night are only visible 2 miles
away. At 22 knots that's a pretty short time to notice a contact and
alter course for the big ship. Big ships often have their radar off
during the day too.

Let me try to clear up some serious misconceptions:

First, your "visible horizon" depends on two things: height of eye and
your atmospheric visibility. With a height of eye of 8 feet (rough
guess of your height of eye on a small yacht) your visible horizon in
clear conditions is roughly 3 miles. To calculate how far you might see
a "big ship", you'd add the distance of the horizon for the ship's
superstructure (say 9 miles for a 60 foot high ship). So in this case,
the furthest you'd be able to see this ship is roughly 12 miles, and
quite possibly alot less than that. If you don't believe me, look it up
in Bowditch.

Second, what speed ships operate at runs the gammut, but what I consider
to be the "big guys": super containerships, tankers and cruise ships,
normally run around 32-36 knots.

So best case scenario: you're sailing (at 6 knots) towards a ship
(steaming at 32 knots) that's on a reciprocal course, so you're closing
at roughtly 42 knots. So time from first visible at 12 miles to
collision is roughly 17 minutes. Remember, that's a "best case"
scenario with an "alert" lookout.

Third, it's been my experience (30+ years at sea) that almost every
merchant vessel at sea maintains a -very good- watch and lookout. There
are exceptions though, and a few particular flags (China and N. Korea
come to mind) have a reputation for not responding to hails. It's been
my experience, both as an officer in the merchant marines and a fellow
cruiser, that it's our fellow cruising community that most frequently
fails to maintain a proper lookout.

The problem for merchant ships is that small sailing vessels are just
hard to see. VERY hard to see. They usually present a poor RADAR
target and have dim or no navigation lights.

Fourth, by law all ocean going merchant ships are required to be fitted
with and operate their RADARs. If a ship has a RADAR failure, they are
required by law to head directly to port and not get underway until it's
been fixed (there's more to it than this over simplification, but I'll
spare you the details). I know of no ship's master that would risk
his/her license and livelyhood by allowing their RADARs to be secured
while operating at sea. Your comment to the contrary is complete nonsense.

On the otherhand, I'd bet at least 90% of the cruising yachts out there
(based on what I've seen) only use their RADAR in fog, and rarely in
open ocean.

Over the years I've met a great number of cruisers that:

- all hands sleep below at night, no lookouts at night;
- turn off navigation lights at night to "conserve power";
- never operate their RADAR, except near shore in fog;
- never monitor VHF hailing frequencies;
- have little or no knowledge of the Nautical Rules of the Road.

.... all very "unseamanlike" and fool-hardy practices IMHO.

--

=-------------------------------------------------=
Renewontime
A FREE email reminder service for licensed mariners
http://www.renewontime.com
=-------------------------------------------------=

So best case scenario: you're sailing (at 6 knots) towards a ship
(steaming at 32 knots) that's on a reciprocal course, so you're closing
at roughtly 42 knots.

OOPS, I mean't to use a ship at 36 knots in this example.

--

=-------------------------------------------------=
Renewontime
A FREE email reminder service for licensed mariners
http://www.renewontime.com
=-------------------------------------------------=

"New Conservative" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I haven't actually sailed a boat yet but plan to later this year. I am
therefore still a bit green when it comes to the intricacies of the
subject.
Say I'm keen to visit the West Indies and I'm leaving from say
Southampton, England. I'm on my own and will need to sleep every day,
even if only for a few hours. Is it safe to let a boat 'sail herself'
while I catch some shut-eye,

No.

or is this a no-no?

Yes.

Can it be done safely

No.


or would I have to drop all sail and just bob around in the dark for a
while until I've awoken?

No difference. Might as well keep moving while awaiting to be run
down while sleeping.

Obviously it'd make for a shorter passage if
I could somehow keep going 24/7. And ideas? Thanks.

Singlehanders do it all the time. Yes, it is dangerous but is just a risk
you
accept when singlehanding on long passages.

Good Luck!
Doug


Martin Smith, the New Conservative Party.

http://www.newconservativeparty.org