Practical Passage

WATCH KEEPING IS TIME FOR TEAMWORK

Whether sailing as a couple or with crew, there is more than one way to set watches for best

results by Bill Biewenga

LIA DITTON AND I WERE A COUPLE

of days into another delivery, this passage doublehanding a 48' catamaran up from Antigua to Norfolk, VA. The winds were expected to go light, and we were off to a good start, knocking back the miles while sailing quickly NNW. She was asleep on “her” side of the boat, in the starboard hull while I had the midnight to 4:00 am watch. With autopilot engaged, the task was reasonably straightforward: maintain a good lookout while monitoring systems onboard. Suddenly, a loud metallic bang hit the port hull’s deck outside. I immediately ran to take a look, and somehow – still unknown to me – Lia was only a few steps behind me.

I’ve been fortunate to sail with a wide variety of people. Male or female, highly experienced or sometimes novice, they came from places scattered around the world. The most common denominators in the group were that they were good, responsible people, eager to work together, eager to learn and equally eager to share their experiences and talents. The passages have been short, long and in between, often short-handed as well as fully crewed, full-on racing situations. I’ve been fortunate. But that’s not to say that it’s always been easy. Even through the difficult situations – weather or mechanical failures – the people with whom I’ve doublehanded have become true life-long friends.

Not unlike the people I’ve sailed with, watch schedules come in all sizes and configurations. When conditions were good and the autopilot was functioning properly, Lia and I experimented with 4 hours on and 4 hours off. Whoever was on watch shortly before the dinner hour, prepared that meal. I must admit that we probably ate better when she was on watch at that time, but I still claim that my pasta al pesto constitutes a complete meal, and the only culinary skill involved is boiling water. Pre-departure preparation does a lot to help the enroute responsibilities, so planning ahead is a worthwhile exercise, especially when shorthanded. It was our good fortune that Ginnie Hess, with whom I had crewed on previous passages, had done a thorough and magnificent job of provisioning for our trip north. When a 4 hour on, 4 off schedule began to seem a bit too long, Lia and I jointly decided to reduce the time to 3 hours on and 3 off. The objective in any watch system is to sufficiently rest the off watch so they can perform at an optimal level during their on watch.

Difficulties sometimes rear their ugly heads as a group, cascading as a cluster, and the trip from Antigua was no exception. We had managed to put a jury rig in place, using doubled-up Spectra line run to the masthead in lieu of the cap shroud. It’s the sort of temporary repair that comes with some risk of failure, as you might expect. Not wanting to drop the rig over the side, we opted to motorsail very conservatively to West Palm Beach, FL to affect a more permanent solution. Happily, enough, the jury rig seemed to hold up. Unhappily, the autopilot stopped working.

Watch systems can be adapted to changing situations, various crew capabilities, weather or other criteria. With the work load now substantially changed and hand steering a constant demand, Lia and I reduced our watch times to 2 on and 2 hours off. If something needed to be checked or reviewed, it could be done at the watch change. The problem with a 2 on, 2 off schedule is the fact that there is little time to get ready for bed, sleep, get ready for watch and eat without sleep suffering. Fatigue quickly sets in.

Sailing with a crew of 2 plus myself, three in total, an ideal watch system of 3 hours on watch and 6 hours off watch can be implemented. There is plenty of time for rest, general maintenance, food preparation, weather and navigational tasks. Full racing crews often use a “Swedish watch” system: 6-hour day watches and 4-hour night watches. As an example, one watch may have from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, and be off from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Then they would be on watch again from 8:00 pm to midnight and on again from 4:00 am to 8:00 am. The advantage to that two-watch system is that there is a long period to

sleep during the day, and night watches are relatively short. Additionally, with an uneven number of watches, the on and off periods rotate so no one has the same time frame two nights in a row.

Years ago, I sailed doublehanded with Rich Wilson, setting the San Francisco to Boston record in a 54’ trimaran. During that passage, we had 5-hour watches with a 4-hour watch from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. We did that doublehanded passage in 69 day 19 hours, so we had plenty of time to get used to the pattern. We also decided that when we did the New York to Melbourne record in 2001 we would shorten the watches to 4 hours each. Because there is an even number of watches, we each kept the same time slots throughout that 69-day passage. I could watch the same stars rise and set throughout the trip, getting to know them like friends. The shorter watches seemed more effective and less tiring in heavy weather and less tedious in stable conditions.

There are of course other ways to mix it up with interlocking systems for 4 watches, offsets of one kind or another and numerous ways to further complicate the matter. Over the hundreds of thousands of miles and numerous companions, I’ve found that the key features of a watch system are less about time and more about people.

Regardless of how many hours or watches in a particular time frame, trust features prominently in any watch system. People are supposed to be on time for their shift. It’s the on-watch’s duty to make sure the next watch is up early enough to get there. It’s a nice touch to have hot coffee ready for that still-sleepy next watch. While on watch everyone (EVERYONE!) on that boat trusts their life to you. It’s a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. If you are standing a singlehanded watch and fall asleep, you are less than effec-

tive in avoiding problems that can affect everyone. Fire, flooding or collision can all happen at any time, and the on watch, when taking their duties seriously, can take a potential disaster and recast is as an inconvenience.

If situations arise that are out of the ordinary, waking up the captain or other responsible party can help to make sense of it. When an oncoming vessel’s running lights seem to be doing something strange, another set of eyes may help you to realize that it’s a tug shortening its tow prior to entering a canal or a fishing vessel hauling back on its trawl. And if you happen to be on a collision course, having the extra person on deck means you can alter course or communicate via VHF far more conveniently.

In the final analysis, good watches are built on trust, reliability, timeliness, taking care of each other and mutual respect. They are all interrelated elements and all important. How the time is parsed is almost a secondary consideration if the other elements are in place. The timing of the watches is only important within the context of helping everyone achieve the best they can.

Lia and I made it to West Palm Beach, FL where we were able to have proper replacement rigging delivered and installed. Ultimately, we made it the rest of the way to Norfolk, VA, safe, sound and in many ways better for the experience, building a trip on trust, reliability and mutual respect. Subsequently, we have done thousands of miles doublehanded together, including a trip up the Indian Ocean from Mauritius to Dubai, through the tropics and past pirates.

But that’s another story…