"The night is no man's friend, but least of all the sailor's." So wrote Captain Carl Koldewey in 1871 in his report on the first German expedition to the North Pole. He and his crew spent four and a half months on the relatively small ship without an auxiliary engine in ice-clogged waters under constant stress. Especially at night.
Today's sailors - especially those who do not venture into the extreme latitudes - have it much easier. Nevertheless, overnight trips or even trips lasting several nights are the absolute exception for many crews. A pity, really, as this increases the radius of action considerably.
And apart from the purely functional: Night sailing enchants with a very special atmosphere. The circumnavigator Wilfried Erdmann writes on his homepage: "There are nights at sea, especially in the north, when you could easily forget that the journey has a destination. The sun sinks. It becomes quiet. Everyone watches the stars rise. Diving into the darkness. Here and there a mysterious glow, the rippling bow water."
Basics for a night drive
A little basic knowledge about sleep, sleep phases, required sleep duration and intervals will help you to "survive" nights at sea less exhausted. If you also make use of the available technical aids, you will be able to manage several days at sea in a row quite relaxed even with a small crew or alone and concentrate fully on the beauty of the long distance.
"We didn't think about guard plans at all." Stefan and Annette Wendl's statement comes as a surprise, especially given the vastness of their journey. In 2014, the couple from Lehrte near Hanover set off with their three children Torge (6 years old at the time of departure), Neele, 8, and Lasse, 10, on a one-year North Atlantic tour including two ocean crossings: "We set off from Hamburg straight into the first night and sailed all the way to Borkum," recalls Annette Wendl, 41. "Annette sent me to my bunk at some point," says Stefan Wendl, 43. "She would take us out of the Elbe. As we had hardly any experience of travelling at night, it felt strange at first."
The tactic was maintained for the entire trip, including a night trip. The skipper drove the Beneteau 423 Clipper "Anne" into the night and woke her husband when tiredness took over. "That was sometimes at midnight, but also sometimes at one or two." Between two and four o'clock in the morning, she found it disproportionately difficult to get up. That's why this was avoided if at all possible. Breakfast was eaten with the children in the morning. Overall, the parents always slept when they were tired.
Changing the guard at night
Changing watches on a whim - this is certainly not the rule, and the principle is also not recommended for inexperienced night sailors. Unless it's just one night that needs to be sailed through, that always works somehow. But on longer transfer voyages, for example, a fixed structure of watch and free watch always makes sense.
It also worked for the Wendls, partly "because we have different biological rhythms", as Stefan Wendl explains. "We were never both so tired at the same time that we had to sleep."
It was important to know that they could always rely on each other. "Because I trust Annette 100 per cent, I can lie down and go to sleep," says Stefan Wendl. He knows exactly that his wife conscientiously adjusts the egg timer, which signals every 15 minutes that the all-round lookout is due. And that she wouldn't play the heroine in an unclear situation on a night journey, but would wake him up in good time.
The body needs to acclimatise
The couple found two or three-day stages particularly strenuous, although they were naturally travelling for much longer at a time. "The body first has to get used to being on the road again and the irregular sleeping patterns," says Stefan Wendl. Only after three to four days did life on board the "Anne" settle in so well that it soon didn't matter whether the journey lasted another three or four weeks.
"You can make life so easy for yourself with technology," is an important realisation for both of them, especially when it comes to the journey home. "As a de facto crew of two, I would no longer sail into the dark without active AIS and radar," says Stefan Wendl. Large ships in particular lost their terror. If the AIS or radar alarm actually went off, the skipper couple always had enough time to clarify the situation over the radio. On the Atlantic, the CPA (closest point of approach) was set at two to three nautical miles and the time to reach this critical distance (TCPA - time to CPA) was set at 30 minutes. In busy waters, this was reduced to 0.5 nautical miles and ten minutes. This ensured a reasonable balance between danger message and reaction time.
Indispensable aids when travelling at night
Active AIS and radar are also indispensable tools for Kornelia Wellbrock and Juergen Sticher. The commercial manager and technical consultant of a medium-sized rubber moulding technology company bought their catamaran "Phönix", a Freydis 46, in 2003. As they can never be away from the company for long periods at a time, they divide their cruises into different sections.
In the summer months, they sail short trips along the German North Sea coast. In September, the "Phönix" usually sets off southwards. Usually in three one-week legs, she comes to Portimão in the Algarve. From this second home port, the two from Dümmer enjoy many a winter sailing week in Portugal. In May, they will sail back north.
This resulted in twelve crossings of the Bay of Biscay, including detours to Norway, Scotland and Ireland. The 71-year-old Sticher and his 60-year-old partner therefore have plenty of night sailing experience. With a few exceptions, they are always travelling as a crew of two. They also change their watches depending on how tired they are.
Free watch in standby mode
The free watch sleeps in the saloon on the comfortable sofa and is virtually always on standby. "That's a huge advantage of the catamaran," says Sticher. "The person on standby can be woken up, consulted or deployed in a matter of seconds."
When the two of them talk about their night trips, it sounds almost cosy and sounds something like this: Most of the time, the person on watch sits "very comfortably" right next to the sofa at the chart table and only goes out for a look round. Meanwhile, the hydraulic self-steering system takes care of the steering. If the weather plays along, it's easy to be on the move. "We've experienced crossings of the Bay of Biscay that were so relaxing that they got boring," says Sticher.
For larger crews, a fixed watch schedule ensures clear procedures. The fixed free watch makes it easier for some people to leave duty without a guilty conscience. They have enough time to sleep and get their rest. And the watch, in turn, is usually well rested and can concentrate on the ship's command tasks until the end.
A system for the crew to keep watch
There is no general answer as to which watch plan is the right one. It depends, among other things, on the quality of the crew - are there enough competent watch leaders on board, are there sailors with essential skills in all watches? - and on their size.
On heavily manned larger ships, the three-watch system is often used, from 12 to 4, from 4 to 8 and from 8 to 12. Even on long-distance voyages, the individual can get more sleep than in everyday working life. If the individual watches are not always at the same time, the watch time from 4 pm to 8 pm is divided into two two-hour intervals, the so-called "flat feet". Such variants are always possible, so one of the two inactive watches can be flagged out as a standby crew for larger manoeuvres, for example.
For smaller crews, two or three watches are usually formed, depending on preferences, requirements and the number of suitable watch leaders. With six crew members, for example, the three-watch system can be used in teams of two. It is always important that it is not personal preference but sailing ability that determines the composition of the crew. The skipper, for example, should form a watch with the least experienced co-sailor. This not only ensures a certain level - it also allows inexperienced sailors to be introduced to night sailing without immediately feeling overwhelmed.
If the crew consists of eight people, three two-man watches can also be established, and the skipper and co-skipper support everyone, but without a fixed time allocation. Speaking of which: the times should never be fixed, but adapted to the situation at hand. For example, it can be advantageous to shorten strenuous night watches to three or even two hours - for example in extremely cold weather, strong winds, poor visibility or heavy traffic.
In consultation with the entire crew, all possible watch schedules are conceivable. With four similarly experienced sailors on board, there can even be four one-man watches lasting one or two hours. However, longer watch times are better manned by at least two people.
Working alongside the ship's command
In addition to the entertainment, this has the advantage that there is always someone there to take care of tasks other than running the ship: Brewing hot drinks, preparing meals, baking and so on.
Single-handed sailors, on the other hand, have to see for themselves how they can cope with the tiredness and get through the night in one piece. They usually succeed if they manage to lie down before they are completely exhausted.
Dr Claudio Stampi has studied when the optimum time is for this. He has helped more than 100 professional sailors prepare for extreme voyages in one of his chronobiological research institutes in Boston and Rome. "Dr Sleep", who has himself taken part in two regattas around the world, has taught Francis Joyon, Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding, among others, to sleep briefly and effectively.
Most important recovery phase at the beginning of the sleep period
Put simply, his method is based on the realisation that the body reaches its most important recovery phase at the beginning of the sleep period. This is why people who sleep short periods several times recharge their energy stores more effectively than those who sleep long periods once. According to Stampi, in the long term you can get by with a maximum of 50 per cent of your usual sleep. In the short term, sleep time can even be reduced to 25 per cent.
Nicolai Garrecht from Bremen used this tactic even without going to a sleep lab beforehand when he sailed his "Troll" from Greece to Germany in 2012. "Before I set off alone, I remembered the so-called key sleep," says the 43-year-old. This not uncontroversial principle is explained as follows: before you sit down or lie down for a short nap, you take a bunch of keys in your hand; when the deep sleep phase begins, the muscles relax - the hand lets go of the bunch of keys and the clatter of the impact on the floor wakes the sleeper, who is then already clearly rested.
Garrecht allowed himself several short sleep intervals ("polynapping") of twelve minutes during the night on the overpass. "The important thing for me was that I was looking forward to the short sleep," he says. "The anticipation helped me to fall asleep quickly. So it was crucial not to worry too much about possible collisions or anything like that."
With little traffic, the single-handed sailor allowed himself four such short naps per hour. After the obligatory look round, Garrecht rigged or spliced for two or three minutes to occupy himself with something else and then slept for another twelve minutes. "The tactic worked well. Even after four days, I arrived in the next harbour quite fresh."
Night journey with changes every three hours
When Garrecht later sailed on with changing crew members, he and another experienced man led two watches, alternating between six-hour watches during the day and three-hour watches at night. Inexperienced fellow sailors went on watch at night to learn and steered for long periods during the day.
The aerospace engineer had a reliable crew on board, but his sleeping behaviour was still somehow always on standby. He was aware of the slightest changes in sounds, slept "much more superficially than at home" and usually woke up shortly before the end of his free watch.
Compared to times gone by, travelling at night is ridiculously easy these days. Electronic navigation constantly provides the correct location, autopilots allow breaks from tiring rowing, lookouts can be taken regularly thanks to the short-time alarm, and technical alarms in the radar system or AIS device immediately indicate impending danger. In addition - whether travelling alone or with a crew - the targeted use of proven and learnable sleep techniques enables maximum regeneration.
There is only one thing that the most modern aids cannot do: diminish the magic of the morning. It is one of the most moving moments in sailing when, after hours in darkness, the new day slowly takes over. The darkness is over, the first coffee in the first light of day - in these minutes it feels as if nights at sea are sailors' friends.
