Everyone has a watch schedule which works for them, not necessarily well for others.
Our practice is that one stands watch until unable/needy. If the other is sleeping, watch stander wakes the other after making a pot of coffee, and immediately on relief, goes below, brushes their teeth and gets into bed (presumed needed because asking for relief). Sleep until unable or until called. If you're no longer sleeping, come see if watch stander needs relief. If not, joint activity/shared watch ensues, and current stander goes to sleep as soon as possible (for sleep). Rinse, repeat on the above. If things are too rough for comfortable sailing, heave to until conditions improve unless circumstances prevent (lee shore, shipping lane entry for ports, etc.), and continue from there. Our longest trip offshore to date is 9 days. We arrived refreshed and in good spirits on that basis. Our previously longest offshore trip of 7 days, we had two others with us. We split into two teams of two, with 8 hour watches stood either together or as worked out by the team, giving the off-watch a full 8 hours of sleep, albeit hot-bunking (when the bunk emptied, typically it got refilled). Those 8 hourn watches gave each team the opportunities for alternating sunsets and sunrises. As it happened on that trip, there was no time all hands were needed, but due to the full sleeps in dark times afforded in the overnight portions, there were many times all hands were awake and socializing, along with most meals being all-hands, as the start/stop times overlapped standard meal (typical) times. That schedule works well for us. When we're alone, I usually wind up taking more lengthy watches, as Lydia's sometimes queasy if she forgets to take her Stugeron. In those cases, I call for relief more frequently, and get relatively shorter sleeps. However, we make it a point not to leave on a passage without being fully rested, so this usually works out just fine. And, I'm unable to have anything going in my ears - I much prefer to hear everything around me. OTOH, I also am pretty easily amused, and check the instruments, update the log with conditions and direction changes, and otherwise am pretty occupied until I need relief. Lydia,on the other hand, finds that her shuffle (the teeny iPod which is about the size of most USB memory sticks) really helps her stay awake... L8R Skip, ashore doing the grandkids routine
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