THE KNOWLEDGE
When Andy Pag was planning a 450-mile solo passage, sleep was the biggest source of worry. Here’s how he created an effective sleep routine
When I was planning my first solo offshore sail on my Lagoon 410 Cushla, from Grenada to Bonaire, my biggest concern was not the risk of pirates off the coast of Trinidad, or the night-time squalls that might sneak up unseen in the trade winds. Even the risk of falling overboard and watching the boat sail away as I drifted alone in the current wasn’t giving me restless nights. The concern I was losing sleep over was sleep, and how I could ensure I’d get enough shut-eye when stewarding the boat on the four-night passage.
I know I don’t function well when suffering from a lack of sleep. I get irritable and make bad decisions. More specifically, I struggle to distil the relevant factors from everything going on around me when making vital decisions. My forward-planning goes out of the window and my actions become reactions to the most obvious and immediate factors. It’s not a good mental state to be in when the wrong decision can be costly, cause injury and sometimes be fatal.
Coincidentally, the Grenada Hash, an orienteering event held weekly around the island, was useful training. During the first weeks of participating on the run, I found the combination of being physically tired and having to make navigation decisions very frustrating, but over time I developed the skill of dedicating bodily energy and time to thinking and decision-making. Practising that mental shift was very useful when tired at sea.
SOLO SLEEP ESSENTIALS
I do find it easy and beneficial to nap, and on the advice of a friend I downloaded an app called Interval Timer onto the boat’s tablet. It sounds regular alarms throughout the day. I set this to go off every 15, 30 or 45 minutes, depending on the circumstances, but importantly I let it run day and night so whenever I felt I could sleep I would just lie down, knowing I’d be woken within the given timeframe. With clear skies, no traffic and far from land I set it to a longer interval, and shortened it when circumstances changed.
I tried to make life easier for myself and simplify processes I’d need to do when I knew I’d be tired by making checklists on post-it notes stuck around the boat.
Food and water are important ingredients for getting good sleep. My sleep is light and fitful on an empty stomach, and my decision making is also affected when I’m hungry or dehydrated. I made sure I had easy access to water with bottles dotted around the boat in easy reach. I didn’t drink coffee, and instead of brewing a cup of tea whene
