How I’m preparing to sail solo around the world with very little sleep…
Getting the right quality of sleep, the right amount and sleeping at the right time is beneficial to both your body and mind.
So at base level, sleep has always been really important to me, however, as any offshore sailor would tell you, (particularly solo sailors), sleeping during an ocean race takes on a completely different form to what we’re used to on dry land.
When solo sailing you can’t have the luxury of a dedicated time to sleep. You sleep when and how you can. The top three questions I ask myself when I’m on the water are: is the boat going in the right direction? Is the boat safe? And have I had enough sleep? I ask these questions at regular intervals through everyday. I will push myself through hours with very little sleep to keep the boat safe and performing, but I’m always looking for opportunities to bank sleep.
In terms of training, I’ve never been able to practice my offshore sleeping patterns when ashore. I learnt to nap through trial and error during my first solo voyages. During these first trips I tried to learn the best times to sleep and the best lengths for me to sleep, and I learned it’s all about making sure you wake up in the right phase of the sleep cycle.
I remember the first two weeks I spent alone at sea I kept a diary every time I tried to sleep, noting the time of day, how long I slept for and what I felt like when I woke up. I found that my body would naturally tell me what worked and now I know that between 0-40 minutes is about the right length for a short nap – if I wake up during that phase I will wake up feeling refreshed. If I try to wake up between 40 minutes of sleep and up to 2 hours it can be detrimental to my performance because I feel more tired, groggy, and disorientated. Essentially I try to stay in the light sleep phase of my sleep cycle and avoid dropping into deep sleep.
In a typical monophasic sleep cycle, (when we sleep in one period over 24hrs i.e a full night) we spend hours transitioning between light sleep and deep sleep, then eventually move to REM sleep at the end of the night. When I have been offshore for several weeks, I find that REM sleep (which is associated with re-energising the brain) can occur within minutes of falling asleep – I can cut to very vivid dreams within a ten minute nap.
How I sleep on the boat
On the boat I like to sleep sitting up, either in my navigation chair or on my bean bag and sleep for about 30 minutes at a time. Sometimes I will take my beanbag outside and sleep under the cuddy. I usually wake myself up - I often surprise myself because although I have lots of alarms, I naturally wake up, it’s just so subconscious. There are times when I might oversleep on the boat, but I have an alarm that vibrates against my collarbone, and several audible alarms too. Changes in how the boat is sailing will also wake me up – it could be a sudden change in motion, or a flap of the sails I wasn’t expecting. It’s amazing how naturally in tune you are with your environment when you’re on water, it’s a busy noisy environment so even a lack of noise might stir you from slumber…
I know there are going to be moments during the Vendee Globe when it will feel impossible to get rest – when I’m in the Southern Ocean and get the big breeze and big waves I am sure I will be anxious and at times frightened, there will be a lot of adrenaline pumping through my body which will stop me from falling asleep.
Sleep tips
My advice for anyone attempting to sail solo or take part in an extreme sport is to just keep banking sleep whenever you can. You’re always going to need more sleep and you’re never going to be at a stage where you’re completely fully rested so just keep grabbing it at every opportunity.
I’m quite lucky in that when my head hits the pillow I’m asleep within two minutes, but I am working with a sleep consultant at the moment to try and improve my overall sleep quality during the lead up to the race. There’s absolutely no doubt that turning a screen off at least one hour before you go to bed is invaluable. Keeping electronic devices out of the room, reading a book instead of watching TV and going for a short walk before bed can all really help you nod off too.