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Preparing for sleep before departure
Doctor Bertrand de La Giclais is a sleep specialist who works with top-level athletes, including solo sailors and ocean racers. He helps them prepare their sleep before an ocean race. He explains that single-handed sailors have a polyphasic sleep rhythm, i.e. they go through a series of very short sleep periods over a 24-hour period However, this polyphasic sleep must be as restorative as monophasic sleep (basic sleep). Sleep tests have shown that over the first 24 hours, sailors experience episodes of drowsiness and phases of light sleep. Restorative sleep reappears over the following three days, with sleep phases of 4 to 5 naps over 24 hours, occurring both day and night. This polyphasic sleep rhythm really takes hold from the 4th day onwards ème day. "
Thanks to this study, sailors were able to know when, how and for how long to sleep in order to optimize their sleep recovery. In this way, sailors manage their sleep debt through small episodes of sleep that produce restorative sleep. In the event of too great a sleep debt, sailors could experience severe drowsiness, lack of lucidity, physical fatigue and even hypnagogic hallucinations.
Managing sleep during short naps
You don't sail an Ultim in the same way as an Imoca or a Rhum Class multihull. Sleeping is no different... To rest, sailors mainly take short naps of 15 to 20 minutes, especially aboard the biggest boats in the race, where it's difficult to entrust the controls to an autopilot.
For smaller boats (Class40), the pace is different, and sailors can manage to sleep for an hour to an hour and a half. Sleep is essential in an ocean race, as the slightest maneuver is exhausting. All in all, sailors manage to sleep 3 to 4 hours every 24 hours, but they do so in small chunks.
Weather conditions harmful to sleep
Weather conditions also play a major role in our sailors' sleep and rest. During the first few days, all of them will get little or no sleep, having to juggle with the raging elements and look after their own safety as well as that of their boat. The end of the round and the passage through the Bay of Biscay mean a sleep deficit.
Rest as soon as the calm returns
With the conditions calming down and the trade winds setting in, sleep becomes less of a problem. All the sailors are going to get some rest, and some are even going to get a good night's sleep.
Getting to sleep
The hardest part is also falling asleep, because when you only have twenty minutes to rest, you can't waste them trying to sleep. Some people use yoga techniques to fall asleep quickly, because they're stressed by the maneuvers and can't sleep. They rarely sleep for more than 15 minutes.
Where do we sleep?
On a racing boat, sleeping on a soft mattress, wrapped in a comforter, in a quiet, dark room is out of the question. Here, you have to deal with the noise of the machines, the boat and the outside light. Some sleep in a hammock, while others use a large cushion of Styrofoam balls, which they move around the boat depending on where they wish to sleep.
After all, everything is possible, and everyone is looking for the position that's most comfortable or most convenient for them to sleep in.
