In the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, How Does the Crew Sleep?

A natural question from anyone who does not race under sail on the ocean might be, do they sleep on those boats? The simple answer is yes. And no.

They don’t sleep well.

On the fastest boats in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the crews count on covering the entire 628 nautical miles in a day and a half. Sacrificing a good night’s sleep is nothing compared with the bragging rights of competing. However, “Sleep is a weapon,” said Christopher Lewis, navigator on LawConnect, a 100-footer that recently won the Australian Maxi Championship, and is expected to race starting on Monday.

While the rest of the boat’s crew divides into scheduled watch groups to alternate between sailing and sleeping, pressing ahead day and night, Lewis, as navigator, will plan catnaps around weather forecast updates, radio schedules and transition points on the course.

Any time he has done his work and might reasonably hope conditions will stabilize for a bit, that’s an invitation to sleep. Perhaps it’s never enough, but he said, “Whenever I have to force myself back up, I ask, ‘do I want to sleep, or do I want to win?’”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/sports/sailing/sydney-hobart-crew-sleep.html