Sailing manuals often say things like: “There are as many ways of watch-keeping as there are people, so I'm not going to give advice”. Most skippers have their preferred system, and once you've sailed for a few days using one particular system, it all seems to fall into place. But if you've not used a watch-keeping system before, it can be a bit daunting.
Basically, the purpose of a watch-keeping system is to provide 24- hour management of the vessel whilst on passage. Its most fundamental purpose is to ensure that the Collision Regulation requirement of keeping a good lookout at all times is adhered to.
Even if the weather is such that you can't make much way, you need to ensure that a good lookout is maintained. And as human beings require sleep, nourishment and relaxation, building a system that allows for all three is essential for crew well-being on a long voyage.
Perhaps the best tried and tested system is the three-watch system that splits the day into five watches of four hours each, plus two dog-watches of two hours each. The Morning watch runs from 0400 to 0800, the Forenoon watch from 0800 to 1200, the Afternoon watch from 1200 to 1600, the First Dog Watch from 1600 to 1800, the Second Dog Watch from 1800 to 2000, the First watch from 2000 to 0001, and the Middle watch from 0001 to 0400. For this system, the crew is divided into three, so really you need either three, six, or nine crew members watch-keeping.
Not every crew member needs to watch-keep, though. It's normal for the skipper, or the skipper and mate on a larger yacht, to be relieved of watch-keeping so they can be available to be called at any time, day or night, and so that they can always be fresh to run the vessel. So a crew of four can run a three-watch system if the skipper is 'floating'(!).
The beauty of this system is that it allows for a rotation of duties. The middle watch is often the one that is least favoured, and in the traditional three watch system, you only get the middle watch one night in three. It also means that the whole crew can get together at around 1800 for a meal.
If the second dog watch crew start cooking the main meal before they go on watch, it can be ready at 1800 when the first dog watch crew come off watch. The first dog watch crew can eat, can feed the second dog watch crew, and the first watch crew can eat before going on watch.
The second dog watch crew can clear up when they come off watch, and get most of a good night's sleep before turning to for the morning watch. That way, everyone has his or her turn at cooking and clearing up. There is one main meal which the whole crew can join in with, and it's eaten at a time when it's most digestible - late afternoon or early evening.
It's traditional for the whole crew to be up during the forenoon watch so breakfast can be taken together, so the watch-keepers coming off the morning watch don't turn in until noon. That way, the forenoon watch is used for maintenance of the yacht, and there is a period when the crew don't have to creep about the yacht for fear of waking the off-watch crewmen.
Equally, it's usual for the morning watch-keepers (provided there's more than one of them) to do a wash-down of the decks, so that as sun-rise creeps up over the horizon, the new dawn shows a freshly washed deck. At least, that's how I like to do it.
It is essential that the starting and finishing times of watches are adhered to, and watch-keepers called or shaken in good time. The on-watch crew will stick the kettle on 20 minutes before a watch-change, so that a hot cup of tea or soup is ready for the new watch, and the on-watch crew will shake the next watch at least ten minutes before change-over.
There are other systems. But this three-watch system has proved the basis of watch-keeping since at least 1700, so we know it works!
Richard Thomas holds a Commercially Endorsed RYA Yachtmaster and Cruising Instructor (Sail) certificate. He runs his own delivery business, www.yachtmovers.co.uk
He is available for deliveries, assisted passages, own-yacht tuition, and yacht management.
