On Watch

We do most of our cruising aboard Oso Blanco with only the 3 of us as crew. We have occasional family and friend visits when we are "in port" and have had others join us for some of our longer passages. We are often asked where we stop or anchor to rest when we are making over night or multi day passages.

Long distance travel requires 24 hr attention and there is no stopping to rest. We arrange our time into 'watches' so there is always someone awake and paying attention to where we are going and what is around us. The boat normally runs on autopilot, so we are not actually driving the boat. On the typical 4 hour watch, the on duty person can read a book, watch a movie, enjoy the star filled night sky, or watch for sea life or other boats. They are free to walk around the boat, fix a snack, or just relax. On Oso Blanco, being on watch is mostly monitoring the instruments, looking for traffic, and being sure we stay on course.

Extended passages are more than just keeping the boat on track. We are also traveling as a family, a school, and general household. There are meals to prepare, boat maintenance to keep up on, school lessons to teach, and time to sleep. After a couple days at sea, assuming the weather and sea conditions are good, we seem to fall into a rhythm and pattern where it all feels natural. Keeping it all going and getting sleep in shorter segments becomes the norm.

When our passages are expected to take longer than 3-4 days, we have usually taken additional crew to help share the work load and shorten the watch schedule. Just having one additional crew aboard makes a huge diference. Knowing you are going to have 8 hours off after a 4 hour watch is luxury. Over the last 8 years, Dick and Mary Fowler, Jeff and Lindy Howe, and Brad Smith have all joined us for long passages.