Solo

Well now that I've successfully made it ashore I'll spill the beans a bit on why I was closed-mouthed about single-handing the crossing. As with most litigious Americans, or should I say litigation-fearing Americans?, I was fearful that in my sleep-deprived state I would hit another small craft in the night. Obviously if I hit one of the many cargo ships or tankers, they would be none the wiser. But a small craft, say something less than 100 feet long without a steel hull, I could have caused some serious damage - and the result could have been especially dire when 50+ miles offshore. The international rules on boats/ships at sea is that an "active watch" must be maintained at all times. But I don't believe "active watch" has been tightly defined by international maritime courts. However, I do believe it's been defined to be a person, not an "electronic watch".  I relied on 1) me, in a conscious state 2) me in a semi-conscious state and 3) electronic (AIS) alarms that would alert me to boats in my proximity. 

#3 is problematic as not all boats have AIS. All commercial shipping has AIS now, as do most recreational bluewater boats. But it's not mandated for recreational boating. It's also not mandated for some fishing vessels and there are a lot of tiny fishing boats still in active use (news to me). 

Also, as I realized in the Mediterranean recently, the idea that a commercial boat would always avoid me, while generally true, is faulty. What about the commercial boats that are drifting (not underway)? There are MANY of these in the Med. Of course the danger (to them) is only if they're small. But I definitely saw a good number of these. They would be of the assumption that the boat bearing down on them was going to change course prior to impact and they might be challenged to move at the last minute depending on what they were doing. 

Now on the flip side, the likelihood of two boats colliding is probably about that same as trying to shoot a firefly with a BB gun at 30 paces. Not very likely. But... devastating results if it actually happens. 

Fortunately the law of averages was on my side, but it did make for some stressful times when I was super tired in the wee hours. Especially when in high-traffic areas. 

Avoiding a ship-to-ship collision is like driving a car through a busy intersection without a stoplight but in super-super slow motion. You typically know with 20+ minutes advanced warning that you are on a (near) collision course. There's lots of time to react, call the other ship on the radio, etc. so that's all good. On the other hand, since I was so much slower than most of the commercial traffic (7 knots vs 16-20), I was way better off letting them maneuver around me than vice-versa. This resulted in many, many times, waiting for them to make a course change while I desperately trying to stay awake. All the wile knowing they would squash me like a bug if they didn't take action, so don't nod off!  A pretty strange circumstance in today's fast-paced world. By the way, there are still a lot of people out there single-handing.  There are even quite a few sanctioned single-handed ocean races even though it's fairly well known that they aren't fully complying with regulations. 

Anyway, all is well. Nobody died )that I'm aware of).