Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on November 10, 2007 at 19:40:18 from 195.93.21.2 user ACB.
In Reply to: Crowhurst's voyage posted by Peter H on November 06, 2007 at 23:30:00:
Coastal and short sea sailing is much as described in WDMTGS, whether you are singlehanded or not. Things happen so fast that you have no time for flights of fancy.
Fatigue can lead to hallucinations - hearing voices is very common and most amateur seamen will have experienced this. Coming back from Holland once, I sailed under Tower Bridge - in the neighbourhood of the Shipwash light vessel. But this sort of thing is just tiredness.
Joshua Slocum has a celebrated description of an hallucination in "Sailing Alone Around the World."
When we come to long voyages, things may differ a bit. One thing that is little recognised is that crossing an ocean under sail is - tell it not in Gath, whisper it not in the streets of Askelon - rather a boring thing to do. A good supply of books of the not-too-demanding variety comes in very handy - those of us who cannot face a long flight without recourse to the airport bookstall will know what I mean.
Some people save up a supply of Times crosswords..
There is a more or less recognised psychological condition, by no means confined to yachtsmen, where a seafarer stares and stares at the water over the side and eventually, if left undisturbed, steps into it. I suspect that this is closely associated with depression, and it certainly goes with long passages. The term "rapture of the deep" is sometimes used, although that term is normally used, following Cousteau, to describe nitrogen narcosis in scuba divers. I suspect that Cousteau adapted an older usage to describe nitrogen narcosis. The term "tankeritis" has been used to describe this in some circles - large tankers make long voyages at relatively low speeds between very un-interesting places and tanker crews have reputedly been more inclined to step off their at sea than others.
I don't think that any excptional psychological traits are needed in order to sail single handed. Lack of imagination might be handy, but that's about it.