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Comment by mattwiese | Hacker News Reader

> I gave it up because I found it wasn't very fault tolerant. If I missed a bedtime even by just a few hours, or ate before trying to sleep, I was in a bad state for a day or two until I could get back on track.

That's what terrifies me about polyphasic sleep at sea. I had a few "cheat" days while attempting this, but of course the safety of myself and others didn't depend on if I hit snooze 5 times in an hour. Claude just got lonely for a bit.

It's really an interesting technique and I hope to find and talk with sailors who've done it. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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On the bright side, those others would have good reason not to give you reasons to deviate from the plan.

It was usually social pressure that did me in. People want to meet for coffee or drinks or food at a time when it wasn't well aligned with my nap schedule, and I started making compromises...

I suppose something that engages you for hours could appear unscheduled while sailing, but it seems like most sources of such things could be mitigated with adequate planning, and they're unlikely to involve coffee or beer or birthday cake.

>I suppose something that engages you for hours could appear unscheduled while sailing

I would say, generally speaking, that comprises the bulk of the time. Most likely you will spend more time in unscheduled multi-hour long tasks than anything else over the course of an extended trip.

Well I guess that shows how much I know about sailing (I've done it once or twice, but never in a hurry or with a lot of distance between ports). Which of these cannot be delayed 45 minutes in order to accommodate a nap?

Wind shifts, something breaks, something blows overboard, random water where it shouldn't be. Something is making a funny noise. Some alert on the radio that you didnt catch all of it. Odd smell. People speaking excitedly in a foreign language about something. Something breaks again, hooked a fish, approaching vessel with no signal, coast guard inspection, unexpected military craft telling you to change course. Sure there is downtime, but it's lucky to have it remotely scheduled.

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