“The day has eyes, the night has ears. » When the sun sets, the sailors change. The meanings change. Hearing replaces sight. “At night, we don’t see anything,” notes Samantha Davies, one of the six women involved.
When night falls, the loner can sometimes feel a kind of anxiety, a bit similar to that of newborns at the end of the day, when the light begins to fade. This feeling that with the loss of light, we fall into another world. “I love the night, I feel like I sail better,” adds Sam Davies, the most Breton of the English.
“At night, you don’t see the size of the waves…”
Rushing headlong into the dark night is a special exercise. Loners admit that it takes a few nights before daring to fully press the accelerator. The first days of the race, when it is necessary to take off (editor's note: exit the Bay of Biscay) and pass Cape Finisterre, the solo sailors have difficulty sleeping, day or night. Some prefer to take short naps of 20-30 minutes during the day and stay up at night. Especially if the weather is bad. Only advantage of darkness…. “At night, at least, you don’t see the size of the waves,” adds Davies. This keeps you from being afraid. »
Technology has evolved a lot, allowing loners, who cannot stay up 24 hours a day, to sleep, preferably at night, when conditions permit: anti-collision systems have progressed. We think of Oscar, renamed SEA.AI, a navigation assistance system based on vision and artificial intelligence. This box, placed at the top of the mast and supposed to detect floating objects, whether identifiable or not, up to 600 meters away, provides increased security during the day and especially at night.
“I count in number of nights”
However, darkness can also be a source of concern. “It's very special at night alone offshore, cut off from everything,” admits Charlie Dalin, 2nd in the last edition. Besides, I don't count races in number of days, but in number of nights. »
At this time of year, the nights are long. Very long. Too long according to the Le Havre skipper. “When you leave Les Sables in November, you have more night than day. At the equator, it's 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. In the Atlantic, I often have the impression that the nights are endless: I often look at my watch because I am waiting for daylight to dawn. »
The night also offers magical moments, especially when the spray, lit by the small lights on board, becomes luminescent. Or when the moon is there. Sam Davies really likes this twilight full of promise: “To have the right to a beautiful sunrise, you need a night before”.
For sailors, the night has at least one other advantage: it allows them to be truly peaceful because, on land, everyone is asleep. This means, no calls on board. We know that talking too much is harmful. Also during the day.
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