'One of the greatest challenges facing a lone sailor is sleep, since a good watch must be kept at all times while at sea. Most single-handers use the technique of napping for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, using a timer to wake them up for periodic look-arounds; with the relatively slow speed of a sailboat, this allows most hazards to be seen in time. Again the challenge is greater for racers, given their higher speeds and more intense activity, and some racers have carried out considerable research into getting the maximum benefit from short cat-naps'With AIS, Elise had an electronic lookout for big ships, but small vessels or anything that could be hit by the boat while sailing could definitely not been seen. It is really hard to sleep for only 20 min at a time...Sleeping was definitely my personal challenge, in a race with no reliable autopilot.
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