After sailing all day, and not anchored, how do you stay on course and still sleep?

Question

Many people sail alone and continue to sail as they sleep. How do they stay on course?

Answer 1

most modern sailing ships now have an autopilot rig. most solo sailors don't sleep alot instead they take more naps.

Answer 2

There are a few options to keep a sailboat steering at the proper direction:

1.  An electronic autopilot which keeps the pointing in a certain magnetic direction.   This device can also be interfaced with a GPS to take the boat to a certain point.  They are very accurate, especially in calm conditons.

2.  A windvane steering system.   There are several different basic models which operate on slighly different principles, but basically these are mechanical devices which use the wind to keep the boat sailing at a fairly constant angle to the wind.   They tend to be much more expensive than autopilots and the boat will wander a bit more, but they work well in higher winds and need no electricity.  They are often favored by passagemakers for these reasons.

3.   Balancing arrangements.   If the boat has a tiller there are various ways one can tie off the main and jib sheets using the tiller to keep the boat on a certain point of sail.   This is generally more difficult to do well than using a windvane.

Self steering mechanisms are very handy even if you are not going solo as spending hours a the wheel can be very tedious.  Self steering also allows one to duck below in storm, etc.   One disadvantage is in the open ocean it can be very easy to not pay attention to what's in front of you when you are using a self-steering system.    The use of a self-steering sytem does not give that vessel any special right of way priviledges or relieve you of your responsibility to keep watch.  (Obviously may solo sailors do not keep watch or rely on electroincs such as radar to notify them of other vessels).   I've done some 36-hour sails solo and stayed awake the whole time using an egg timer to make sure I did not fall asleep and looked at the horizon at given intervals.