The Maritime Law That Criminalizes Sleeping at Sea

The rule every solo sailor breaks, and the one defence written into the law that might save them: https://everydaysailing.gumroad.com/l... COLREGS Rule 5 says every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout. At all times. There is no sleep exception, no small-craft carve-out, no shorthanded derogation, and no reservation anywhere in the convention. 164 states are party to it, covering roughly 98.7% of world shipping tonnage. Which means every solo ocean sailor in history has been in continuous, deliberate, unavoidable breach. This video is the full legal picture, not the forum version. We start with the criminal layer, because in the UK the collision regulations are enforced through a statutory instrument that makes contravention an offence punishable on indictment by up to two years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine, and it applies to UK ships wherever they may be on Earth. Then the real convictions: a pleasure-craft skipper sentenced in 2024, and the 2014 case of a skipper convicted under Rule 5 for putting his boat on autopilot and working on deck for a few minutes. We cover why no exemption exists, including the 1978 Journal of Navigation forum where the sport's own experts, the man who invented singlehanded ocean racing among them, deliberately chose not to create one. We look at the pressure that forced a 56-foot limit on the transatlantic race, the professional watchkeeping standard that permits a sole lookout in daylight only with help one shout away, and Rule 18, which removes a sailing vessel's right of way over a fishing boat. Then the modern argument: does an AIS alarm count as a lookout? We take it seriously and test it against the IMO's own autonomous-shipping work, its AIS guidance, and the Vendée Globe sailing instructions, which state in writing that a working AIS does not exonerate the skipper from his obligation to keep a lookout. Plus the sleep science and the geometry: measured sleep data from solo racers, the peer-reviewed optimum nap length, and exactly how many miles a ship closes while you are asleep. And an honest counterweight, including the MAIB study in which 65% of merchant vessels involved in collisions had also failed their lookout duty, and the Channel yacht run-down where a radar reflector would have made no difference at all. For solo sailors, shorthanded cruisers, offshore navigators and anyone who wants to understand COLREGS properly rather than by rumour. The full guide to buying, surveying and preparing a bluewater cruising boat: https://everydaysailing.gumroad.com/l... Keywords: solo sailing legal, COLREGS rule 5, proper lookout at all times, singlehanded sailing law, maritime law sailing, is solo sailing illegal, Vendée Globe rules, offshore watchkeeping, AIS collision alarm, sleep deprivation solo sailing, yacht collision with ship, sailing safety offshore. #sailing #solosailing #colregs ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⭐ JOIN THE CHANNEL (member perks)    / @everydaysailing   Subscribe for more videos! 🌊 ALL MY LINKS https://linktr.ee/everydaysailing ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Copyright Disclaimer This video may include copyrighted material used under the "fair use" principle for educational and informational purposes. Such use aims to provide commentary, analysis, or added value in compliance with Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been used improperly, please contact me directly before pursuing any formal action. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated. Safety Disclaimer These videos reflect my personal experience. They do not replace professional training. Always sail in compliance with safety rules and maritime regulations. This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. All data presented is based on publicly available brokerage listings and market reports. This is not financial advice. Always conduct your own due diligence and hire a certified marine surveyor before purchasing any vessel. Market conditions vary by region and change over time.