| The
curse of the double-bed
What is a common
Modus Vivendi at home, in our holiday refuge or a hotel,
literally all places serving a purpose, can not always
be transferred to a Sailing-yacht, which also serves a
purpose.
As Mr. Olin
Stephens put it, who is worldwide acknowledged for his
works and founder of the famous 'Sparkmen&Stevens'
Designers:
"The sailor has to adapt to his yacht and environment"
Well, his designs
are known for beauty, strength and speed, and from my
side I may add as well for practicality. He followed the
thought that unless you have the adequate space to fit
a decently sized double-bed, stay away from it.
Often you experience, especially on charter yachts, that
every possible inch of space is transferred into cabin
space to accommodate as much as possible of human cargo.
Mostly in double-beds that develop very interesting and
sometimes awkward shapes due to the round and 3-dimensional
features of a sailing yacht.
Not just once
have I entered accidentally into the discussion of guests
on a common charter boat about how to enter the bed! Considering
the fact that you have to approach the common yacht accommodation
from only one side makes it worth already to exchange
experiences.
-Now that this side is very often the head of a double
bunk, often slightly V-shaped at the far end to accommodate
exactly 2 pair of feet and just not enough height over
the lying surface to kneel on it, makes for sophisticated
approaches.
Putting into
the scenery one person already lying in the bunk(bed),
best and most often with slightly spread feet to claim
your space, and you having enjoyed a pleasurable evening
with a few screwdrivers…, well it may take easily
the weeks voyage to work out the system!
The obvious
solution is to go to sleep together at about the same
time, which since you are on holiday rather then on a
Navy training, should not become the necessity.
Experience shows that everyone develops his or her very
individual recreational rhythm, depending on who works
for how long daily in real life and looks for pure recreation
versus the restless explorers mind, investigating the
nightlife possibilities.
If these diverse characters happen to share one double
bunk as described above, the outcome is predictable. -Thank
god that there is some spare space in the saloon generally,
or to enjoy in summer a restful sleep under the stars
in the cockpit.
A solution
to this situation, especially also during daytime sailing
if it should happen to some crew member to be hit by some
travel illness, -are convenient single beds!
Easily accessible they offer optimal individual freedom
and peace of mind. Since they are always as twins in one
cabin, the social closeness is given, and every single
bed offers enough space if it is required to be comforted
by a second person.
Our Caraya
II for example, is originally designed for private comfortable
cruising. Thus she offers one cabin indeed large enough
to accommodate 2(!)double-beds! So there is for one couple
always the alternative to move to 'outer space', or for
families to have their smaller children together with
them comfortably in one cabin.
The remaining 3 cabins are Twin-cabins with 2 individual
beds each, offering every single guest to occupy his or
her bed after the personal desire. Additionally these
cabins fit without compromises into the lines of a true
classic and beautiful Yacht, thus offering vast amounts
of space for the actual living areas.
Finally the
purpose of space on a yacht is not to create as much sleeping
area as possible, but intended to offer space to appreciate
the cruise, to have a decently sized saloon to be able
as well to enjoy a day in the port and actually to live
comfortably on board. Space is a true treasure on board
of any Yacht and should not be entirely dedicated to the
night time use.
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