When sailing for long distances, does it matter if the bed is across instead of along (north/south) the yacht?
Select to expand quoteFrank101 said..
When sailing for long distances, does it matter if the bed is across instead of along (north/south) the yacht?
So if your heading East or West which way will your bed be?
Oh it also depends if your feet first,
Many Cats have beds at right angle to the hulls,
All 'sea-births' that I have seen run along the boat (what I think you are referring to as north/south). My tub has a 'north/south' couch which you could use a lee-cloth. I actually sleep there on a passage (or arvo siesta) if on the right tack and roll into the corner.
However, my favourite bunk to sleep in is my kids cabins. My cabin is in the bow of the boat and underway is very uncomfortable. My kids have rear cabins and the bunks are large enough that you can orientate yourself in any direction. In that case, I like sleeping with my head on the upper slope or 'across' the bunk on either tack.
So no Frank101... In my opinion it is all down to personal preference. 
No worries Frank101 
In a round about way I was saying it doesn't matter, there are no set rules or guide lines, just do what works for you.
In a rolly anchorage being able to sleep athwartships can be a huge help in getting some quality sleep.
Cheers, Graeme
Select to expand quotewongaga said..
In a rolly anchorage being able to sleep athwartships can be a huge help in getting some quality sleep.
Cheers, Graeme
Yeh it's kinda like being rocked to sleep
Select to expand quotewongaga said..
In a rolly anchorage being able to sleep athwartships can be a huge help in getting some quality sleep.
Cheers, Graeme
+1, however while sailing... north/south on waterline /midships with lee cloths.... ????
All the big boats never have this problem, when the swell moves!!!...(with queen and king-size beds)...'honey, can we just move this all 90 degrees?' On a more practical note, for those with less space adopt the foetal position...can't say more than this as I'm usually all trussed up in my loin/lee cloths waiting for the next challenging thing for me to swing into action.
My theory The boat (therefore bed) as it travels through the swell will have three main motions, pitch (bow up down), roll (port/starboard up down) and heave (whole boat goes up and down).
Depending on the point of sail the boat could pitch more than roll or roll more than pitch, or any combination of the two. If the course of the boat takes it through every direction of wind and swell then no matter which way the bed lies it will sooner or later move in every direction too. So my theory would be it makes no difference unless it's a really long voyage with a prevailing swell. In that case you could orientate the bed so that "most of the time" it moved in a direction you preferred. Either with less pitching or less rolling. But that's subjective because my kids liked maximum pitching and rolling not less
The location of the bed is important though. In the center of the boat the motion is less, like sitting in the middle of a plane. And as mentioned already usually the stern is way quieter for a berth at sea or at anchor since it doesn't have the waves hitting the hull next to your head. Or the anchor pulled up or down right next to your head. I noticed how great that was when switching to centre cockpit boats with an aft cabin.
