On Jan 8, 8:27 pm, Don W wrote:
....
For my taste, even two people on the boat is not
enough for a long voyage, because a few weeks of
3on 3off will still lead to sleep deprivation and
poor decision making ...

It's hard to generalize since passages tend to be vary a lot, but my
experience is that double handing is hardest on passages of one to
three days. The shorter passages seem to have higher work loads
(piloting, shipping and so on) but the routine often settles down
around day four. My longest double handed passage was four weeks and
while it was a bugger in many ways, I suspect I got as much sleep and
was as well rested as I would have been with a crew of four by the end.
Unless the weather is particularly horrid we try to keep four on four
off watches, but with two it's easy to be flexible on this. The
problems with crew are legion and for me the freedom from them is worth
the extra work of sailing short handed.

-- Tom.