Hearing voices

[Steve Laume]

Okay, I am going to come clean here.

This summer while spending a great deal of time alone, I had the pleasure of entertaining a couple of backpacking women for dinner. One of them also had some sailing experience. She asked me if I ever heard voices while single handing. I immediately answered, yes. She told me it was something other sailors had admitted to her as well.

What I hear is not like voices in your head telling you to do things or in fact any specific words at all. It is more like a broadcast that is being played in the next room where you can't actually make out the words. Except there is no radio or other room. It is always an indistinct male voice. I just let it ramble on, when it wants to and pay very little attention to it.

So does anyone else care to admit to an experience like this? The psychological aspect of solo sailing is kind of fun.

Feel free to have fun with this at my expense, Steve.

[David Morton]

Hi, Steve,
There is a whole lot of psychiatric studies associated with auditory hallucination, with a diagnostic range from benign to psychosis! Most interesting to me, however, is the apparent association with tinnitus, that silly brain-induced humming in your head, a common result of the usual age-related hearing loss. I am a keen veteran of tinnitus ( too many rock concerts in my youth) and, in fact, have also experienced voice auditory hallucinations while single-handed sailing. more frequently, I have experienced musical auditory hallucinations. Seems to be exacerbated by alcohol consumption ( is that voice telling me, "Hey, buddy, where's MY Guinness?"). And I, like you, just tend to ignore it all, just like I try to ignore the tinnitus. When the dog starts talking to me, then I'll know something is amiss!

David

[Steve Laume]

If this is all I get for flashbacks I am still disappointed.

I do suffer from tinnitus which is constant and sounds more like ringing or spring peepers. The talking voices are very specific to offshore sailing. I don't think alcohol plays a part as I drink very little if anything while sailing.

If the dog starts taking to me, I know I am in trouble because the dog stays home on these trips. That would mean I was imagining the dog. I do talk to seals at times but I am sure that they understand. I also found myself taking to waves at one point this summer. I didn't expect them to respond or understand. It was more like rating them out loud. "Oh, aren't you a big one?" "You are certainly a rolly one." "That was just rude." "You bastard!" That sort of thing. The waves didn't seem to care.

I have songs in my head all the time but I never imagine that I am actually hearing them, Steve.

[Carl Thunberg]

With four daughters, I hear voices all the time! Fortunately, they go away every day when I go to work, but they come back as soon as I get home. I'm told I will miss them some day, but I'm not so sure . . .

[tjr818]

. . . The talking voices are very specific to offshore sailing. . . .

Steve,
On our inland waters we never can find true silence. Try going into the deep woods alone. If you can find a quiet spot I think you will hear voices - I don't think it is sailor talk, I can't quit make it out. Mine sound a lot like a very distant radio, maybe a talk show, maybe a baseball game?

[John Danicic]

The problem is, if you are alone and think you hear voices or music, there is no one to confirm or deny it. So are you hearing it or thinking it?

In any event, hearing or thinking, it is meant for you only. So relax and pay attention as you might learn something or at least be entertained.

[Jim Walsh]

When offshore I've found that I must close the seacock to the double galley sink drain or the water slides up and down as the boat moves. It's barely discernible during the day but it sounds like voices in the middle of the night. Took me a couple days to figure that one out and it made the hair on the nape of my neck stand up a couple times. One doesn't wish to hear voices when one is alone.

[Steve Laume]

I have closed the sink drain a couple of times because the gurgling got annoying.

I don't think that is the source of my voices and they don't bother me at all. I am quite comfortable living with them, Steve.

[tjr818]

. . . ( is that voice telling me, "Hey, buddy, where's MY Guinness?"). . . . David

Did that voice sound like a certain Roberto that we all know and love?

[Sea Hunt Video]

. . . ( is that voice telling me, "Hey, buddy, where's MY Guinness?"). . . . David

Did that voice sound like a certain Roberto that we all know and love?

Hey Tim, I "resemble" that remark

Unfortunately, I do not have any daughters. However, I have been blessed with one wonderful goddaughter. Carl, while the "voice noise" from four (4) daughters may be significant I can assure you that the constant "voice noise" from just one (1) Cuban American goddaughter is far more "challenging" to deal with. I taught her to SCUBA so that I would at least have a few minutes of peace and quiet while underwater. She recently suggested we learn to sign.

[John Stone]

Well, I have heard the voices too. But, oddly, only when I'm single-handing. Sounds like a couple of men talking in an adjacent room, quietly but above a whisper. Perfect conversational rhythm. But I can never make out the words. I'm used to it now but it was weird the first couple times I heard them talking. Sink drain you say? Could be. I'd rather think of them as guardian angles playing cards or rolling dice while keeping an eye out for my safety.

[Paul D.]

While crossing the Tasman Sea hand steering on a fairly calm night watch, I swore I heard voices. I stuck my head in the companionway and confirmed they weren't coming for the three other crew who were sound asleep. The sounds persisted and while not afraid, I was concerned and wanted to find a logical source for them. Couldn't make out words but I definitely heard breathing and what sounded like low voices. While the moon was not full, there was enough bluish light to splash fragments around the waves and after almost going nuts looking 360's as the sounds got louder, I found that several dolphins had fell in on Skyline II's course. It was very cool. I finished my long night watch pondering whether there was some deep connection between us and dolphins, whose essence I was missing. Before seeing them I knew that what ever they were, they did not mean harm.

[Jim Walsh]

While crossing the Tasman Sea hand steering on a fairly calm night watch, I swore I heard voices. I stuck my head in the companionway and confirmed they weren't coming for the three other crew who were sound asleep. The sounds persisted and while not afraid, I was concerned and wanted to find a logical source for them. Couldn't make out words but I definitely heard breathing and what sounded like low voices. While the moon was not full, there was enough bluish light to splash fragments around the waves and after almost going nuts looking 360's as the sounds got louder, I found that several dolphins had fell in on Skyline II's course. It was very cool. I finished my long night watch pondering whether there was some deep connection between us and dolphins, whose essence I was missing. Before seeing them I knew that what ever they were, they did not mean harm.

Under similar conditions, though not in the Tasman Sea, I've been visited by dolphins during the night. It always seems reassuring when I hear them playing off the bow. When conditions warrant I've gone forward to watch them streaking through the seas creating bioluminescent paths in their wakes.
I've also heard whales on the surface with their much stronger breathing. I usually alter course slightly to ensure I keep a respectful distance from leviathan in repose.

[Paul D.]

I usually alter course slightly to ensure I keep a respectful distance from leviathan in repose.

I agree it is a good idea to give a wide berth to other, especially larger forms in the water. (Tonnage rules.) If only we could somehow communicate with them better to ensure non interference. Recently in New Zealand, I really wished I could have done that with the numerous jellyfish in the surf.

[moctrams]

On a trip to Puerto Rico motoring across the Gulf Steam, I heard rumblings and peering through the fog, a US submarine crossed directly in front of us. The crew did not even acknowledge our presence.