DeckVaktHours of rest records for yacht crew
Ten hours in twenty-four, seventy-seven in seven days, in no more than two blocks with one of at least six hours. Those numbers decide whether a watch rota is compliant — and a surprising number of otherwise sensible rotas are not. Here is what the rules say, who they actually apply to, and what a record has to show.
The four numbers that matter
| Rule | Requirement | What it means aboard |
|---|---|---|
| Daily rest | 10 h in any 24 h | Any rolling 24 hours, not midnight to midnight |
| Weekly rest | 77 h in any 7 days | Averages 11 h a day, so daily minimums alone are not enough |
| Split | Two periods maximum | Three short sleeps do not count, however long in total |
| Consolidation | One block ≥ 6 h | And no more than 14 h between rest periods |
The split and consolidation rules are the ones that catch people. A four-on-four-off rota gives twelve hours of rest a day on paper, but in three or four separate blocks with none reaching six hours — so it satisfies the totals and fails the shape. That is not a technicality; it is the same reason the crew feels wrecked. See crew fatigue and sleep debt.
Who has to keep records
The Maritime Labour Convention applies to seafarers on commercially operated vessels, so in yachting terms records are normally expected for commercially coded yachts, charter operations, sail training and instruction vessels, and paid delivery crew. Privately used pleasure vessels generally sit outside it.
"Not legally required" is not the same as "no use to you", though. Insurers ask after an incident. Delivery clients ask before paying. Racing organisers and some rally organisers ask as a condition of entry. And if you are ever explaining a decision to somebody who was not aboard, a contemporaneous rest record is the difference between a recollection and evidence.
What a record must show
Per crew member, per day: the actual periods of rest taken, the daily total, the rolling seven-day total, and any exception with its reason. Plus the vessel, the voyage, and signatures from the crew member and the master. The crew member should get a copy, and the vessel normally keeps records for at least twelve months.
Two practical points. Record what happened, not what the rota said — if somebody was called out at 04:00, that broke their rest and the record should show it. And record in ship's time, noting any clock changes, or your rolling twenty-four-hour windows will not add up on an ocean crossing.
Where rotas quietly fail
Producing them without paperwork
The reason rest records get filled in badly is that they are filled in retrospectively, in port, from memory. If the watch rota is already on everybody's phone and every acknowledgement is already timestamped, the record is a by-product rather than a job — every hour not on watch is rest, minus any call-out that is already logged.
That is how DeckVakt does it: the rest-hours record is generated from the rota and the log, flags any day under ten hours or without a six-hour block, and exports as a signed PDF per crew member. Nobody writes anything twice. The product page is the hours of rest app, including STCW language commercial skippers search for.
What a compliant day looks like
Compliance is easier to see in a worked example than in the regulation. Take a crew member on the Swedish system standing 04:00–08:00 and 19:00–24:00 on a given day.
| Period | Hours | Counts as |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00–04:00 | 4 | Rest — but only 3.5 usable after handover |
| 04:00–08:00 | 4 | Duty |
| 08:00–19:00 | 11 | Rest, one consolidated block |
| 19:00–24:00 | 5 | Duty |
| Total rest | 15 h | Two periods, longest 11 h — compliant |
That day passes comfortably: fifteen hours of rest, two blocks, one well over six. Now take four-on-four-off: rest lands as four blocks of roughly three and a half usable hours, totalling around fourteen — which satisfies the ten-hour total and fails both the two-period limit and the six-hour consolidation rule. The totals look fine and the record does not.
Exceptions, drills and emergencies
The rules contemplate real life. Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills should be arranged to minimise disturbance to rest periods, and where a drill or a call-out breaks somebody’s rest they are normally entitled to compensatory rest afterwards. In an emergency, or where the safety of the vessel demands it, the master may require whatever hours are necessary — and then must restore adequate rest as soon as practicable.
The record should show all of this rather than tidy it away. A day that reads "8 h rest, watch called out 04:10 for traffic, compensatory rest 13:00–16:00" is a better record than a clean ten hours that never happened, and it is the honest one if anybody ever examines it.
The master’s own hours
The most commonly missing line in any rest-hours record is the skipper’s. Being off the rota is not the same as being rested: the master is woken for decisions on top of any watches they stand, and on a short-handed boat is frequently the person furthest into deficit by landfall.
Record your own hours honestly, for two reasons. It is the only way you will notice the trend before it affects a decision at a landfall, and a record showing that the master slept ten hours a day while sailing short-handed is not one that will be believed.
What an inspection actually looks at
Whether records exist at all
Whether they were kept contemporaneously
Whether crew hold their own copies
Whether the rota could ever have complied
Whether exceptions are explained
Which is why generating the record from the rota and the log — rather than reconstructing it in port — matters more than the format you choose. See also watch systems for the patterns that can comply, and crew fatigue for why the shape of rest matters more than the total.
Questions skippers ask
What are the minimum hours of rest for seafarers?
Ten hours in any twenty-four and seventy-seven in any seven days, split into no more than two periods with one of at least six hours, and no more than fourteen hours between consecutive rest periods.
Do private yachts need to keep hours of rest records?
Usually not by law, since privately used pleasure vessels fall outside the MLC. Commercially coded yachts, charter, sail training and paid delivery crew are normally expected to. Insurers and clients often ask either way — confirm with your flag state.
What must a rest hours record show?
Rest periods taken per crew member per day, daily and rolling seven-day totals, the vessel and voyage, and signatures from the crew member and master. Keep for at least twelve months and give the crew member a copy.
Hours of rest or hours of work — which format?
Either is normally accepted; they measure the same thing against a minimum or a maximum. Pick one and use it consistently across the whole voyage.
Does four on four off comply with the rest hours rules?
Usually not. It typically produces enough total rest but in three or four separate blocks with none reaching six hours, which fails both the two-period limit and the consolidation requirement.
What happens if a watch is called out during a rest period?
Record it. The crew member is normally entitled to compensatory rest afterwards, and a record showing the call-out and the compensating rest is stronger than a clean total that did not happen.
DeckVakt builds the rest-hours record from the rota you are already running, flags the days that fall short, and exports a signed PDF per crew member. The phones already do that. The desk app is extra if you want the numbers on a wide screen.
See the record it keeps