I still feel uncomfortable about the whole concept of singlehanded sailing at such speeds when asleep, but the skill and courage is amazing.
Clearly single handed sailing like this doesnt comply with Colregs and therefore the law. But then neither does travelling at the standard 80mph on the motorway. The difference here is two fold. Firstly the sailing boat routes round the world largely follow those of the old clippers because of prevailing winds and therefore are very different to big ship routing. Secondly, if there ever is a collison its the yacht that comes off worst and the big ship rarely even notices.
So they sail along with radar sensors / alarms ie a system which rings an alarm if painted by a big ship radar. They sleep in 15 min spells. And they arent where big ships are. Which is why there have been very few ( I cant remember one) examples of these racing yachts colliding with the biggies.
