Disclaimer

How fit are you to Sail?

The following is directed at the average Club sailor/racer, those with high aspirations in sailing may have to go further elsewhere although they might think about some of the suggestions or look at the information sources.

In order to make sense of things you need to decide what are your goals and aspiration for your sailing/racing. Do you just want to potter about or do you want to race and possibly win something or just sail better and so enjoy yourself more? There are really two factors that influence this sailing technique and the nut on the tiller. There are some sources about sailing technique.

Dinghy racing can be a physically demanding sport and you do at least need some basic general physical fitness to get the best out of it. Essentially the exercise will put strain on your arms, back, stomach muscles and legs and thighs. Most average club members have little such physical exertion in their everyday lives (this is probably one of the reasons for taking up the sport).

Getting fitter is not necessarily a matter of going to a gym and lifting some weights or jumping about on some funny machine, in fact that might be counter productive and even be physically injurious.

Sailing is all about the laws of physics to do with mass, force and acceleration and velocity. You do need a good boat, sails and equipment, but that is not what we are considering. The boat has a defined weight because it has a class measurement certificate. A typical racing dinghy may weight may be about 100kg (including mast) at to that the crew (say 85kg for a single hander and 150 kg for helm and crew). Consider your weight(info), every extra kg means the force from the sail has less effect, but influence is doubled because the boat is lower in the water and there is more drag. Every kg less could give you a 1% improvement is sailing performance. The clever among you may say “Ah but I can sit out in stringer winds”, so what there is still more drag. Look in the media, the population is getting overweight and doing less exercise.

The general hypothesis is lose weight and get fitter to enjoy your sailing. (There are a few lucky souls for which the reverse of one or other might be true.)

Body mass index.(Info) A bit technical but it can give you an indication of where you are at. Which category do you fall into?

How much do you eat? (Info)For most people to lose weight you don’t have to do much, just eat less and perhaps eat the right things. (This is not an advert for any slimming plans)

Exercise and fitness Info Info2 Info3

You can do a lot of simple things without going to a gym. If you do go to a gym keep away from the rowing machines they are lethal to older backs.

Improve your grip and arm strength by just by doing some fist clenching exercises everyday, even better do it with a soft ball in your palms.

You can help your arms by finding something about 2kg( a bag or sugar or veg), just extend your arms horizontally from you chest and vertically from your shoulders about 20 or 30 times. If that’s too easy find something a bit heavier.

To help your legs, stand vertically with your arms outstretch to a chair or against a wall and just bend yours knee and go down to your haunches-repeat.

Try doing a few (proper) press ups.

Sit ups when lying on the floor can be good, but be careful if you are prone to back problems. Similarly leg lifts try when lying horizontal.

Getting Started1 Getting Started 2

Backs are a problem.