Bot owner

Action

Action

Core strength balance

Moving sail bags

Modern gym exercise

Modern gym exercise

Medicine ball & balance board

Romanian Deadlift

Excercise 4

Excercise 3

The Captain’s coaching

The Captain’s coaching

Mixing rum & coke between tacks

Searching for rum hidden in the bilge

Core balance and the ability to function

with separate coordination between

legs and arms on a moving surface is

key to being a decent yacht sailor. While

experience helps, having good core

torso muscles assists with physical

multifunctioning.

Nothing is more testing for rookie crew

than negotiating the moving of a sailbag

from the cabin sole to the foredeck.

Whether a re-packed kite or a No.2,

while the deadweight might not be

great, combine an awkward size, tight

companionways and the ubiquitous

upwind 45-degree heel and you have

a recipe for back strains if not taken

carefully.

Requiring a training partner, first take

a balanced stance on a balance board.

Then your training partner should throw a

weighted medicine ball to catch. Starting

mid-torso, the exercise can be made

harder by the trainer varying the velocity

and destination for the medicine ball to

be caught without falling off.

Toes facing forward and shoulder width

apart, hold a pair of dumbbells with an

overhand grip in front of the torso. With

knees not locked, bend at the waist

to lower weights towards floor, then

compress stomach muscles to return to a

standing position, simultaneously rolling

the shoulders backwards and drawing

the weights to the torso sides. Repeat 15

reps, 3 sets.

Timed on the windward leg to enable a

downwind toast, this requires a unique

skillset of handsfree balancing and

anticipating yacht movement to pour

drinks while standing at 45-degrees in a

moving vessel. Stand in the galley with

bottles, ice and mixers in the sink. Feel

the motion of the ocean to anticipate

bounces. Two fingers for beginners, four

for advanced, and for Shockwavers, all

rum and only two fingers of coke.

Either the skipper has hidden it in the

bilges in the belief of having a dry boat,

an over-enthusiastic crew packed it to

assist ballast or you have just boarded a

new yacht. Either way, the frantic search

for rum hidden under bunks or in the

bilges requires great lower back muscles

and anti-seasickness control, as bending

over and sticking your head in small

smelly compartments while the boat is

64 bouncing around is never a good choice

Sailing Fitness