Do You Need To Be Physically Fit To Sail?

Adaptive Sailing Steadily Growing

Certainly, nowadays, physically challenged individuals are capable of sailing so “physical fitness for sailing” is somewhat debatable. The growing number of accessible sailing programs for children, adults, and in recent years wounded warriors has enabled those less-than-able to experience the joy and thrill of sailing. Adaptive sailing programs provide ready access to the water and experiential sailing for persons with disabilities. Having said that, these programs almost entirely operate with uniquely designed and fitted sailboats. For those of us blessed with capable limbs, physical suitability for sailing is primarily a matter of overall health and specific focus on enhancing certain physical factors that are best suited for on-the-water scenarios.

Physical Aspects Associated with Sailing

Overall sailing fitness doesn’t vary significantly from general overall fitness. It will tap many of the usual aspects of physical fitness – with the following areas being the most important when it comes to sailing safety and performance:

• Strength
• Balance
• Coordination
• Agility
• Flexibility
• Cardiovascular endurance

Let’s look at examples of different sailing scenarios that will require specific physical capability and we’ll also identify an exercise or two that can be done on a regular basis to ensure that physical capability is honed for maximum sailing proficiency and enjoyment:

Strength Training for Sailors

Upper body strength, core strength, and arm strength play huge roles in sailing. Imagine the challenge a small child would have hoisting a mainsail even on a daysailer. Think of trying to lift an anchor line holding a 45 lb anchor with a weak back. Recall the times that you’ve strained to hold the tiller in one hand and the main sheet in the other with winds lashing at you as you try to make shore before the lightning strikes get any closer. In each of these scenarios, you’re primarily relying on brute strength to make things happen. Whether doing it sitting or standing, you’re primarily using your upper body strength combined with core and arm strength and if any of these three areas are feeble, injured, or prone to injury, you’re possibly lacking the assuredness needed to get the job done quickly – and things can move quickly on a sailboat, even at just a few knots pace.

Strength-Training Exercises for Sailors

To get arms strong for pulling on lines and moving that rudder into place, the following exercises are recommended (with the benefit that no special equipment is needed for any of these):

• Tricep dips
• Side planks (great for core strength too!)
• Kickboxing punches
• Pushups

Balance Training for Sailors

Proprioception is a fancy work for recognition and awareness of where your joints are. Athletes use proprioceptive training primarily to prevent injuries because strong joint awareness gives them better bodily control and functionality when in motion. This is a huge factor in maintaining balance.

Twisted ankles can be reduced by football players if they can train their neuromuscular system to act properly on a variety of surfaces – dirt, grass, turf, snow. The same can be said for sailors struggling to stay upright on a wet and pitching deck.

In balance training, which emphasizes using one’s center of gravity in the most effective manner possible, you gain access to more power and more force – meaning you can dance the delicate ballet required on the foredeck like a Baryshnikov and not a Belushi.

Balance Exercises for Sailors

To get your balance to a Mikhail-like finesse, try these equilibrium-focused exercise using a balance trainer like the BOSU or even a towel rolled up to stand on, the key being that you’re

• Tree pose (a yoga move – start on a flat floor and when you are solid and steady, move on to the balance trainer or rolled up towel for a real challenge)
• Squats (also on the balance trainer or towel) – and these are good for core strength too!
• Bicep curls – With a dumbbell in one hand, lift the opposite leg into a right angle at the knee and hold for 30 seconds. Also good for arm strength as you increase the dumbbell weight.
• Tai chi – a regular tai chi class will not only help you with balance it’s going to enhance your flexibility and agility

Coordination Training for Sailors

Coordination is when multiple body parts work together --- at the same time – to achieve a task. Think of a football making a run for the goal, holding the ball tightly to his body, while simultaneously dodging players, while simultaneously pushing or deflecting other players. Each body part is doing something different to complete the play successfully. With so many things coming at you on a boat, coordination is a terrific physical skill to have and to hone.

Coordination Exercises for Sailors

Read on for more tips to become better coordinated for onboard activity:

• Close your eyes while doing many of your exercises – this enables you to better feel the sensations of movement, overtaking the visual cues of changing your body position.
• Jump rope – the classic way to repetitively synchronize eye-hand movement
• Juggling and dribbling – these are two more ways to get limbs and eyes working together
• Line dancing – Yes, that’s right – get your Boot Scootin’ Boogie going and with a bit of practice you’ll find that your lower extremity coordination is significantly improved

Agility Training for Sailors

While coordination is key at sea, agility -- defined as the ability to quickly move in one direction and then instantly stopping or decelerating while shifting into a different position. While probably not often utilized on casual cocktail cruises with friends on the lake, agility comes into serious play while sailboat racing and during bad weather or rough seas. Having to move quickly across the deck, pop down into and back out of the cabin, or sidestep an airborne pot of boiling water on the galley stove are not uncommon situations to be in on a boat. Being agile can make the difference in getting out of the way of a swinging boom or safely hopping onto the dock and deflecting the boat with a bumper.

Agility Exercises for Sailors

Using an agility ladder (or drawing one on the sidewalk or driveway with chalk), put these exercises in rotation to ensure your agility is seaworthy. Also, you may want to google ladder exercises and watch several of the two to three-minute videos to better understand how to use the agility ladder when doing the following exercises:

• Lateral jumps – Stand on the left side of the ladder, adjacent to the first square of the ladder, feet shoulder-width apart. From a squat position, jump sideways into the second ladder square and then again to the right out of the ladder square. Now do the same, going forward – jump left into the forward third ladder square and over to its left. Jump back and forth in a diagonal, catty corner manner the length of the ladder.
• Two jumps forward, one back: Jump the distance of two squared forward and then one square back, repeat. Do this the entire length of the ladder.
• Two feet, one square: Moving forward, tap both feet in each square. Step right foot, then step left foot and then step right foot into next square, followed by left foot.
• Agility jumping jacks: Do jumping jacks standing over the top of the agility ladder from one end to the other with feet straddling the ladder out and then jumping feet together inside the square.

Flexibility Training for Sailors

While greater flexibility contributes to increased balance, strength, and overall physical performance, on a boat, being flexible can mean the difference between reaching that small screw that you dropped into the bilge or snaking your arm around the back side of the 2.3 HP outboard tiller to swing it 180 degrees into reverse (yes, I have one of those little babies and being flexible helps a lot when I put it to use!)

Flexibility has helped me get an extra few inches of line into the exact right place and to put my hands on the beer being handed up to me from the cabin without taking my other hand off the tiller. At that moment, I smiled at the thought of the lunging hip flexor stretch that I’d done with a grimace just two days before.

Flexibility Exercises for Sailors

Try these exercise options to take your flexibility game to the next level:

• Knee to chest stretch - lie on your back with knees bent, bring one knee into your hands, and gently let your arms pull your knee toward your chest, hold, then lower. Repeat with other leg.
• Downward dog or extended puppy pose – A yoga pose that is better understood by watching a quick Google video rather than explaining it here
• Standing quad stretch - stand straight (next to a wall or chair), shift weight to left leg, keep knees touching. Using right hand, grab your right foot and pull towards your butt. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then switch legs and repeat.
• Yoga and Pilates

Cardiovascular Training for Sailors

Whether you sail for leisure or you’re training for a serious sailboat race with hardcore sailors, some level of cardiovascular fitness is needed. And, heaven forbid, if you end up overboard and treading water or swimming to safety, having a strong heart and lungs can be the difference between another day and Davy Jones’ locker. Keep your ticker shipshape with exercise and not only will you reap the healthy benefits, but you’ll also likely look a lot better in your bathing suit!

Cardiovascular Exercises for Sailors

Cardiovascular exercise like the following isn’t rocket science, it just requires consistent dedication:

• Jumping rope
• Cycling, running, and power walking
• Swim! (C’mon, you’re a sailor, get in the water, get wet, and get your swim on!)
• Jumping jacks
• Burpees – These devils are a beast to explain so my recommendation is to google “how to do a burpee” and watch a few of the videos so you can be the boss of this beast!

Hard-Core Physical Fitness for Sailors

Recently, I’ve been doing some research on the Clipper Race, which bills itself as “one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other.” I recently read an article discussing Dan Hardy’s participation in the Clipper Race and how he adapted his training regimen for the onboard physical needs of the grueling sailboat race. Dan is an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter – who did the Atlantic (London to Rio) crossing leg of the 2015-16 Clipper Race. His UFC training background was a terrific asset to him on the passage and, upon completion of it, he collaborated with Clipper Race organizers to put together a training regiment to help strengthen and prepare the bodies of other participants. Online you can find four different training episodes that Dan and Clipper Race prepared and if you are wondering about the dynamic between sailing and being physically fit, these four videos are worth watching.

Cocktail cruising or circumnavigating will require different physical demands, but overall sailors should take care to be in good overall health and as strong and fit as possible when stepping aboard a boat of any size. The combination of boats and Mother Nature can certainly be a physically daunting environment so do yourself and your crew a favor by making fitness part of your plan for getting underway.