3 reasons why sailing is good for you

Since having my son my fitness and exercise regime has changed... out of all recognition. It's taken a while to find a new balance, but through it all I have come to appreciate even more keenly why sailing is such an important part of my life. My sailing has not (yet) returned to what it was, but a winter outing this weekend reminded me yet again how much I miss it and got me thinking about why.

The sea is a positive force

Before we even get into the activity of sailing, simply being beside and on the water helps to lift and revive me. Perhaps it's the fresh air, perhaps it's the sound of the water, perhaps it's the sun or the abundance of natural light that's reflected off the water. We all know how important Vitamin D is for our well-being.

I'm sure it's also in part due to the sea air. It's full of negative hydrogen ions,which improve our ability to absorb oxygen and can also help balance our serotonin levels (the so-called 'feelgood hormone'). Plus sea water is a good decongestant, with strong antihistamine effects - so it's even good for hay fever, sinus infections and colds.

Just the sea itself is a positive force.

Dinghy sailing is a thorough physical workout

Even on a purely physical level, dinghy sailing is far more of a workout than a simple run. The variety of twists, turns and different burst of activity offer a full and varied workout. They stretch me out in a way that only yoga comes close. It's only when you really sit and think about it that you realise just how much of the body a dinghy race will exercise.

There's rigging and launching the boat. Hoisting the sails. Hiking, leaning out, moving in and out and twisting to look ahead or behind, for marks, win or other boats. There are the hoists, tacks, gybes, trimming the sails. It uses pretty much every part of the body. No wonder sailors are among the fittest athletes at the Olympics.

Sailing is very physical using every part of the body, it's hardly surprising that sailors are among the fittest Olympic ahletes. Photo Richard Langdon/British Sailing Tea,.

Sailing is my meditation

Add in a third factor; not just a a workout for the body more importantly, sailing is a workout for the mind. Sailing is so all-consuming, that it really works as a complete shut-off from life. Why is that?

Well, your brain is asked to continually multi-tasking. 'What's the wind doing? Where are the other boats? What's the course? Is that more breeze over that or just a tide line? What is the tide doing? Am I ready for the hoist? Oh we've got some waves, ease that sheet, bear off a little, back in flat water, back on the wind again. Are we going to make the mark? Just, maybe... if we're lucky. There's that pesky 300, he's a bit close. Oooh, breeze is up, time to hike. How's our speed? I can see the mark, looks like there's not much tide on it, must be pretty much high tide. Ok, so on the run we need to watch out for it turning...'

Some of this is verbal communications, some internal thoughts, one after another, continually occupying your brain as you work physically to get the most out of the boat, and so it goes on, usually for the whole race. Get ashore and it's as though you've been meditating. The world is still there, but for a brief moment it disappeared completely.

There you have it, three reasons why sailing is so key to keeping us happy and healthy.

The attraction of solo racing

I interviewed Mike Golding recently for a feature, and as we chatted aboard Gamesa... his steed for the 2012-13 Vendee Globe Race, his passion for sailing, and solo ocean racing in particular was evident. He spoke with the enthusiasm of a child as his eyes gleamed at the prospect of 90 days of racing in some of the world's most remote oceans... while I couldn't think of anything worse! I like my home comforts; after a day's racing I like good, freshly cooked food, plenty of chit-chat with friends and a warm bed... not sleep grabbed in 15-minute catnaps between jumping up to get cold and wet changing a sail in the middle of the night, ready meals and the sat phone for company.

But then there was a gleam of understanding. I love my sailing. I love the way you can completely escape from the world in a way not other sport can seem to manage.

Gamesa powering upwind - photo Mark Turner/Gamesa

‘I think of it as three-dimensional chess,’ said Mike. ‘You can win on the top board or the middle board or the bottom board or you can win diagonally. It’s a crazy, crazy game and it involves so much. When you get immersed in something like that you’re living it so you feel a windshift you instantly are processing what that means for you in relation to the rest of the fleet… you’re fully immersed.’

For most of us that immersion is for a few hours, not 90 days, but that complete escape is invaluable. Why does sailing achieve this? I think it's due to its demanding, complex and varied nature. It’s such an escape because of its many different layers, including tactics, wind, waves, tide, other boats, the course, sail trim, boat trim... not to mention manoeuvres. You are totally occupied physically and mentally. There is no space for the worries of the world. Imagine doing that for 90 days… okay maybe I can see the attraction!

Should sailing be an Olympic sport?

As the debate gathered momentum amongst a group of colleagues, I felt the tigger within rise to fight a cause I feel sooo passionately about.

Sailing. The sport I love so much is, in my view, one of the best things that can happen to anyone. If you have seen, as I have its power to transform lives, enable youngsters to realise their potential, and give happiness, peace and delight to so many then it's hard not to care about the sport's visibility, and let's face it, events like the Olympics give it the sort of visibility it needs - not the high end glossy big boat side of sailing, but the grassroots, £100-Laser-dinghy sport that is perfect for all the family.

The Olympics inspires so many youngsters to give sports a try - and if you have seen what sailing does to turn around some of our wayward youth, then you would wish that everyone could get the chance to try it. It's NOT EXPENSIVE and there are plenty of opportunities for youngsters to get involved - if they can be inspired to give it a go.

My dad taught himself to sail at the age of 30 when we moved to the coast. He bought a converted 'Optimist' for peanuts and my brother and I shared it. I say 'Optimist' as it was a home built version with no buoyancy, a bowsprit and a jib! And no buoyancy... we learn to sail on that and our family dinghy - a wooden Dutch scow he also bought for less money than a bicycle (it was cheaper than a secondhand Mirror dinghy so that says a lot!).

I've seen sailing cure depression, ease grieving, help those battling illness, give deprived young people a sense of pride and control over their own lives... it is an amazing sport. In my view, if more people took part in it, the world would be a better place!

Unsung heroes and BBC Sport's Personality of the Year

I wonder if sailing will ever manage to have one of its stars fully recognised in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Ellen came the closest when she finished runner-up, but despite his awesome achievements Ben Ainslie couldn’t even make it into the top three. It’s easy to see why; when cycling star Chris Hoy could boast of multiple Olympic medals from Beijing, Ben ‘only’ came back with one. 

The fact that sailing is a sport where there is only the possibility of getting one medal at each Games leads one to wonder how many more times Ben needs to win gold to get full recognition? Maybe 2016?

Of all the awards, it was the unsung hero award that touched me most; 70-year-old veteran boxing coach and fundraiser Ben Geyser was lost for words… but did you know that sailing had its own representative in the shortlist? Bowmoor Sailing Club president Don Cannon won the BBC West award - a founder member of Bowmoor SC in the mid-1970s, he has worked tirelessly for the past 30 years to ensure club users have continued to enjoy access to first-class facilities. Aged 75, he continues to play an active role on the committee and sails whenever he can. Having just been to my own sailing club AGM — which included something I’ve not come across before; a prizegiving to recognise some of the contributions made by club members behind the scenes — I was reminded how reliant we are as a sport on the support of volunteers. Huge numbers of people give their time and expertise to run our massive network of clubs and classes across the country… they make the sport what it is, and deserve every bit of recognition they get.

Part of the secret of full recognition comes through television coverage, and that's where our sport often loses out. However, sailing’s television coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games was recognised as 'The Best Sports Coverage by the Host Broadcaster' at the International Olympic Committee's ‘Olympic Golden Rings’ ceremony recently. I’m not quite sure how they figured that one out, but Ben’s commentary on the final Star race has to be one of my top moments of 2008.

As this is my first post of 2009, that leads me to recall a few of my other highs… winning the Primo Cup in the SB3; interviewing the Olympic team at the Dinghy Show; racing my 200 at the RS anniversary regatta; the second race on day two of the RS Eurocup in Lake Garda - a serious game of snakes and ladders, we were in tune with the shifts and somehow ended the day lying second overall; coming back from Cowes in a rib on an utterly still, black night; tight racing in the 400 during Chichester Harbour Federation Week; sailing on Alex Thomson’s Open 60 ‘Hugo Boss’; jumping back in an Europe dinghy again for the first time in years and last, but not least, the fantastic feedback we received from the first monthly issue of Yachts & Yachting.

Talking of unsung heroes, there is a huge team behind the magazine and each issue is a credit to them, and to all the magazine's readers. If you're one of them, thank you for all your support.

The right class selection for 2012?

What was it Will Carling so famously said about ‘37 old farts’? I’m sorry, but that quote came to mind after the recent ISAF conference and decision on Olympic equipment.

I’m sure there was a lot of good reasoning behind the scenes – there are some great names on the various committees, our sport is well represented in the Olympics, and we have governing bodies that tend to do the sport proud, both worldwide and with the RYA in the UK. But I can’t help feeling the Olympic equipment is stuck in a bit of a time warp, and feel particularly disappointed regarding the selection for the women’s events. Quite simply, for the girls, I don’t really see anything I’d really want to sail. While the men at least have the Finn (which by all accounts is fantastic to sail) and the 49er (an awesome boat which makes me wish I was bigger), to my mind, and for many other female sailors, there isn’t anything really decent among the women’s line-up.

I understand the desire to increase participation – and on that front the Laser has done a fantastic job in increasing the number of nations. But the Olympics are supposed to be the pinnacle of our sport; the athletes the best in the world. Other sports use the very latest hi-tech equipment, so surely the Games should be a shop window for the sport the world over? While I understand the compromise to be made in some areas, this could be offset with other classes at the very top end. Just imagine the impact a foiling class, for example, would have, not just for sailors, but also for non-sailors. I’m certain it would capture people’s imaginations.

There are plenty of possibilities, but for me the essentials should include the Laser and Laser Radial (men’s and women’s singlehanders – for accessibility), 49er (men’s skiff), 29erXX or other (women’s skiff), Foiling class (possibly open), multihull class (possibly mixed), and a men’s and women’s doublehanded dinghy… I have mixed views about the options when it comes to the other classes, so I’ll stop there.

Meanwhile I’ll just have to swallow my disappointment that London 2012 might not have the most spectacular sailing classes it could have done, and hope instead that by 2016 we will see a better mix.

To defend from ahead, or challenge from behind?

While the light winds were producing a high scoring regatta at the Olympic Games in Qingdao, one had to reflect on the contrast with the conditions at Skandia Cowes Week, where the breeze produced plenty of material for this issue’s feature on coping with gear failure! Somehow Cowes always seems to deliver at least a few days of big breeze, but it usually has at least one light day as well. Although I love the excitement of sailing when the wind is up, it has to be said that the best championships are those that encompass a variety of conditions and test crews across the wind range. In this respect Cowes delivered, although one could have done without the amount of rain, which meant regular soakings afloat and ashore.

I enjoyed a real contrast of sailing during the week. sailing on the J/92 ‘Neilson Redeye’ for a couple of days, with a big crew, fun racing in the J-Sprit class, and courses that took us on a tour of the western Solent. There was the extra challenge of a changing crew each day, with most of us not having sailed together before. Despite the rain and odd boat-handling mishap as positions on the boat were juggled, it was a lot of fun! 

Even the long days were to prove another contrast, as I joined Chris Darling and Alastair Shaw on ‘Darling Associates’ in the 90-boat SB3 fleet, where we were back ashore by lunchtime most days. Having won the Primo Cup earlier in the year, it was great to sail together again, and even better that we also had Sian to make us up to a four-man crew – a real advantage with the Solent to navigate as well as sailing the boat. A long, close-tacking beat up the Gurnard shore on Thursday morning will be one of  the highlights of my year. By then we were fourth overall, but had to suffer the pain of dropping to seventh on the final day… it’s always a shame when that happens as it tends to dampen what otherwise would be celebrated as a fantastic result.

How scary then must it be for those of our Olympic sailors going into the meal race in a good position… with a counting result that will be doubled, when the conditions are likely to be all over the place, it will surely be a case of  a lot to lose for the leaders, and an exciting chance to snatch a victory for those scraping into the top 10 with a lot of points to make up and nothing to lose. I’m not sure who I’d rather be…