Staying Sharp in the Offseason, Airwaves Writer Zach Brown
The fall season has concluded leaving most college sailors eager for some down time but motivated for the ever important spring season. One of the most difficult aspects of college sailing for many teams is managing the winter offseason. Some programs can sail all year while others cannot, but there are unique ways for any team to sharpen their sailing skills to come out swinging in the spring. Warm weather Midwinter circuits, fitness, team race playbooks, statistical score analysis, team bonding exercises, and focused non-sailing activities are just some of the strategies college teams implement to maintain or improve during the offseason.
Sailing Cross Training
The best training for sailing is more sailing. Yale sailor Graham Landy expanded on this point, “This year I am trying to find more ways to sail during the offseason, which should help a lot at the beginning of the spring season.” Many one-design classes have midwinter racing circuits in Florida such as the V15, the Snipe, and the Lightning.
It is important to cross train in a non collegiate boat during the offseason to develop new skills that can be applied to college racing. Sailing longer courses in general helps for big picture tactics and speed focus. The Miami Olympic Classes Regatta offers intense competition in non college boats. The snipe is a great cross training boat because it teaches rig tuning and sail shape while still placing significant emphasis on tactics. Sailors interested in the Snipe should get in contact with Augie Diaz or Brian Kamilar to plan a trip down to Miami for some snipe winter circuit racing on Biscayne Bay.
The V15 challenges similar skills important to collegiate boats with a bit more speed in the game. The V15 Midwinters is a fun event over the winter holiday that combines both fleet and team racing. Interest in the V15 Midwinters should be directed towards Ben Spiller. An alternate form of sailboat racing over the winter for those who have access to frozen bodies of water is ice boating. Midwest sailing legend Gordy Bowers claims that ice boating teaches solid apparent wind fundamentals and boat feel, not to mention extreme speed and fun.
Fitness
Get to the gym. The offseason is the perfect time to increase strength and control body weight. Every college sailor has access to a school gym and free time due to the lack of sailing practice or regattas. Create fitness goals and consult a trainer whether the focus is cardio, strength, or weight gain/loss. Yale sailor Cam Cullman commented that fitness and health is a key component to “putting ourselves in the best possible position to win a national championship. That’s always the goal.”
Fitness and health doesn’t strictly mean spend hours at the gym and only eat salads. College presents many opportunities to improve or maintain shape in intramural sports and pickup basketball or indoor soccer games. Also, sailors can always benefit from increased flexibility, core strengthening, and spiritual relaxation at yoga class.
Team Racing Chalk Talks
Print copies of the Team Racing Call Book, cut out paper boats, and go through scenarios. The offseason is a great time to sit all the players of a team race team down and go through each play to get everyone on the same page.
Landy reflects on Yale’s team racing chalk talks: “After we return for the spring semester we begin team racing preparation with around two hour-long sessions per week.” Team race talks can be very effective if rules and scenarios are discussed, illustrated on the board with diagrams and boats, and then seen in video examples.
Statistical Score Analysis
Geek out with historical results. It’s ok to use the classrooms skills learned in college to improve sailing results. Use basic math and statistical proficiencies to understand if risk takers scores win out over conservative sailors’ scores at the end of regattas. Two-time Olympian Stu McNay studied the Danmark Trophy results in his college years. He looked at individual scores over a ten year time period because it was one of the most competitive regattas of the fall season and the wind was fairly consistent. Historical regatta results tell a story and there are plenty of takeaways.
Team Bonding Exercises
Hangout as a team outside of mandatory sailing events. Ski trips, team sports, and team dinners are great customs that keep teams united. Team harmony is invaluable and there is no better time to mend competitively strained relationships than enjoying social activities together over the offseason. Skipper-crew relationships can be strengthened doing yoga classes together or workouts that highlight team success over individual achievement.
Non-Sailing Activities
Take time to be a college student and enjoy time away from sailing. Landy offered great advice about the offseason being a great time to enjoy other aspects of what college has to offer. Taking enough time off from all things sailing related is healthy and crucial to success in the spring. It is important to start off the next season fresh and excited to go sailing.
Leave a Reply