Temporal patterns of physical activity in Olympic dinghy racing

Background. The objective of the present study was to determine the tempora l patterns of physical activity in four classes of Olympic racing dinghy, Methods. Experimental design: Descriptive. Setting: A field (on-water) stud y. Participants: Nineteen elite New Zealand sailors (fifteen male and four female). Intervention: Not applicable. Measures: The temporal pattern (dura tion and frequency) and nature of the physical activities of each sailor du ring each leg of simulated races were recorded on video tape and subsequent ly systematically quantified and categorised using notational analysis. The accumulated percentage of total leg time spent sitting (upright or leaning backwards), hiking (upright or fully extended) whilst trimming and whilst pumping the mainsheet and for the time spent on rig adjustments, tacking an d gybing were calculated for both up-wind and off-wind sailing, Results, When sailing up-wind, the most time was spent hiking upright (aver age 29-66 % of total leg time) while trimming the mainsheet, During off-win d sailing, sailors spent the most time sitting upright while trimming the m ainsheet (average 29-55 % total leg time), Hiking upright while trimming th e mainsheet was executed the greatest number of times (average 15.8-23.9) w hen sailing up-wind and sitting upright while trimming was executed the mos t times (average 3.5-7.4) when sailing off-wind, The most lengthy continuou s activity was hiking upright while trimming the mainsheet when sailing up- wind (9-18 seconds) and sitting upright while trimming the mainsheet when s ailing off-wind (17-34 seconds). Conclusions. The most physically demanding aspect of Olympic yacht racing i s hiking. It occurs for the majority of up-wind legs when the wind starts t o exceed approximately 8 knots. The only respite that the sailor gets from hiking is during tacking, rig adjustments or sitting inboard for brief peri ods when the wind is low Sustained hiking tends to last for no more than ap proximately 20 seconds before the sailor changes to either a more extended or more upright hiking posture, The physical demands during off-wind sailin g are generally less, except for a greater requirement for power in the arm s and shoulders to pump the mainsheet in order to assist the dinghy in acce lerating down waves. The findings of the present study are directly applica ble to the design of sailing specific physical conditioning programmes for Olympic class sailors.