ATTENTION ALL SAILORS...HANDY HINTS FOR PAINFREE SAILING

It’s that holiday time of year at last and this year I decided I needed to book something with guaranteed sunshine.  So a weeks watersports holiday on Samos, a greek island near Turkey, was booked.   

Shortly after arrival, having found my bearings, room, pool, bar, I headed to the waterfront excited about having a go at sailing.  Why sailing?  Well two reasons, firstly I  spent a large part of my childhood holidays as my father’s co-pilot in one waterborne vessel or another, some more watertight than others, so I was quietly confident I’d be ok at this, also I hate getting wet, unless of course it’s in a hot shower - I know a worry isn’t it!  Anyway, decision made and my 2 hour refresher course was booked for the next day.

10 am of day two came around rather too quickly, nervous that perhaps I didn’t really know what I was doing in a boat after all!!  Upon arrival at the waterfront I was shown to the ‘simulator’ basically a boat on tyres, a quick intro to the parts of the boat and we were practising to tack.  It wasn’t long before it became pretty clear to me that I wasn’t that au fait with sailing but my teacher’s patience and encouragement prevailed and we headed for the real thing.  “Climb aboard” he said, to which I replied “just so you know I really hate getting wet” and we departed terra firma.  He smiled!  

Within less than 5 minutes I did my first tack and guess what, I was in!  Somehow he managed to stay on board...how exactly did that happen?  

By the end of my two hour ‘refresher’, with a lot of encouragement I thought sailing was fun, but I wasn’t convinced that letting me lose on my own was a particularly good idea.  So happy to return to shore I thought I’d probably call it a day on sailing, especially as it was abundantly clear that you didn’t always get to remain dry!  

Not long after we’d landed I was advised that I was probably at the same sort of level at the beginners who were half way through their course and if I wanted to join them I could.  Oh, no, how do i get out of that one?  Do I want to get out of that one?  Decisions decisions!  I had lunch to consider and having decided not to bother I then quickly changed my mind and found myself back at the simulator learning to gybe!  Did they know I’d only just learnt to tack?  

Advising the new instructor that getting wet was not a favourite pastime, we were back in the boats and practising.  All seemed to be going well, the gybing was scary but ok and I’d just managed to right the boat each time, so with confidence growing I headed off on my own.  All seemed to be going well until I noticed with not undue concern that another boat and I were heading for the same bit of water!  Panic struck, completely forgot what I should do in this situation, we collided.  In turn both of us then collided with the rescue boat and  then guess what, my boat capsized!  NO!  Apparently, so I discovered later, I looked pretty horrified by the whole event, so they decided to give me some time to recover heaving me into the rescue boat, oh the glamour!!  

The next two days, true to form whenever I take a break, I got flu, my body finally realising it was on holiday and had a chance to stop!  Two days spent doing almost nothing then I was pleased to say I had my final lesson, didn’t fall in and passed the course!!  Yeh!! So know I’m officially a ‘sailor’.  (The quotes being there for a good reason!) 

So, anyway, finally it’s time for the physio bit!

Whilst I was away there were a number of people who reported stories of how their back pain became worse with time on the seas.  I guess probably not surprisingly as this is predominantly an activity spent bent over/sitting.  

Preparations I would now consider to avoid/reduce such problems would include: 

1. Working hard to ensure you have a strong core before going out 
2. Make sure your back muscles are strong
3. Taking regular breaks probably every 30-45 minutes 
4. As much as you can whilst sailing along, try keeping a good posture, imagine a piece of string pulling you up by the crown of your head, keeping your low back curve as a curve.
5. Don’t forget to stretch especially hip flexors, quads, hamstrings and calves - see youtube videos for more info on how to do these.  Flexibility is key for being able to move about the boat so stretches should help with this.
6. If you have the chance to vary your role in a boat, do.  Different postures and regularly moving about really help to limit problems and improve circulation and muscle activity.

I hope these hints are helpful.  If you’d like more information or have any questions do please email me at jemma@thephysioplace.com

Happy sailing :-)