12.12.2006
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING OF SOLO RACERS
The VELUX 5 Oceans round the world yacht race represents a significant physical and mental challenge for the competing professional skippers. Two of which have already been forced to pull out, highlighting the power of the elements these skippers are up against. Few people can begin to estimate the hardship endured in completing a single-handed circumnavigation of the globe. However, Scientists from Portsmouth University in collaboration with Wollongong University, Sydney, have been tasked to quantify the physiological and psychological demands of the race as it unfolds. For the first time in this type of event, tests will be conducted, prior to, during and following each leg of the race, helping to describe the changes associated with successful completion of this epic journey.
As there is no definitive measure of sailing performance and very little literature from which to base a scientific assessment, the rationale for the current battery of tests was constructed from Portsmouth University's extensive experience of field based research studies for marine occupational groups. The initial stages of data collection have already been conducted with the assessment of the skippers prior to leaving Bilbao including a sub-maximal aerobic fitness test, strength and power tests of the major muscle groups, followed by more sailing specific assessments of hand grip strength, endurance, cold injury and a simulated winch task to determine power using a modified arm crank ergometer. Furthermore, a complete anthropometric profile, urinanalysis, nutritional survey, sleep/wake cycle monitor and balance assessment tests were also conducted. The psychological aspect of the research focussed upon indices of mood, recovery and burnout thus providing a comprehensive examination of 5 of the 7 starting competitors.
Whilst on the boat, and also unique in this research project, the skippers are providing feedback on some of the psychological changes undergone during the race itself describing changes in mood, time committed to certain tasks and hours of sleep. The skippers may experience exhilaration and depression as a consequence of their voyage and this aspect of the study goes someway to describing these emotions as they unfold.
At each stopover the skippers once again complete the series of tests allowing the demands of each leg to be quantified and isolated. In addition to identifying these changes, the research team hope to use the findings to advise future round the world competitors to optimise their physical preparation and racing performance. This will also enable them to structure their recovery plans in the time separating each leg of the race to achieve the optimal pre-race levels of fitness, strength, sleep, hydration and nutritional balance.
Involved skippers of the current race will also benefit from this work and will receive specific feedback on their performance for each of the laboratory tests, including information on how the physical changes observed may impact upon their capacity to complete various sailing tasks. Each skipper's ability to complete the basic tasks quantified by this series of laboratory tests, whilst under significant psychological and physiological strain may be what distinguishes this group of people as elite.
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