MIND GAMES by Julia Edwards

Of course, physical fitness and competence is essential for success, but even the technically best sailor won't get anywhere without the right mental attitude.

I don't pretend to be an expert on sailing, I've been club racing for 2 years and still have an awful lot to learn, I'm nowhere near what I'd call ‘good' yet, but I have had quite a bit of experience when it comes to the mental stuff, and it's not all good by any means, so I'm writing this to help others avoid falling into the traps I did.

Your starter for 10

Ok, so let's start with the preparation for the race. So you're rigged and ready but there's one last thing to do. Prep your mind!

Think ‘I am going to have the perfect race today, I am going to be the sailing god/goddess, I will be amazing.' It may sound silly but it puts you in the right frame of mind. Mental imagery is a good one, see yourself sailing perfectly. Visualise the perfect roll tack or whatever. If you see yourself do it, then you can do it.

Ok so you may not have had a good night's sleep or someone may have annoyed you, and it might not be that easy to put yourself in a good frame of mind. Here are some things that may help.

Quick meditation. No, not silly. You don't have to be religious or anything to meditate. Find yourself a quiet spot, alone if you wish, and sit down or lie down in the most comfortable position, but make sure you don't fall asleep! Close your eyes, and begin to take deep breaths. Now comes the hard part, emptying your mind. It may help just to imagine blackness in front of you. Once you have done this for 5 minutes or so you should feel a lot calmer and be able to start mental imaging.

Meditation is also very good for controlling fear.

Other ways to calm down include, going for a walk, run or cycle ride, sailing, not competing or trying to learn anything, just sailing, listening to music, singing (find a deserted place!), talking to someone, reading, writing, and completely forgetting about sailing and everything ever to do with it.

So now before the start of the race you should be fired up and thinking positively, and this should continue throughout the start and the rest of the race.

At the start the main thing is to stay calm and relaxed and concentrate on what you are doing, and to keep thinking positively.

And when everything goes pear shaped…

Ok so at some point something is going to go wrong, in some race, at some time. But the most important thing is not to let it get to you.

I am majorly guilty of this. If something went wrong I would get in a total stress, lose my temper or just give up and think I was rubbish, couldn't win etc. Then it would all go out of the window and what I could have recovered from, I didn't.

If things start to go wrong and/or you can feel yourself getting annoyed, losing your temper or whatever, take a couple of mental steps backwards, a few deep breaths, count to ten and re-assess the situation with a calm and clear mind. The problem won't seem half as bad than it would if you were really angry/p*ssed off.

Intimidation

DON'T EVER BE INTIMIDATED.

Big strong beefy sailors with all their badges and new flash gear racing around in their new flash boats shouting their heads off – it's a nightmare but you have just as much right to be there if not more.

If you're in the right, call for water or whatever, it's the rules. Don't be put off by these people. If they swear at you or are abusive feel free to protest them and do not be afraid to do so.

There's no easy way to harden yourself to this, just do harden yourself to it and blank it out. At the same time, look businesslike or at least like you know what you're doing and where you are going so no-one will be tempted to pick on you thinking that you are weaker.

General Mental Attitude & Stuff To Avoid

My major problem and one that is common is putting yourself down, saying that you are rubbish etc. How do you think you're going to well if you're rubbish and if you don't believe in yourself then who else will?

People who do it for attention seeking, well it aint gonna work cos no-one wants to know a loser who says pathetic stuff for attention.

If you have a self-esteem problem now is the time to shake that off and start thinking of yourself as the amazing sailor that you are. Quite simply, if you want to succeed you have to start hating yourself and start having a good positive attitude. This is one of the many reasons why I never did as well as I could, because I thought I was crap. I realised what a stupid attitude that was and how it was holding me back, then when I had realised this a load of other crap like injury happened, meaning I couldn't sail! But that's life eh?

In The End

Basically, have the most positive, sunny, happy attitude ever and don't think negatively, and if things start to go wrong approach it calmly with a clear mind and it'll be a helluva lot easier to sort out.

Yes, this really is the end

I could harp on for years about social psychology but I don't need to. So go out there, think positive and enjoy your sailing!