Preparing  for  Race Day

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The Night Before

• * Eat a big meal containing lots of carbohydrates such as pasta, rice or potatoes
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• * Drink plenty of fluids, but no alcohol
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• * Go to bed early and get a minimum of eight hours sleep
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• * Before you go to sleep think about your aims and goals for this race. Who do you want to beat? What is your performance target? What part of your racing do you want to work on? Write these down to remember if it will help.
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• * Also before you go to sleep try some simple visualisation techniques. Think about the thing that you most want to do in the first race on the first day tomorrow. Perhaps get a perfect start, or round the top mark ahead of your rival. Now think about achieving this, and imagine what it will look like in you head, as if you are recording it in your mind on a video camera. When you come to actually do this tomorrow you will feel like you have done it before because you have been practising in your head.

• * Get up in plenty of time to have breakfast and get down to the race site and rig up. You probably need to be there around 2 hours before the first possible start.
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• * Eat a breakfast consisting of plenty of carbohydrates, such as cereals, toast, and fruit juices. Have a large glass of water as well.
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• * Head down to the race site, on the way checking the wind to see how strong it looks. Think about what wind conditions it might be, and what equipment you might need to use.
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• * Make sure you have entered and paid to race, do this first upon your arrival, before you chat to your mates too much, or rig up.
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• * Now you can chat to your mates a bit, and then rig up. Set your equipment up for the prevailing conditions. Remember to use plenty of downhaul if it is windy. Get a rig winch, or a strong friend to do your downhaul if you cannot pull enough on yourself.
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• * Get out onto the water in plenty of time for the first start. At least half an hour before. You need to check the start line, the upwind beat, and where the course buoys are laid. Does it look like one side of the upwind will be favoured? If so you need to make a plan for the first upwind to take advantage of that.
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• * You need to sail around enough to get properly warmed up, so that you will not injure your muscles through them being too cold. Do some pumping to really get your heart rate up.
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• * Now you are ready to race! Do your best, and never give up. Race champions are the ones that can come back from bad positions in individual races, so that they get a good score in the overall series.