Science in sailing: Interdisciplinary perspectives in optimizing sailing performance

Sailing is a complex sport that encompasses numerous competences, which calls for multior, when possible, even interdisciplinary research. The opportunity to gather scientists with diverse research paradigms is rare; however, the European College of Sport Science, ECSS, has been successful now for the second time to include a symposium in the annual congress addressing multifaceted aspects of sailing. The first symposium was held in Copenhagen, 1997, and papers reaching from Viking ships and boat construction including socio-economic factors in sailing sport technology to sailing physiology, nutrition and tactics were published in a series within the theme ‘Science in Sport’ (Sjøgaard, 1999). The second symposium was held in Barcelona, Spain, in 2013, and the series of papers accepted as a special issue in the present journal – the official journal of the ECSS launched in 2001. The theme of the present symposium focused on optimizing performance in sailing and was addressed from numerous perspectives ranging from learning, decision-making and cognition to objective performance testing including biomechanical models, physiological assessments and training. The local organizers introduced the symposium by the topic on the essentials of learning to sail – an obvious prerequisite for optimal performance, presented by E. Inglés. A translational approach from other outdoor sport experiences was presented in terms of a conceptual network composed of six sections (Funollet & Inglés, 2014). This system of learning is centred on the ones who learn and allow them to adapt the process to their particular needs. The first section allows the apprentice to relate with the immediate environment of sailing. It is made up of the concepts: environment, equipment, facility and material. The second section is used to interact with the body self-conscience; it includes awareness and posture. The third section facilitates the connection with the basic skills of sailing needed to direct the boat; its concepts are position, manoeuvres, gliding, transferring and discharging weight. The fourth section refers to the complementary technical skills that improve sailing performance. The fifth section relates to the strategic and tactical skills in sailing competition. Finally, the sixth section refers to the interpretive skills that allow sailors’ independence in the natural marine environment. This introduction per se elucidated an interdisciplinary approach. The first challenge in every race is before the start to position the boat optimally relative to starting line and the other competitors. Fortunately, an in-depth research paper on the start in match racing was presented (Araujo et al., 2015). Sailors’ tactical behaviour using continuous real-time performer– environment interactions solves tactical problems in a robust and flexible way. Transitions in the boat path are an emergent process, which cannot be specified completely in advance. Such decision in sailing emerge from the interaction of multiple factors and modelling of decision-making in sailing is revealing that this is not a conscious process accounted for by traditional, normative, rationalitybased models. In these models, tactical positioning and displacement over a course in sailing emerge as a function of interacting tasks (e.g., regatta leg), individual (e.g., expertise level) and environmental constraints (e.g., wind direction, tide, manoeuvres and adversary position). Computer-simulated sailing regattas performed by sailors with different expertise levels revealed specific patterns of information utilization and performed actions. A new model of decision-making behaviour in match-race sailing was presented elucidating the complexity in using the informational constraint and dependence on the individual expertise level (Manzanares, Menayo, Segado, Salmeron, & Cano, 2015). Interestingly, the visual behaviour is a determining factor in sailing performance. This was studied using an Eye Tracing System among top ranking versus bottom ranking Optimist Class sailors. A novel analysis process – based on a probabilistic model – determined a difference in visual behaviour pattern in terms of gaze fixation recurrence time being very low on relevant locations among the more experienced sailors while being low on relevant as well as on less relevant locations in the less experienced sailors (Manzanares et al., 2015). Learning of optimal visual behaviour seems thus to add to sailing performance. Youth sailors were studied also in another paper with a complementary scientific approach. Optimist Class sailors (also termed static hikers) as well as dynamic hikers (Laser and Europe Class sailors) European Journal of Sport Science, 2015 Vol. 15, No. 3, 191–194, http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/17461391.2015. 1008583