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Saturday sees the long awaited start of Around Alone, the worlds longest race for an individual in any sport. The 16 mariners entered will sail 27,000 miles. As the race is single handed, it is quite apparent that you must sleep. It's also apparent that sleep will not be as normal and nice as in your comfortable and stable bed at home.
Race organizers and Dr. Claudio Stampi have teamed up to assist the sailors in properly planning their sleep patterns for the race.
The starting point for the sleep planning is the experiences of the sailors. If a sailor has a sleep pattern that has proved successful, Dr. Stampi likes to work with the sailor and reinforce it. If not, Stampi then has some recommendations and tips he gives. His advice is based both on the practical and research he has conducted. The practical includes skippering a yacht in the Whitbread Around the World Race. Amongst the research he has conducted are studying the sleep habits of 120 offshore single handed sailors who have competed in the likes of Trans Atlantic Races etc.
The basis of his sleep reccomendations is to nap frequently. The name for this sleep strategy is polyphaisc. This term literally means many phases, that is a lot of naps should equal good sleep for the Around Alone skipper. It seems from research that the ideal nap duration is 20 minutes. However, this varies. An example of this is Mike Golding, skipper of Group 4, will nap for 1 hour and 30 minutes at a time. He'll do this twice in a 24 hour period, once from 0200 to 0600 and again in the early afternoon. Opposed to Golding, is fellow Britisher Mike Garside who naps for 20 minute durations.
Another consideration when thinking about your sleep pattern, is whether you are a 'morning person' or 'night person'. Morning people tend to be better at shorter more regimented sleep. They like to take short naps at regularly scheduled intervals. Your evening person will tend toward longer individual periods of sleep. Dr. Sampi says, once they get in bed they like to stay there. Cray Valley skipper J.P. Mouligne is more of a night type person and sleeps for longer periods, in the 45 minute range.
So, once you figure out your sleep interval, how much total sleep are you trying for ? Sampi indicated that 4 to 5 1/2 hours is a safe amount. If you sleep less than this you pay a cost in poor performance.
Finally Sampi indicates, that your level of alertness is predictable. If you keep a sleep log, noting when you are alert and when you are not, you can help maximize effectivness of your sleep. Your periods of reduced alterness are when you should try to sleep, maximizing what would otherwise be inefficient time. Preparation and planning are the essential elements of the Around Alone race. This state of readiness needs to extend on board to sleep patterns if you hope to win. For continuing reports from Charleston and the Around Alone Start please visit the following url: http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/chs_index.asp