20/09/2026
Some sailors seem to thrive on pressure. Give them a big fleet, a final race, a result they need and somebody breathing down their neck, and they become sharper, calmer and more decisive.
A lot of the sailors I coach are the opposite.
Pressure makes them tighten up, overthink everything and start sailing the result instead of sailing the boat. Very quickly, the thoughts become bigger than the race itself.
“My parents have sacrificed a lot for this, so I have to win.”
“This boat cost a fortune and Dad has told me I need to get a result.”
“I’ve travelled all this way, so I can’t mess this up.”
Once your head is full of that, you are no longer just trying to sail well. You are trying to justify the money, the travelling, the time, the expectation and what somebody else might think if the result is poor.
That is far too much to carry around a racecourse.
The way out is to break the race down into the things you can actually control.
Get the best start you can. Be on the right part of the line. Keep the boat flat. Keep the telltales streaming. Make sure the tack is good. Keep your head out of the boat. Read the next shift, select the best option available to you. Dominate the things in your control, and the results will begin to come to you, rather than you chasing them down.
You cannot control the final result.
You can control the quality of the next thirty seconds.
That is how pressure becomes useful for the sailors who struggle with it. Not by pretending you enjoy it, and not by telling yourself to relax, but by narrowing your attention back to the things you already know how to do well.
When pressure gets to you, what do you start thinking about that you cannot actually control?
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