Autumn BaseCamp Programme at Malta SailBase

The BaseCamp programme which has proven very successful over the years, mainly because of its flexibility. It gives athletes the opportunity to fit in training when they’re available, not like other training programmes with set dates. BaseCamp offer athletes one month of hard training with access to some of the worlds best Laser coaches, good training partners and quality time with our strength and conditioning coach to work on fitness levels. What more can a sailing athlete ask?

If sailors haven’t got the time for a full month you are welcome to join for a week or two to brush up on their skill set, catching up on the latest techniques in the class. Being exposed to the culture, seeing firsthand how things are done by the professional Laser sailors, just their lifestyle alone is an eye-opener for most Laser sailors.

So what does it involve?

Sailors stay for as long as it suits them, be it one week or a number of the months at our Malta SailBase, being introduced to an Olympic sailors way of life, getting into a routine of sailing, fitness, briefings, protein shakes and of course sleep.

BaseCamps have a broad focus, giving sailors the opportunity to work on different areas of their development. Primarily aimed at Laser Std athletes campaigning for a goal regatta, the beauty of BaseCamp is that sailors get to experience and practice in every type of sailing conditions as the weather varies throughout the month.

Athletes can get into the routine of a true Laser professional and often make the biggest improvements in performance during BaseCamp training stretches. Athletes get to work with a coach for a prolonged period of time and therefore perfect specific techniques. Competition is provided by the other Laser sailors in the BaseCamp programme making the training sessions competitive.

Fitness levels benefit also from working out a couple of times a day with our in house strength and conditioning coach. Often address bodyweight issues as there is a reasonable and consistent time frame to achieve such goals.

Another major bonus of the BaseCamp programme is that sailors become members of the SailCoach ‘family’. Friendships are formed with training partners and coaches as the SailCoach team live, eat, sleep, gym and sail with each other, usually in a multicultural environment. These friendships and cultural interactions can be important for the development of athletes maturity, both in their sailing and in their life experiences. SailCoach sees this as one of our important strengths.

Furthermore, English is the first language of Team SailCoach with all coaching and life conducted through English. This gives BaseCamp sailors the chance to develop the language and often they return home with a much-improved vocabulary. Again SailCoach sees this as one of our important strengths.

If you are a Laser 4.7, Radial or Standard sailor SailCoach’s Malta SailBase is the place to be this summer.

Ten additional benefits of BaseCamp!

• You’ll learn to cook to survive without mom…
• You’ll sail downwind in 30 knots and stay alive…
• You’ll make new friends and become part of a close-knit community…
• You will forget the internet ever existed…
• You will learn to say ‘hello’ in a minimum of 5 languages…
• Talking about the gym sessions will become the most important pastime…
• School will become a distant memory…
• Hiking will become your new favourite way to sit…
• You have dreams about surfing downwind…
• Your Laser will become your new lover…

What You Can Expect

• Access to good training partners
• Informal discussion after training sessions over dinner
• Debrief Video Analysis of your sailing
• Shuttle to and from a top class and well-equipped gym
• Quality time with our in house strength and conditioning coach
• Take part in local regattas
• Advice on what your next steps should be in sailing 

A typical day

The day will start with a gym session, sometimes before breakfast, sometimes after. These physical training sessions will be conducted by our strength and conditioning coach, with care taken that the exercises are suitable for that age group. Morning gym is followed by a briefing at the SailBase on what the coach plans for the days sailing sessions, pointing out the areas where the coach intends to focus, this is depending on the prevailing weather conditions. After the briefing, athletes have lunch and rig up to go on the water for one long sailing session. Depending on the weather, we tried to have one day a week where we have a long downwind session, along with one rest day in the week for recovery.

After sailing, there will be a recovery session usually in the SailBase gym, which sometimes involves an ice bath or a swim. Next up there is dinner in a local restaurant followed by a debrief on the day’s activities. Sometimes the debrief will be put off to the next morning depending on the time available. There will be some time set aside in the evening to relax before bed… the next day it starts all over again!

We understand that some athletes will be stunning towards exams and we try and be flexible helping them to fit this in with time set aside in the day to study.