Develop your fitness, strength and endurance, and improve your flexibility and agility to deliver your best consistently on the race course with this practical guide.
Fitness To Win – Michael Blackburn
Fernhurst Books Limited
This is the Swiss Army Knife of sailing fitness, strength and endurance, with the aim of preparing you to deliver your best consistently on the race course. A bold target, but Michael Blackburn has plenty of experience and success sailing, both competing and coaching at the highest level.
After a Bronze behind Ben Ainslie and Robert Scheidt at Sydney 2000, as a coach he guided a trio of Aussie Laser champions to Olympic Gold; Tom Slingsby in London 2012, Tom Burton at Rio 2016 and Matt Wearn at Tokyo 2020, culminating as Technical Director of the Australian Sailing Team for Wearn’s second Gold at Paris 2024.
This long experience at the forefront of high level international dinghy sailing competition, has resulted in a guide that reaches into every phase of fitness preparation and application within the various sailing divisions, to achieve maximum effectivity on the race course.
The old adage no pain, no gain, is often used in reference to improving sailing performance, and here Blackburn takes care to ensure that you will be well prepared, in all the areas required, to achieve significant fitness improvement safely. In all over 160 photos and access to 8 videos by the author.
The cover is wide and deep, reflecting Blackburn’s sport science background, balanced with his practical, competitive and coaching hands-on experience. Thus appealing to competitive sailors of dinghies, keelboats and on boards, at all levels from club sailors – young and old – wanting to maintain fitness, strength and endurance, to sailors aiming for national squads.
Over 100 exercises (many using minimal equipment) designed to help performance in specific areas, are demonstrated in the book, by top British Sailing Team sailors Micky Beckett and Matilda Nicholls, helpfully cross-referenced with there practical application within the various chapters.
While there are programmes and case studies for various levels of involvement, Blackburn leavens this comprehensive information . . . ‘Above all, keep realistic. You don’t need to overhaul your life to feel fitter on the water, but with the advice here you will make your time on the water more enjoyable and keep sailing well for years to come . . . and that can be no bad thing.’
Published by Fernhurst Books Limited;
Available 27 October 2026; RRP: £17.99