How do you winterise a sailor?! – Nikki Henderson

Whether you're land bound for weeks of months, use your time off the water wisely says Nikki Henderson as she contemplates how to stay sharp in the off season

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. They feel as loaded with guilt as they do optimism. And by the time February rolls around it’s easy to hit a slump. This year feels particularly anti-climactic. I’ve found myself enviously following the transatlantic and Caribbean race circuits, second-guessing my decision to stay on dry land this winter.

But instead of dwelling too long on that misery it prompted a more useful question: what should we be doing with the off-season? Most of us know how to winterise a boat, but how do you winterise a sailor?

One of the most effective ways I’ve found to improve when I’m not on the water is to deliberately put myself back in the role of student. So, this winter, I’d challenge all of you who’s lines are securely fastened to the docks to do the same: learn something new.

An obvious candidate is to nerd up on your instruments. These systems are astonishingly capable, yet most of us use a fraction of their potential. Once the season starts, diving into menus and adjusting settings can feel like opening a can of worms. Everything behaves differently, you don’t know how to undo what you’ve done – and so it’s easy to conclude that it’s better to just never touch them again.

So the off-season is the perfect time to read instrument manuals properly, watch a few webinars, and understand what your setup can really offer. Even if you don’t own a boat, understanding NMEA network architecture, autopilot tuning, or how to run a proper speed calibration makes you a valuable asset on any crew.

Winter is also the time to tackle jobs that are too miserable to do once the boat is in commission. Servicing pumps is a great example – freshwater pumps, bilge pump, macerators and toilets are all deeply unpleasant to pull apart when you’re living on board or sailing regularly. Doing them now will reduce the risk of them failing later.

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Alongside the onboard maintenance, there’s the question of personal maintenance. Each year I try to set myself one leadership goal, something specific that usually requires some sort of private therapeutic work. If you aren’t sure what that might be, asking crew for feedback can be informative.

About eight years ago, a crewmember told me they felt belittled because I repeated my instructions too readily. I spent the winter learning how to slow myself down in fight or flight situations and adopted a technique which I still use today: where possible moving to the person I speak to, rather than shouting across the boat. It noticeably calms me and the atmosphere on board.

And then there’s fitness. It’s hard to stay fit when you’re sailing, which means much of the work needs to happen beforehand. I recently heard fellow offshore sailor and physical therapist Hannah Diamond speak about training and her advice was to focus on pulling as well as pushing, and aim for two strength sessions and two cardiovascular sessions each week. Fitness training is often undervalued, even mocked, in sailing. But the fitter you are, the more you’ll enjoy sailing, the more energy you’ll have, and the less likely you’ll be to get injured and become a liability to your crew.

Many sailors also worry about getting rusty after time off the water. A way to counter this is to use the off-season to build or refine your playbooks for key manoeuvres. How do you reef? Who does what when recovering from a broach? What’s the plan if you lose the rudder? These can be working documents that you build up, but thinking them through when you’re shore-bound is invaluable.

One off-season job I always leave too late is testing foul weather gear. It sits in my cupboard all winter, until a few days before I fly out to a boat and I realise – too late – it’s no longer waterproof. So take advantage of the properly wet rainy days and go for a long walk in your gear. If you come home with damp patches – replace it (reproofing rarely works for me).

Finally, not all preparation is practical. It’s a chance to pause and renew your enthusiasm for our sport. I re-read favourite sailing books, watch films about early explorers and reconnect with the romance of it all.

And if you’re still really longing to get out there, don’t underestimate the restorative power of time in saltwater, no matter how cold. A dinghy sail on a crisp, frosty morning, or an afternoon surfing after a good onshore breeze can do wonders for the soul.

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