A day with Dr Sleep

Learn how to optimise you sleep management on a course with Harvard expert and Ellen trainer Dr Claudio Stampi

On 17 May the Newport Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island are hosting a day long seminar with the world expert of sleep optimisation at sea - Dr Claudio Stampi, MD PhD Founder and Director of the ChronoBiology Research Institute.

The course is entitled: Alertness, Performance and Sleep Optimisation for Singlehanded to Fully Crewed Yacht Racing and will run from 9am-6pm.

Today, to win a race it is no longer enough to sail the best boat in town, secure a highly professional shore team, and be masters in sailing technology and strategy. To gain a truly competitive edge, skippers must focus on their own 'design specs', also known as human factors. Races are won by those sailors capable of handling their own resources - of skill, stamina, determination - wisely.

To achieve these objectives, the Chronobiology Research Institute has designed a four-phase approach: foundation, assessment, practice, and alertness routing. This workshop is phase 1 (foundation) of the program.

Specifically, the workshop aims are:

- Provide competitors with the basic knowledge and tools of fatigue management, including:
- Fundamentals of sleep-wake, alertness and circadian regulation
- State-of-the-art solutions and techniques for optimizing performance and alertness
- Polyphasic and multiple napping strategies
- Early detection of subtle signs and effects of sleep deprivation, and countermeasures
- Overview of current strategies employed in a variety of offshore sailing races
- Methods to empower skippers and crew to manage fatigue risks
- Examine and discuss pros and cons, costs and benefits of work-rest schedules and patterns previously adopted by skippers and crew
- Evaluate possible strategies for the upcoming race(s)
- Conduct detailed interviews with skippers and crew about their sleep-wake and circadian history

The Chronobiology Research Institute in Boston, MA, conducts research on human alertness, biological rhythms and sleep, and runs Alertness, Performance and Sleep Optimization programs in industry and sports. Institute Director and workshop presenter Claudio Stampi is also very familiar with the requirements and constraints of offshore sailing campaigns, having participated himself in two around the world races, including the 1981-82 Whitbread as skipper of La Barca Laboratorio. He is the pioneer of polyphasic (multiple napping) sleep strategies and of leading research in this field, having studied sleep patterns of, and worked with, the top oceanic skippers since 1980.

The data that will be presented originates from the following races and skippers, among many others: OSTAR, Vendee Globe, Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques Vabre, Around Alone and from skippers such as Ellen MacArthur, JP Mouligne, Giovanni Soldini, Mike Golding, Alain Gautier, and Brad Van Liew.

Price: $200 per person, includes refreshments and lunch
This workshop is limited to 15 participants.

For seminar reservations:
call or email Drew Wood – 609-504-9140, Drew@solosailor.com