Determination: Without the detemination to stay 100% focused on the task (s) at hand the life of a solo sailor would be turbulent
Fitness: To physically handle the IMOCA 60 and all that entails including the huge sails (Up to 10 for an around the world race) requires a high level of specialized fitness, particularly upper body strength, balance and endurance.
Nutrition: As with fitness the energy or food that the solo sailor uses when, what and how much is essential to ensuring he/she has the ability to continue for months at a time at the highest level of peak performance.
Medical: In the middle of the Southern Ocean with only yourself to attend to any injuries sustained, the solo sailor has to be thorougly trained to be able to handle most potential incidences, from stitching your tongue back on, cuts, bruises, infections to dealing with a broken limp.
Sleep Management: Quite possibly the most important of all the disciplines, the solo sailor is required to manage his or her sleep continuously for months at a time. The average solo sailor will sllep for four to five hours in a twenty four hour period of which any given time os thirty to forty minutes, at wakening the sailor is required to be at peak performance straight away.
Meteorology: Understanding the weather and further being able to read, predict and determine angles, points of sail, sail plan etc is absolutley essential on board an IMOCA 60.
Navigation: As with meteorology, the solo sailor has no one else to discuss navigation strategy with, they are on their own and need to be able to couple the learnings from the meteorology, information from the navigation equipment and what is going on around them to determine the best and fastest route along with the right sails and balance on the yacht.
Sailing and Seamanship: The Solo sailor does everything on board, from bowman, mastman, keyboard, helmsman, navigator, fix it person and everything in between, so a complete understanding of everything there is to know is essential to both speed and safety.
The Mind: Sports Psychology is essential for solo sailors, when the body wants to give up or have a break the mind must take over and ensure the level of competitivness is maintained at the highest level.
Mechanical / DIY Skills: The solo sailor is responsible for absolutely everything on board the yacht, so if anything goes wrong there is only you to fix it. Training for all onboard mechanicals is essential.
