The iShares Cup is one of the most demanding events any sailor can race in – and the professional crews who sail the Extreme 40s are some of the fittest, most experienced athletes in the sport.

Nigel King, who raced onboard BT at the second iShares Cup event in Hyères and on iShares at the most recent leg of the circuit at Skandia Cowes Week, has sailed a wide variety of yachts and dinghies — including Open 60 and Figaro round the world ocean-racing yachts. Nigel wore a Suunto heart rate monitor for one afternoon of racing during the iShares Cup, and the results show that Nigel and his team were being pushed to the absolute limit — with his heart rate repeatedly taken to the max during a mammoth nine-race afternoon in Hyères. Nigel explains:


“I use a heart rate monitor all the time when I train, ride and run. I began using them because I started doing some triathlons. I’m also a little bit lazy when I train because I don’t mind doing the strength stuff but the aerobic stuff is not what I’m into so and unless I know exactly how hard I’m working I won’t work hard enough basically, so I use the monitor to make me work a bit harder.

“I had a fitness test a few years ago by the RYA fitness team when I was Star sailing, and they measured your VO2 max which is basically your maximum heart rate as I understand it, and that was measured at 171 when I was 33, and I’m now 39. Your maximum heart rate is affected by age so it would’ve come down.”

The heart rate graph shows that 39-year-old Nigel was working so hard his heart rate reached 169 beats per minute during the ninth and final race of the day. Considering his natural resting heart rate is around 37bpm, and his maximum around 170, this shows just how hard he was pushing himself! The monitor also calculated that he had burnt nearly 1,800 calories on the water — almost the entire recommended daily calorie intake for most women!


“I do some time trials on my bike and I work on the principle that if I’m running at 160 then I’m pretty close to my maximum, that I can maintain for 30 or 40 minutes. So if I’m touching 170 then I’m probably close to absolutely max’d out, and then doing it nine times, or several times in each race.”

Over nearly five hours on the water Nigel, who was doing bow on the BT Extreme 40 in gusty conditions of over 20 knots, repeatedly had to use explosive bursts of energy — pushing his heart rate higher and sending the graph soaring. He explains: “Each big peak is nine races, then two peaks [in each race] would be the two hoists — the first hoist, a gybe, the drop, another hoist, a gybe and then we finish and my heart rate goes down again.”

Below the heart rate is a graph which compare the afternoon’s workout to Nigel’s base fitness level, and shows that by reaching Level 3 [the darkest red top section] Nigel is working as hard as he can. “The secondary graph knows some personal data about me, my weight, the amount of exercise I normally take etc, and it knows how hard I’m training. So it works out a training effect, so level 1 is a minor training effect, level 2 is maintaining my level of fitness.”

Nothing left to give
So, what does it feel like during those peaks of exertion? “After each race I’d be on my hands and knees breathing as hard as it is possible to breathe. During the last race Nick [Moloney, skipper] came in to help me because he could see that I was completely spent, I just had nothing left to give. I was trying to pull as hard as I could but I was struggling to suck in any breath.

“Sailing isn’t like other training, a marathon or a triathlon, it’s mega-explosive. You have make your heart and lungs work very hard or you’re not actually training for your sport. You have to put yourself under pressure for that sudden explosive burst, then recover briefly, then but yourself back under pressure again.

"There’s really no comparison between the Extreme 40 and any other sailing I’ve done. This might measure up against a 49er sailor or America’s Cup grinders, but I don’t know if even they would keep it going so long.”

By comparison Nigel also wore a heart rate monitor for an afternoon's sailing an RS700 dinghy during a choppy day on the Solent with 15-20 knots of breeze. Helming whilst balancing on a trapeze wire, and a large gennaker to hoist and trim, all singlehandedly — makes the RS700 one of the toughest types of dinghy to sail, but the results pale into insignificance compared to the Extreme 40 with Nigel’s heart rate only just reaching 150 beats per minute.


A keen cyclist and triathlon competitor, Nigel also wears his heart rate monitor during gruelling mountain ascents. On a day training in the French Alps at altitudes over 1,000m his heart rate peaked at 171 beats per minute – only slightly more than racing the Extreme 40 at sea level!


“If I do a time trial I know I can operate at a heart rate of about 155-160, because then I’m working aerobically,” added Nigel, “If I go over that then I’m working anaerobically and I’ll fade pretty quickly. But don’t forget it depends on your age as well – a guy of 25 would probably think that a heart rate of 160 means you’re not even working, but I’m 100 kilos and 39 years old!"

Watch out for more fitness revelations in the next edition of the iShares Cup TV Programme, coming soon!