Extreme Sailing Series™ - Getting race ready with Cheng Yeng Kit

by Extreme Sailing Series™ on 30 Apr 2015 Here we are again, with the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 Qingdao in Fushan Bay. The forecast is predicting a mixed bag, with everything from strong gusts to light winds, fog, and a risk of southerly winds changing to a dangerous northerly, whereby invisible gusts channel through the skyscrapers hitting the unsuspecting Extreme 40’s. Not only do you have to be a very talented and experienced sailor, you need to be in top physical condition to take on these challenging conditions.

So who better to give us an insight into how you prepare for the challenge, then Cheng Yeng Kit, co-skipper of the invitational entry, Team Extreme Qingdao, down at the technical area.

Cheng Yeng Kit, you can call him Kit, is the co-skipper and headsail trimmer on board Team Extreme Qingdao. He is a professional sailor who has an impressive CV ranging from the America’s Cup to racing in the Volvo Ocean Race. Kit, like all professional sailors, has to maintain a high level of fitness to be able to perform in this challenging sport, particularly in the intense stadium format of the Extreme Sailing Series, “I would say if 10 is a maximum of how physically demanding something is, to me, the Series is an 9,” Kit explained. “In preparation for the racing we try to incorporate a lot of running to help our aerobic fitness, and also some weight lifting.”

Going on to explain the various roles and their demands on board, Kit continued: “The most physical position on board is the bowman, and it gets slightly less demanding as you move towards the back of the boat, as the helm is more of a technical role, watching and thinking all of the time. At the front you have to hoist the sails, wind the winch, it is all maximum effort.”

With three hours of racing a day and up to 30 races expected over four days, this means you can’t take any risks when it comes to keeping fuelled up. Kit, unlike most sailors need’s to gain weight: “Personally I am under-weight compared to other crew I sail with so I try to eat a lot to keep it up, making sure it is with healthy food and none of the bad stuff like McDonalds!

“When we are sailing out here in the hot conditions like Qingdao we make sure we have a lot of water and hydration tablets, we also make sure we fuel up with energy bars. The process of fuelling up starts early as we wake, then we make sure have a big feed at lunch so we can sustain the demands of racing.

“I would say the Series is one of the hardest sailing events I compete in. The races are short and extremely competitive, with loads of manoeuvres, hoisting and winching constantly, which makes it very physical compared to offshore racing. It obviously depends on the conditions but on the whole I would say the Extreme Sailing Series is the most physically intensive sailing competition.”

Kit will share skippering duties with 2008 Beijing Gold medallist, Jonas Warrer. Good luck Team Extreme Qingdao, have a burger on us!