Estimating the distance in optimist sailors.

The aim of a cognitive approach to sport psychology is the experimental study of athletes’ mental strategies. The results of these experiments can then be applied to develop more efficient and effective strategies to optimize performance. This target can be achieved, for example, by using the visual sciences paradigms in analyzing the sensorial cues available to the athletes and used by them when performing a specific motor action. The participants of the present research were young athletes of the Optimist category. They have been randomly carried in each of 16 different positions in which the regatta field had been divided. Their task was to judge the distance between their position and the virtual starting line of a regatta. Results show different levels of accuracy in estimating the distance from the different tested positions; in particular, it has been found that participants made a rather good estimation of the distance in the proximity of both the jury boat and the buoy, while there was an underestimation of the distance at the center of the regatta field, and an anomalous overestimation of the distance in the area between the central part of the starting line and the buoy. Since in sailing the start is crucial for the success in the race, these results can be used to develop a training protocol to compensate these estimation errors.