The energy expenditure of long distance double-handed offshore sailing

The studies describing the energy expenditure during offshore sailing regattas are very rare. This is rather disappointing, if we consider that in offshore sailing several environmental and tactical factors may place a considerable physical load and mental stress on our body. PURPOSE. The aim of the study consists in assessing the energy expenditure during long distance offshore sailing and in describing the physical activity intensity involved in this type of competition. METHODS. Six subjects (age: 46.3 ± 3.4 yy; BMI: 26.7 ± 1.7 kg  m-2, O2max: 2.97 ± 0.56 l  min-1) participated in the study. During the regatta (double handed, 500 miles in the North Adriatic, lasting 3- 5 days) the subjects wore an activity monitor (Actiheart, CamNtech, E) that allows estimate energy expenditure, physical activity level (PAL) and minutes spent at each level of intensity (sedentary, S, < 1.5 MET; light, L, 1.5 – 2.9 MET; moderate, M: 3.0 – 6.0 MET; vigorous, V: > 6.0). The time spent at each level of intensity was evaluated using one-way ANOVA; pairwise comparisons were performed using Student-Newman-Keuls test. RESULTS. Daily energy expenditure (TEE) amounted, on the average to 3408 ± 453 kcal per day; daily activity energy expenditure (AEE) amounted to 1208 ± 339 kcal per day. PAL, calculated as TEE divided by resting energy expenditure (RMR, estimated with Schofield formula), was 1.8 ± 0.2. Subjects spent a significant (p < 0.001) longer period of time in S (643 ± 193 min per day) and L (516 ± 177 min per day) than in M (95 ± 34 min per day) and V (6 ± 4 min per day) activity. On the average, the subjects slept 5 times per day (± 1.4) for about 36 minutes (± 9) in each sleeping period. CONCLUSION. TEE per day and PAL during double-handed offshore sailing race turned out to be similar to that measured using double-labeled water technique in single-handed offshore sailing (3451 kcal/day and 2.1, respectively). Moreover, this study reports for the first time, not only TEE, but also AEE and the time spent sleeping and that performing activities of different intensity. The high TEE seems to be likely the consequence of the short and rare periods of sleep spent during the competition than of the bouts of moderate to vigorous physical activity.