Keeping Fit
Most of the time, blue water sailing involves sitting in an anchorage with varying levels of activity undertaken. Typically, cooking, eating, doing maintenance and other small boat jobs, writing your blog, editing YouTube videos - if that’s your thing – but generally, not much vigorous physical activity. There are plenty of cruisers who could learn from Warren and Erica’s example.
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Published on 30/09/2026
Issue:
210
Published:
Dec.
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Jan.
2026
Where: Fiji, South Pacific
Multihull: Helia 44
YouTube: @WESail
And when under way, long-distance passages won’t give much of a workout. Particularly in today’s world of electric winches and windlasses and every kind of automated system imaginable. Such cruising is as far removed from the hectic, physically demanding world of long-distance racing, say, as it is from going to the gym every day. And when the average cruiser goes ashore, it’s a trip in the dinghy to a beach bar or walking round the market or grocery store. Other frequent activities such as snorkeling or scuba diving rarely add much calorie-burning activity. Something needs to be done to counteract the effects.
This summer saw the WESail crew take a month-long trip to France to visit Erica’s family. And their stay in France naturally involved the typical long lunches, with plenty of cheese and fine wine. This is all well and good, but for a lot of cruisers, a side trip like this would only serve to compound the health implications.
Not so for Warren and Erica, however. Even as they gently cruise the turquoise waters of Fiji, our YouTubers maintain a physical exercise regime to stay in shape. Erica favors yoga, and the foredeck of their catamaran lends itself perfectly to unrolling a yoga mat getting stuck in. Warren, on the other hand, prefers a more gym-style workout, using either resistance bands he hooks up to the underside of the bimini, or the set of weights he carries that range from 15 to 60 lbs (7 to 27 kg), enabling him to do multiple kinds of workout. While some boaters might be alarmed at the thought of deliberately adding heavy stuff to a cruising multihull, I guess you can consider the extra weight on the boat as a trade-off against the added weight you might otherwise be carrying around your waist! He also had some handles made up on a 3D printer that are fixed above the door frame into the saloon, allowing him to do pullups.
