Sailors, maintain flexibility and balance with Boaga.
Recently, a conversation among sailors drifted to staying in shape during the off season. The consensus was that the real challenge comes down to maintaining flexibility and balance, with the agreement that yoga does both while also helping with strength maintenance. Our editor commented to Chesapeake sailor and SpinSheet reader and fan Jeff Halpern, "there is a story in there somewhere," and voila—Jeff created this most entertaining article with exellent illustrations.
Bō’ģā: literal translation, boat yoga.
Under the broad umbrella of the term “yoga,” there are multiple practices with names like Vinyasa, Hatha, Bikram, and Kundalini, with each differentiated by their own specialized ‘poses’ and disciplines. As it turns out, many of us sailors already practice the lesser-known discipline of Boaga (Bō’ģā: literal translation, boat yoga). Here is an introduction to some of the basic Boaga poses.
Some Salutation
Most experienced Boaga practitioners start with a few easy stretches that are performed as a flow. Starting with feet firmly on the deck facing the mast, take a deep breath and exhale as you bend from the waist with a flat back. Relaxing the back, hang low enough to reach and release the main halyard shackle where it is stored at the base of the mast. Inhale as you rise up with a flat back, reaching arms strong over the head to hook the main halyard to the head of the mainsail.
Wincher 1
Start by facing athwartships, standing with feet approximately two to three shoulder widths apart and with the aft foot turned 90 degrees to the body and the forward foot facing forward. Proceed to bend your forward knee to 90 to 100 degrees, while straightening the aft leg. Once balanced, reach for the wheel with your aft arm, and stretch the forward arm out to grab and grind the winch on the cabin top. Look out over the forward hand to check the telltales. (Advanced modification: do this pose beating into a chop).
One-handed plank pose
Lie prone on the cabin sole next to the engine compartment with a wrench in the hand closest to the engine. Keeping your body straight, push up so that your body is roughly level. Taking a deep breath, snake out the arm with the wrench into the engine compartment to loosen the dipstick on the transmission. Don’t forget to breathe. Note: use of obscene language directed toward the designer of the boat and/or the engine manufacturer is traditional in this pose. (Advanced modification: adjust the packing gland while you are there.)
Prayer pose
This is a restive pose in which you kneel on the deck with thighs folded over calves and arms outstretched into the bilge while praying that you find that tiny, ridiculously expensive, hard-to-come-by, essential part that rolled across the deck into the one small opening into the deepest darkest corner of the bilge.
Bolt Pose and Deck Edge Twist
In Boaga, some poses are performed with pairs of practitioners. The “bolt pose” is often performed with a partner doing a “deck edge twist.” To begin the bolt pose, crawl forward into the chain locker with your legs hanging out in the vee berth. Slide forward under the anchor locker. Bending at the waist, lift your straight upper body while lifting your legs to counterbalance your upper body. Place a wrench on one of the bolts above your head. On deck, the partner sits with their legs hanging over the side. They rotate the upper torso to face the fitting being bolted down.
Typically, the person below recites the ancient mantra, “Port, Ooutboard Forward, Poort, Ooooutboooard fooorward.” several times until the person on deck responds in a single deep breath from the back of their throat with the traditional, “Ummmm, Whaaat? Whiiiich oooone?”
After several rounds of the mantra, the deck partner places the screwdriver in the head of the bolt in question and the person in the ‘bolt pose’ tightens the nut. (Repeat by the number of bolts in the fitting and do the other side for body symmetry.)
Shove-off-in-nah
At the end of the workout, it is important to reward your body with a brief cool-down pose referred to in Boaga as “Shove-off-in-nah,” in which you crawl into the vee berth. Lying on your back with feet and arms spread and eyes closed, you slow your breathing and tell the world to shove off and leave you alone. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling better already. (He says tongue firmly implanted in his cheek.)
Story and illustrations by Jeff Halpern
About the Author: Annapolis sailor Jeff Halpern practices boaga on his Farr 11.6 Synergy in between shorthanded racing events on the Chesapeake.
