Two main areas of study are sketched: sailing for pleasure and sailing for competition. The former focuses on changes of sensory experience linked to a prolonged exposure to a particular environment (the sea, the wind, the boat). The latter enhances four aspects: skill acquisition, personality traits and self-efficacy, the effect of arousal on performance, a and the effect of group dynamics on performance. The brief review show that psychology of sailing may take advantage of models and methods from a variety of psychological fields (perceptions, cognition, learning, personality, groups, and psychobiology)

Olympic classes are considered herein. The hiking- the posture assumed by the sailors to contrast the capsizing effect of the wind in the sail - is the most physiologically demanding exercise during sailing. Energy expenditure is very moderate, except in wind boarding when pumping; the effect of quasi isometric contraction of leg muscles resulted to be a very important stimulus for the cardiovascular apparatus which manifests with increase of heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiac mechanical work. The importance of this knowledge is judging about the sport safety is stressed.

Three different periods are identifiable in the development of the psychological programs for high level athletes. First, personality traits have been studied with the aim to predict the winning performances. In the following period, the sport psychologists is, at present time, centered not only on the development of the athletes' psychological skills but also on the development of the top performer as a person. Starting from these premises in this article is described a system of psychological preparation for sailors. Taking in mind not only the increase of their psychological competences but also a more global plan concerning the athletes' psychosocial condition and the psychological implication related at the sailing Olympic classes.

The present research on crew members of an America's Cup(AC) team was aimed at a) assessing energy expenditure and intake during their training period; b) evaluating the capability of their diet of guaranteeing the right nutrient intake; c) correcting possible dietary mistakes and improving their food-habit. Energy expenditure and intake was estimated on 15 sailors and 10 controls using either direct measurements (oxygen consumption -V'O2) or questionnaires. V'O 2 was measured through a portable metabolimeter (K4b,Cosmed,Italy) on sailors while acting their typical role during simulations of intensive AC races and during gym-room activities. All subjects were requested to record, in a three-day questionnaire, food ingested and activity performed. The daily energy expenditure of sailors was estimated ranging from 4000 to 6000kcal depending on body mass, athletic training and boat task, with the highest values found in grinders & mastmen.

The dietary record analysis showed that energy expenditure and energy intake were in blance. Because diet composition, however, had some discrepancies from recommended gidelines for athletes, it was changed. A Mediterranean diet model, including a special diet for the regatta, was designed. Nutrition lectures were given and dietary advice were recommend

Cognitive sport psychology is an emerging reality in experimental human science for understanding how athletes develop mental strategies to optimise performance. This aim can be achieved, for example, by using the paradigms of visual science in analysing sensorial cues available to the athlete when performing a specific motor action. In an ecological environment, a group of athletes of the "Optimist" category has been tested in the visual task of judging the distance between their position and the virtual line at the star of the regatta. It has been found that there is a good estimation of the distance in the proximity of both the jury boat and the buoy, while there is an underestimation of the distance at the center of the regatta field, and an anomalous overestimation of the distance in the space between the central part of the alignment and the buoy.

The physiological demand of sailing are highly specific, varying with wind and sea conditions, type of craft, and role in the crew. in particular, dinghy sailing is characterized by relatively low metabolic requirements but sometimes high cardiac demand with a relevant increase of the heart rate (HR), Instantaneous RR intervals oscillations ( heart rate variability - HRV) depend on sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous modulation on the cardiac function and pacemaker properties of myocardium. Therefore, the analysis of HRV is recognized as a powerful non-invasive assessment that reflect heart- brain interaction at rest and in different pathophysiological situations as physical activity, depression, mental stress, and emotion. In autonomic nervous modulations of HRV, vagal efferent activity has been described as being primarily responsible for the high-sympathetic outflows have been interpreted to determine the low-frequency /LF) component and the SD2 Poincarè plot parameter. In order to determine the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous influence on the heart of a high-performance dinghy sailor (Europe Olympic Class) at rest and during upwind sailing at different wind velocities we analyse the HRV by using linear (FFT spectra) and non-linear(Poincarè plot) parameters. The results indicate a decrease of LF and HF spectral components as well a decrease of SD1 and SD2 Poincarè plot parameters during upwind sailing at different wind velocities (2 m/s and 8 m/s) in comparison to rest values. Moreover, the highest values of LF/HF ratio and the lowest values of SD/SD2 ratio observed during 8 m/s wind velocity could be correlated to a relevant physical and mental stress in these difficult sailing conditions.

The research, related to sailors whose compete in "America' s Cup" was aimed to study at rest their physiological characteristics, identifying their energy expenditure during grinding manouvers, improving their performance. The AA hypothesized that increasing upper limb maximal aerobic power through specific aerobic training could be useful to improve grinder's sailing performance. Energy expenditure was measured during actual sailing in sailors with different roles. Metabolic and cardiac response to grinding manouvers was studied in detail. Upper and lower limb maximal aerobic power (MAP) of all sailors was tested. An all-out test, performed using grinding posture, was designed to evaluate the maximal capacity of the metabolic system useful to supply energy rapidly ( EI). No statistical differences were found in grinders particularly relevant (137 ±16 kJ) and improved significantly after training. Supplementation of upper limb aerobic training is recommended to grinders to improve their performance

The main pharmacological approaches which have been employed to enhance the performance of athletes are briefly reviewed together with the chronology of their use and their mechanism of action. Stimulant, ergogenics, miscellaneous approaches used in particular sports, as well as specific drugs used to decrease the probability of urinary detection of the use of other illicit drugs, are illustrated.

The problems are described arising from the use of biotechnological products, such as human hormones industrially produced using bacteria engineered by DNA recombinant techniques, with effectiveness (and serious health risks) on one hand and the enormous difficulties in detecting their illicit use on the other. The recently forbidden use of genetic doping, following the explicit prohibition of methods in addition to that for substances already existing, is reported as shocking and threatening. The rarity of doping by sailors is explained in relation of the extraordinary characteristics of this sport. Positive tests usually results either from the use of medicine prescribed by a physician whose use was not notified in advance as requested, or by the consumption of forbidden substances of abuse such as marjhuana or hascish for recreational purposes. Further analysis of the problems of doping are related to the perspectives of its further limitation in the world of sailing