Introduction
"Sail Smart" is a mental skills development programme for sailors, created with input from Warwick Sue of the New Zealand Academy of Sport - Central. The Sail Smart programme is designed to assist sailors to start thinking in terms of campaigns, during which they log and monitor progress towards a set of performance and outcome goals. Sail Smart consists of five parts.

• Talent development programme season charter
• Performance and outcome goal development
• Season periodisation planning
• Logging performance
• Performance monitoring

Regional Academy season charter
At the beginning of each season sailors in the talent development programme in each region meet to agree upon a season charter. The season charter consists of three parts.

• The zones talent development motto: A motto is developed by sailors and coaches and used to provide a sense of purpose for all the talent development activities that sailors participate in during the season. Sailors and coaches work through a process of developing a statement of what the motto means to them.

• Sailors' expectations: Sailors' work through the process of deciding upon a set of expectations for the season. These expectations are a list of things they expect the talent development programme to provide.

• Sailors' responsibilities: Sailors' work through the process of deciding upon a set of responsibilities for the season. These responsibilities are things that they are expected to do and ways in which they are expected to behave as members of the talent development programme.   

Performance and outcome goal development
At the beginning of each season sailors in the programme go through the process of developing a set of goals for the season. They then use these goals to establish a set of training priorities that they will work upon. 

• Outcome goals: Each sailor develops a set of outcome goals for the season. Outcomes goals are event related and reflect the sailors goals in terms of the positions they want to achieve in regional, national and international events.

• Performance goals: Each sailor develops a set of performance goals for the season. Performance goals are related to aspects of the sailors performance that they need to work on during the season. These generally relate to areas such as tactics, boat handling, fitness, mental skills, etc.

• Training priorities: Once the outcome goals and performance goals have been established sailors then embark on a process of creating training priorities for the season. Categories for their training programme (such as upwind, downwind, tacking, tactics, etc) are developed and aspects of each category are prioritised.

Season periodisation planning
Also at the beginning of the season talent development programme sailors are supported to develop a periodisation plan for the next twelve months. They are provided with a wall planner which includes the twelve months of the year. Key dates for the year such as school or university holidays, major national and international sailing events, and exam times are marked on the calendar. Each month has a row for training, competition, school/study/work, strength & conditioning and rest & relaxation. Sailors work through the process of logging when and what they will be doing at different times of the year in each of the rows. 

Logging performance
  

Each of the sailors in the talent development programme is required to keep a log book of their sailing. Each time they train, race or participate in a regatta they keep a diary of their performance.	The performance log book has 100 log forms. On the inside of the back cover it has a space for sailors to record their performance and outcome goals for the season.
A fold out flap on the back cover is used to record the training priorities for the season. Sailors record the various categories of skills they want to focus on. Under each category they record the aspects of that skill that they need to work on along with their rating of its importance to them.	Each time they go sailing (training, racing, regatta) sailors identify three things to work on from their list of training priorities. They record their focus area, rank how well they were achieving against the focus area and make comments about it for future reference.

Performance monitoring

Twice a year sailors in the talent development programme participate in a formal performance monitoring interview. The interview includes a mental skills facilitator, the sailor, their coach and in some cases the sailor's parent(s). Interviews take place towards the end of each year and after the summer season.  

Prior to the interview coaches and sailors each complete a separate performance profile form. The form prompts the sailor and coach to rate a sailor's performance in terms of different aspects of tactical, technical, mental and physical skills. 

During the interview the performance profile forms and performance log book entries provide background information for all parties to come to an agreement about current strengths and weaknesses in the sailor's performance, which in turn is used to develop a personalised programme for improving performance.