Andrew Collins started his sailing career in a dinghy at the tender age of 12. He’s come a long way since those carefree days at the Zeekoeivlei Yacht Club. Collins, 47, recently came second in the RCYC 2015/6 Club Championships out of 48 boats in the division. ‘The RCYC Club Championships are based on your performances in six different series comprising about 30 races. So you need to do consistently well throughout the year to earn a good place. It has been a fantastic season with some very close racing,’ he says.

Collins and his crew scooped the award on his boat aptly named the BODYTEC Flyer. ‘She is a relatively small boat, but is big enough to cross an ocean. She has sailed to Rio and back, to the UK and back via Brazil and also to St Helena and back,’ explains Collins, who opened his BODYTEC Steenberg studio in 2012 (our first franchisee in the Western Cape) after experiencing great results as clients of BODYTEC.

While his week is all about running a busy studio, it’s the ocean that is his weekend passion. ‘I love being on the water using the power of the wind and waves to propel me; it is a very clean, pure sport where we only use an engine to maneuver in the harbour. Racing sailboats is a lot of fun and incorporates a number of skills including boat handling, sail handling, tactics, navigation and understanding the wind and weather. One of the best parts of sailing is getting to spend time with your friends out at sea and the teamwork and camaraderie,’ he says.

But it’s not all fun and games, he says, and his BODYTEC training comes in handy. ‘Sailing is quite explosive in that you have short moments when you work extremely hard, such as hoisting a sail, or tacking, so you need to have muscle strength for short bursts. EMS training is ideal for sailing. I also run and cycle which provides me with cardio fitness,’ says Collins.