At age 52, former CEO Scott Shawyer awoke someday through the COVID lockdown in 2020 and realized he was prepared for a giant profession change. One of the best half was, he didn’t even know that he was on the lookout for one, not to mention so near house.
“I reside in a city in Ontario with a mountain within the yard and a lake within the entrance yard,” Shawyer says. “We’ve some nice ski paths and sail on the water and I hadn’t been exterior in weeks.
Subsequent up for Scott Shawyer shall be on Could 29, as he competes within the one individual, 3,600 mile New York Vendee. The route begins in New York Metropolis and finishes in Les Sables-d’Olonne, Vendée Area, France.
“I used to be simply dying at my desk and I began watching this race that occurs each 4 years referred to as the Vendée Globe, he says. “:I used to be watching these skippers across the docks, crowded folks all carrying masks and once they acquired to the tip of the docks, they took off their masks, jumped on their sailboats and went to set sail world wide. I used to be simply evaluating that to the place I used to be: Strapped to my desk, hadn’t been exterior, on the telephone dying by Zoom calls and these guys are out crusing world wide. I used to be like, ‘Holy cow.’ I simply turned 50 and I used to be like, ‘I’ve acquired to do one thing completely different.’”
Shawyer discovered himself so impressed that he nearly instantly stop his job—he served as CEO of business expertise firm JMP Options—and jumped in ft first to learn to be his personal skipper. He caught on shortly, however realized he had rather a lot to be taught.
“There’s quite a lot of preparation,” Shawyer says. “Bodily, mentally, talent clever, there’s quite a lot of preparation and needing weight-reduction plan and diet, what you eat whilst you’re at sea. That’s what I like about this sport. It’s so multidimensional.”
From CEO to Skipper
Scott Shawyer realized shortly and set sail fairly actually on his new journey into the second half of his life. Not like most of his opponents, Shawyer didn’t develop up within the offshore crusing scene and he hasn’t sailed a Mini, a Figaro, or a Class 40. In only a few quick years, he’s achieved a win within the double-handed monohull class within the RORC Transatlantic and a tenth place end in his first-ever IMOCA class race, the Guayder Bermudes Race. He was amazed how his new path made him calmer than the aggravating days at his desk job ever did and has realized to belief himself.
“I’ve by no means had anxiousness or any actual type of anxiousness till in all probability 4 or 5 years in the past,” Shawyer says. “I simply began feeling anxious for no motive after which I acquired anxious about feeling anxious after which it simply grew to become all consuming.”
Shawyer—now the skipper and president of Canada Ocean Racing—then turned to mindfulness to ease his restlessness.
“I actually realized, practiced meditation and a bunch of various methods on learn how to type of not let intrusive ideas come and go. That’s the identical factor with crusing. You might be out in the course of the ocean and should you begin interested by, ‘Is the mast gonna keep up? Am I gonna hit one thing? Am I gonna get a gap within the boat and sink?’ It’s not good considering. Step one for me is to cease the thought and the second half is doing one thing else so that you don’t have the thought. Particularly whenever you’re attempting to sleep and you’ll’t sleep, you begin to get sleep disadvantaged.”
A Complete New Kind of Coaching
There’s been different changes, too. He’s traded fancy resorts and loos for biodegradable luggage and buckets with a purpose to relieve himself and main board room conferences with rooms filled with colleagues to spending time alone on his boat with Mom Nature. Scott Shawyer additionally needed to adapt to a strict health routine to remain in a distinct type of form than he ever was in earlier than.
“I do a combination between pure power coaching after which extra sport particular power coaching,” says Shawyer. Deadlifts, squats, pull-ups, bench press, various things which can be extra power targeted. I’m not almost in nearly as good of cardio form as I’ve been for triathlons, however I feel by way of power and with the ability to deal with the calls for of this boat, it’s a bit completely different. I feel it’s extra sport particular and I feel I’m in a terrific place for that, significantly better than ever earlier than, for certain.
Shawyer’s general aim is turning into the primary Canadian to compete within the Vendée Globe. The 23,000 mile, 3 month race will happen in 2028, so he has a while. It’s a single-handed, continuous, non-assisted round-the-world crusing race that takes place solely each 4 years. The journey begins on the tip of France and ends on the tip of France. Ought to Shawyer be capable of compete, he’ll accomplish that at age 56.
Along with getting in crusing form, he additionally has to familiarize himself with a few of the new guidelines of the New York Vendee. Shawyer needs to be cautious because it’s straightforward to turn into disqualified– Particularly on accident. If he touches land, receives any form of assist or his boat breaks down, he shall be out. Shawyer will even be the one North American racing and shall be on board with Be Water Optimistic, a $2 million greenback vessel designed and constructed for velocity. The journey will make this Shawyer’s first solo, Transatlantic race and he’s predicting he’ll end between 13 and 14 days. Regardless of the sound of it, Shawyer is assured in his plan.
“I’m a danger taker, journey seeker, however I’m not loopy. You be sure to have security techniques in place, be certain that there are type of lifelines obtainable, too. There are positively issues I wouldn’t do.”
