At age 52, former CEO Scott Shawyer wakened someday throughout 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 searching 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. “Now we have some nice ski paths and sail on the water and I hadn’t been exterior in weeks.
Subsequent up for Scott Shawyer can be on Could 29, as he competes within the one particular person, 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 after they received to the tip of the docks, they took off their masks, jumped on their sailboats and went to set sail all over the world. 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 all over the world. I used to be like, ‘Holy cow.’ I simply turned 50 and I used to be like, ‘I’ve received to do one thing completely different.’”
Shawyer discovered himself so impressed that he nearly instantly give up his job—he served as CEO of commercial expertise firm JMP Options—and jumped in ft first to learn to be his personal skipper. He caught on shortly, however realized he had quite a bit to study.
“There’s quite a lot of preparation,” Shawyer says. “Bodily, mentally, ability clever, there’s quite a lot of preparation and needing weight loss 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. In contrast to most of his rivals, 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 brief years, he’s completed 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 hectic days at his desk job ever did and has realized to belief himself.
“I’ve by no means had nervousness or any actual type of nervousness till in all probability 4 or 5 years in the past,” Shawyer says. “I simply began feeling anxious for no cause after which I received anxious about feeling anxious after which it simply turned 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 tips on how to sort of not let intrusive ideas come and go. That’s the identical factor with crusing. You may be out in the midst of the ocean and in case you begin fascinated with, ‘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 once you’re attempting to sleep and you’ll’t sleep, you begin to get sleep disadvantaged.”
A Entire New Sort of Coaching
There’s been different changes, too. He’s traded fancy accommodations and bogs for biodegradable baggage and buckets with a view 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 special sort of form than he ever was in earlier than.
“I do a combination between pure energy coaching after which extra sport particular energy coaching,” says Shawyer. Deadlifts, squats, pull-ups, bench press, various things which might be extra energy targeted. I’m not almost in nearly as good of cardio form as I’ve been for triathlons, however I feel by way of energy 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 total 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 to compete, he’ll achieve this at age 56.
Along with getting in crusing form, he additionally has to familiarize himself with a number of the new guidelines of the New York Vendee. Shawyer needs to be cautious because it’s straightforward to change into disqualified– Particularly on accident. If he touches land, receives any form of assist or his boat breaks down, he can be out. Shawyer will even be the one North American racing and can 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 threat taker, journey seeker, however I’m not loopy. You ensure you have security methods in place, ensure there are sort of lifelines obtainable, too. There are positively issues I wouldn’t do.”