Sailing Day Experiences
Sea Trials
A psychologist-led sailing experience.
When navigating change, remind yourself of who you are.
Change is disorientating. Our world is being reshaped in ways that are both threatening and exciting.
But it will take more human agency, not less, to ride this storm.
Sea Trials takes your team sailing, in the real sea and air. It’s safe, but you have to do it right. It makes for a high attention, high retention environment.
Guests are encouraged and taught to actively crew the boat - hold the wheel, trim the sails, and set the course.
After the sail, there is time for a facilitated reflection on the business applications of the teamwork, communication and decision-making used when at sea.
The purpose is not to escape the modern world, but to take time in an analogue environment to intentionally reset human connections and trust, and set standards of how to use current and future digital tools.
Why Sea Trials?
Make business interactions more spontaneous and personal
Enhance human effort, creativity and judgement with AI and data
Take time for high quality recovery and reflection
Overview
1. Sea Trials Connections
Make business interactions more spontaneous and personal
The expression ‘we’re all in the same boat’ exists because sailing is a vivid reminder to a team that they share an objective that they will only reach by working together as a team.
Remote tools make client and partner communications frictionless, but digital disconnection means interactions are less spontaneous and personal. Real human connection becomes rarer and weaker. Trust slows and miscommunication accelerates, threatening service quality and customer loyalty.
A Sea Trials Connection Day demands mutual presence and inter-reliance. The experience forges real face-to-face bonds that deliver cohesion back into the workplace.
Commit to outcomes and turn individual energy into
collective deliveryShare a working language and align decisions and actions
fast and reliablyProve reliability under pressure and build trust to sail through
challenges and crises
2. Sea Trials Performance
Enhance human effort, creativity and judgement with AI and data
The Royal Navy was the world’s first high performance organisation, with innovations like mass production, systematic processes, communication and training, and advanced leadership styles. Innovations from The Age of Sail made the Industrial Revolution possible.
Sailing is still the ideal arena to explore high performance. Communication, role clarity and interdependence are necessary for high quality and consequential decisions.
In the modern world, AI and data are good servants but poor masters. Pace and volume cause digital delegation, and erode what leaders actually pay for: effort, creativity and judgement.
Only motivated, cooperative humans produce the deep structured thinking needed for outstanding business solutions.
The Sea Trials Performance Day models performance and teamwork in a memorable environment, teaching real skills that transfer directly to the workplace.
Set standards, define and agree on
necessary performance levelsFollow procedures and achieve resilient, repeatable
execution under pressureMake the right decisions and protect human decisions
with processes, and then enhance with data and AI
3. the Dream
Sometimes, you have to follow your dreams. In my first job, from the age of 18 - 23, I worked as a qualified scuba instructor, giving people the transformative experience of learning to safely breathe underwater.
Over the next 30 years I developed a career as a performance psychologist. In the 14 years I worked with Chelsea FC, they were the best club in the best league in the biggest sport in the world.
But I always dreamed of returning to my roots and developing a product which combined my new skillset with an real-world outdoor experience for people that is fundamentally empowering and life-changing.
Sea Trials is that product. I am a RYA Yachtmaster candidate, and, supported by a highly experienced and qualified crew, I offer people the experience of learning to operate a sailing boat - the world’s first machine. Through this experience, together we can explore the worlds of individual and team performance and wellbeing.
4. at A glance
Half day: 2-3 hr sail + pre and post briefings
Full day: 3-4 hour sail + briefings and team workshop
Capacity: Up to 24 attendees, and 8 guests per boat
Each boat crewed by a RYA or USCG certified skipper
Locations: San Francisco Bay, USA, Cape Town, RSA, Portsmouth, UK
Designed for: Client-customer teams, strategic business, partners, and internal teams
5. How It Works
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Crew are briefed on the goals of the sail, assigned roles, and taught sailing teamwork principles. This briefing can be done online prior to the event to build anticipation and to make the day more focussed and relaxed.
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No sailing experience is necessary. But everyone is encouraged to contribute to the successful operation of the boat. A local qualified skipper supervises crew as they learn and work together to safely operate the boat and navigate to planned waypoints.
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We reflect together and turn sailing performance into goals for on-shore values, communication, and performance.
6. Safety
Our first performance principle
A good sail is a safe sail. High performance starts with sound judgment. The objective is disciplined execution. Sea Trials is designed so that safety and performance reinforce one another.
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Activities are selected and adapted to suit the crew, the boat, and the prevailing conditions. Avoiding unnecessary risk is part of high-quality decision-making. Traffic awareness is the responsibility of the skipper.
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Before sailing, all crew take part in a structured safety briefing how to avoid problems, and what to do in the unlikely event that something does go wrong.
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Crew are guided in correct on-board procedures, including use of lifejackets and safety equipment, and movement on deck.
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All boats are professionally skippered and fully equipped with all required safety systems, including communication and distress systems and lifejackets, safety lines, and life-saving equipment.
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Crew are given guidance on staying warm, dry, and comfortable with appropriate clothing expectations set in advance. There is practical support and advice for managing seasickness.
7. FAQs
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Safety comes first. All skippers and staff are trained in safety protocols. If medical attention is needed, we return immediately. For non-urgent issues, the group uses the Sea Trials decision process to adapt.
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No. Every Sea Trial is tailored to the group, and all participants wear life vests at all times. Every boat has a skipper local to the area.
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Yes. The physical and mental intensity is calibrated uniquely for each group. We stretch comfort zones while maintaining physical and psychological safety.
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Options range from 2 hours to multi-day formats.
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Yes. Sea Trials run year-round, weather and conditions permitting.
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Yes, boat, crew and passengers are fully insured.
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Yes. Lunch is included. For 4-hour Sea Trials, we provide an onboard lunch option. For longer formats, we can include a marina or onshore stop. Additional catering can be arranged, as desired.
8. Sea Trials Reset
Take time for high quality recovery and reflection
Committing to a time on a sailboat forces you to slow down. Distraction, hustle and noise are replaced by space, beauty and serenity.
When energy input is more than energy output, you can recharge.
On a sailboat, disconnecting from the digital world is natural. This gives the opportunity to reconnect with the sea, sun and wind, with people who matter, and also with yourself, as you take time to reflect on strengths, values and goals.
When you are recharged and reconnected, you can reimagine - and think about how things could be. Reimagine yourself, reimagine opportunities, and reimagine how to make things better.
Sea Trials Reset is for anyone who wants to take time to rest and reflect. Choose to focus on health, relationships or goals, and we will shape the meals, activities and guidance around it.
Led by psychologist/skipper Tim Harkness, and supported by an experienced sailing crew and healthy eating chef, we combine psychology with sailing to make time for discreet, calm conversations and comfortable silences at sea.
Choose a boat that gives you performance or luxury
Choose any global sailing destination for warmth, scenery, or solitude