Product Description

Based on 25 years of research and Olympic coaching, High Performance Sailing reinvents the strategies of sailboat racing. It presents revolutionary explanations of wind prediction and boat design, a fundamental rethinking of how to sail a boat fast literally faster than the wind. Bethwaite's theories boosted the average speed of the highest-performance sailboats from two-thirds the windspeed to windspeed or faster. Bethwaite is Australia's most successful Olympic coach, and his family includes three Olympic sailing champions and three world champions. This book will have a revolutionary impact on racing sailboats and the way they are sailed.

"Essential for any serious racing sailor." Gary Jobson

"It represents a breakthrough in the way that it relates the theoretical aspects of wind, seastate and rig shape to the way a crew would sail and handle a boat during a race. It has the potential to be a standard reference work on the subject and will not quickly date. It is a book that my Olympic squad will benefit from." Rod Carr, British Olympic Sailing Team Manager

"Frank's book is a treasure chest, full of brilliant insights into the ways of air and water as they flow around our sailing boats. Best of all, he tells us what to do when we go sailing." Alan Payne, Designer of America's Cup challengers Gretal I and II

"Allowed only one 'if only' in yacht racing . . . it would have been to have read Frank Bethwaite's High Performance Sailing years ago and to have it available for constant reference. Taking all the advice which he offers from his wide experience would have made championship winning a great deal easier." Bob Fisher, Journalist, broadcaster and winner of many national and international sailing championships

"The most significant scientific thinking about sailboat racing to come along in three decades. A brilliant and important book for serious racing sailors." Ed Adams, US Sailing Team Coach; national, North American, and world champion sailor

"Bethwaite's grasp of the entire spectrum of sailing speed is unique and formidable." Gerry Hoyt, Yacht designer, sailing speed innovator

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105538 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 436 pages

Synopsis
The techniques explained and the theory that is included in this book are original and based on the many years of experience the author has gained whilst coaching the highly successful Australian Olympic sailing team.

About the Author
Frank Bethwaite has been at the leading edge of national and world class sailing for over fifty years. Apart from his own outstanding racing successes, he has coached every level of would-be champion from basic to Olympic standards. Within his own family, three are Olympic champions and three are world champions in four classes.

From a background which included aeronautical engineering and meteorology, Frank spent thirty years in military and civil aviation and finally in scientific flying. His leisure pursuits, other than sailing, have been model gliders (twice open world endurance record holder) and also flying high performance gliders, which he used to explore the detail of some of the atmosphere's movements.

When he retired from flying he decided to find out how sailboats worked, so that he could try to make them sail faster. The experimental years followed, in which a combination of controlled experiments and fleet evaluation released a surge of creativity and the average speed of small sailboats increased from about one third the windspeed to about one half. This work then blended into a period when Frank and his family became involved with very high performance boats, partly the eighteen foot skiffs of Sydney and partly a series of twenty much smaller and progressively faster experimental craft. That the average "round the buoys race" speed of two thirds the wind speed has now increased to windspeed or faster, is in no small way due to Frank's theoretical and experimental input.

Customer Reviews

Great book but starting to show its age
A detailed but surprisingly easy to read book (for someone with an engineering degree, at least). More information about how a main-sail works than anywhere I've seen and lots of practical advise concerning what to do with it on the water.

Plus (deep breath) more than you ever wanted to know about wind.

But, it is a bit out of date, being barely revised since the early '90s. There's surprisingly little about spinnakers & asymetrics (or even jibs); keel boats don't plane and cats get a pretty poor press! With the exception of the Tasar, there's less than you might expect about Frank Bethwaite's own designs (eg laser II) and less or nothing about Julian Bethwaite's boats (29er, 49er etc).

Still - it's a great book and, for its day, a magnificent one; it's well written and it will make you sail faster, especially if you own a Tasar or a B18 skiff.

Just need Julian Bethwaite to write a sequel!

A really, really good book about high performance sailing
Frank Bethwaite has spent the last 40 years researching high performance sailcrafts, and this book sums it all up in a very clear and understandable way.

The book starts with a section of wind and its appliance to sailboats. These chapters alone are worth the price of the book, as they are something of the best literature I have ever read about wind and its appliance to sailing.

He then follows up with discussions about hull forms, rigs and sail shapes. He then proceeds to describe the best setup of rig and sails to maximize performance under the different conditions. He does this with clear and detailed drawings and diagrams that you can apply directly to your own boat. For instance, mainsail trim are always depicted with 8 stations describing twist.

Every chapter is written clearly and for the sailor. The book abounds with practical tips and do/dont rules for high performance. It is clear that with this book Frank Bethwaite has documented all he has learnt from 40 years of sailing, racing and coaching 'go fast' crafts.

In sum, this is one of the best books for sailors of high performance dinghys and multihulls who want to sail faster.

Great insight into how boats and weather work
This book can be a bit daunting when you first start reading it. But it is full of information to make you sail faster. The detailed explanation of what happens in certain situations complete with practical techniques on how to exploit them. I keep going back to it after 6 years. One of the best sailboat racing books I've evere read.