Product Description

'Monumental!' - Bob Ross, Australian Sailing High Performance Sailing is now regarded as the bible of racing sailors and carries a string of endorsements from high achievers. Since its publication in 1984, racing yachts and dinghies have developed out of all recognition - a new high-tech breed of 'apparent wind' fast racers has claimed the water and so far no-one has applied themselves seriously to analysing what makes these boats sail fast (and what will make them faster). This is Frank Bethwaite's ground-breaking achievement in Higher Performance Sailing. By means of extensive research, and working with sailors of different racing calibre, Bethwaite analyses how to harness the apparent wind for increased speed and better position on your rivals. Higher Performance Sailing will provide the key to racing sailors' dreams. Praise for Bethwaite's High Performance Sailing: 'It represents a breakthrough It is a book that my Olympic squad will benefit from.' Rod Carr, former British Olympic Sailing Team Manager 'Allowed only one "if only" in yacht racing, it would have been to have read Higher Performance Sailing years ago.' Bob Fisher, journalist, broadcaster and international championship winner

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180161 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

About the Author
Frank Bethwaite is revered amongst the sailing community for the depth, originality and soundness of his research and for the successful application of his theories, which produce results for his disciples around the world time and time again. His many years of experience coaching the highly successful Australian Olympic sailing team and his extensive analysis from working with racing sailors are the basis for the techniques and theories presented in this new book.

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But, it is a bit out of date, being barely revised since the early '90s.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.