High Performance Sailing

Rating:
Summary: New information on wind and sail trim for serious racers
Review: Frank Bethwaite and his son Julian are probably best known for their role in developing the Australian 18 skiffs and the 49er.

However, Mr. Bethwaite's background as a meteorologist, engineer, and pilot gives him a unique perspective in analysing the sailor's wind and how to maximize performance. His studies of hull drag, sail drag, and sail drive give the serious racing sailor valuable new information on how to maximize performance in a variety of conditions.

This book focuses on high-performance sailcraft, but the lessons are applicable to almost any racing boat.

Mr. Bethwaite provides many charts, graphs, and illustrations to support his observations on maximizing performance. Although this is a technical book, it is written for the layman.

This book significantly advances understanding of wind, sail trim, and boat handling. It is a must-read for anyone racing the new generation of planing sportboats like the Viper 640 or Melges 24, new high-performance racers like the Mumm 30 or One-Design 35, and the high-performance dinghies like the 29er, 49er, 505, Flying Dutchman, etc. But serious sailors of all sorts will benefit from the book, and the chapters on the development of the Australian 18 foot skiff are very interesting and not found in North American or European sailing texts.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a MASTERPIECE written by a GENIUS !!!
Review: I love this book, it is incredibly deep and detailed with excellent illustrations. Teaching sailing is my job and I study this to improve my own racing performance and I will be passing the gems from this book to my more advanced students.

It is very technical, which I think is a good thing, in that it gives you an understanding of a lot of the detailed science inherent in wind, currents, tuning, handling etc. Mind you, there is a lot of information here... so expect to spend a season reading it and digesting it all. Some of it is so complex I still don't quite grasp it... but I will return to it and work through it when I get time.

If one could somehow 'brain dump' all the information in this book into a medium-level sailor's mind... he would be well on track for an olympic campaign.

I love this book and it will always be on my shelf as a guide, reference work and an interesting read in its own right. I give it the highest possible recommendation and I would love to have the depth of knowlege, penetrating insight and breadth of intelligence to have written this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a MASTERPIECE written by a GENIUS !!!
Review: I love this book, it is incredibly deep and detailed with excellent illustrations. Teaching sailing is my job and I study this to improve my own racing performance and I will be passing the gems from this book to my more advanced students.

It is very technical, which I think is a good thing, in that it gives you an understanding of a lot of the detailed science inherent in wind, currents, tuning, handling etc. Mind you, there is a lot of information here... so expect to spend a season reading it and digesting it all. Some of it is so complex I still don't quite grasp it... but I will return to it and work through it when I get time.

If one could somehow 'brain dump' all the information in this book into a medium-level sailor's mind... he would be well on track for an olympic campaign.

I love this book and it will always be on my shelf as a guide, reference work and an interesting read in its own right. I give it the highest possible recommendation and I would love to have the depth of knowlege, penetrating insight and breadth of intelligence to have written this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever on sailing or building faster boats
Review: I thought I knew about meteorology, waves, boatbuilding and sailing. I have a first class Cambridge degree in physics, have sailed and raced various boats (dinghies and sailboards) for 30 years and designed one fast dinghy. I thought I was one smart dude. Words begin to fail me. Wow! I wish I had known this lot 30 years ago. It turns out that I was pig ignorant. The book is the best I have ever seen on what the wind does. It's the best ever on how to handle it. It's extremely good on rigs and how to adjust them. It's not just the best ever, it's streets ahead. Don't expect to read it quickly. There is a vast amount to take in. If you really know your stuff you might get through it in a few weeks. Better to plan on a whole winter.

Rating:
Summary: how I got back into dinghy sailing
Review: I was a hot shot dinghy sailor from the 1960's, read most of the books at the time. Reintroduced to this by my sons and the recent purchaser of a 29'er (Julian Bethwaite design) and as a somewhat hapless and occasional 50+ year old skipper of the same boat I decided to read up on the skills necessary for this skiff. Sometimes you are born too early. I could have used this information 30 years ago (but so could most of us if it had been known and available). Better late than never. The book covers slow (traditional keel, old style dinghys) boats, medium speed (high performance, laser 2's) boats and fast boats(skiffs). It is well written in a conversational tone. As in most scientific works you may need to reread some of the more analytical parts depending on your prior educational training. There are some interesting experiments that you can perform simply in your sink, bath tub, hot tub or pool to demonstrate the hydro/aero dynamic principles. I've got 30 or 40 sailing books in my library but this encompasses the most information on how to sail fast of the whole lot.

Rating:
Summary: how I got back into dinghy sailing
Review: I was a hot shot dinghy sailor from the 1960's, read most of the books at the time. Reintroduced to this by my sons and the recent purchaser of a 29'er (Julian Bethwaite design) and as a somewhat hapless and occasional 50+ year old skipper of the same boat I decided to read up on the skills necessary for this skiff. Sometimes you are born too early. I could have used this information 30 years ago (but so could most of us if it had been known and available). Better late than never. The book covers slow (traditional keel, old style dinghys) boats, medium speed (high performance, laser 2's) boats and fast boats(skiffs). It is well written in a conversational tone. As in most scientific works you may need to reread some of the more analytical parts depending on your prior educational training. There are some interesting experiments that you can perform simply in your sink, bath tub, hot tub or pool to demonstrate the hydro/aero dynamic principles. I've got 30 or 40 sailing books in my library but this encompasses the most information on how to sail fast of the whole lot.

Rating:
Summary: Splendid reading for a sailing scientist
Review: It's a great book, although I don't think it's something for the average sailer. A vast knowledge of science will help you understanding this book much better. The book is devided into four parts, of which I especially found the first two parts, named wind and water, very usefull. Wind is not just the story about high and low pressures, it's also translated to the effects you see on the water and the action that needs to be taken for maximum benefit. The water part is a good explanation about wave paterns and how to sail it. Parts three and four, called The Boat and Handeling, I found less usefull. It's better to buy a book who's specific on your type of yacht than reading a general story about this.

Rating:
Summary: THE resource for high performance sailing of our generation.
Review: This book is about high performance sailing, and how to go as fast, under sail, as you possibly can. It doesn't matter if you race keel boats, or sailboards, or dinghies or multihulls; if you read, understand and practice what is written in this book, you will be a faster sailor. Frank and his family have include three Olympic competitors, four World Championships, as well as several Grand Masters (over age 60) World Championships by Frank himself. Frank has been a coach on the Australian Olympic Team since 1972 and also pursued pastimes with model gliders (twice open world endurance record holder) and full size sailplanes. His latest accomplishment is that of codesigner (with his son Julian)of the latest sailboat to be selected for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the Bethwaite 49er. The book itself is laid out into four distinct parts; wind, water, the boat, and handling. Nothing is made in the book of tactics or rules. Frank assumes that once you get out in front, you stay out front. In all, a deeply technical book on how to sail faster. Highly recommended to serious sailors interested in performance. A must for any technical sailors library. Only once every 30 years or so does such a book come out, the last being C. A. Marchaj's "The Aero-Hydrodynamics of Sailing" from the 1960s. Don't miss it...