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Advanced Racing Tactics [Hardcover]

Stuart H. Walker (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Paperback $18.19  

Book Description

May 1976

"Possibly the best book on racing tactics ever written." —Ted Jones, Dolphin Book Club News

Today far more sailors than ever before have reached a superior level of competitive ability, and the few individuals who remain at the head of the competitive classes year and after year must constantly improve their skills. This book will help the sailor analyze for himself the determinants of tactical success.

One of the foremost theoreticians of the art of yacht racing, Stuart H. Walker is also an outstanding practicing racer. For eight years Dr. Walker kept a complete record of the factors that determined the outcome of every race in which he competed. The recommendations he offers in Advanced Racing Tactics are based upon the analysis of these races—the mistakes and the successes. He sets forth basic principles of starting, beating, reaching, and mark rounding that should be practiced every time, and he underlines what mattered, what consistently provided an advantage.

The advanced racing skipper, Dr. Walker writes, must look around, examine his own mistakes and successes, record them, review them, remember them. When he recognizes from this own experience the validity of the principles presented here, they will become useful to him. When he has incorporated them into his regular racing patterns, he will have made a five- or ten-year leap forward.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stuart H. Walker is professor of pediatrics emeritus at the University of Maryland Medical School and an international dinghy champion. He was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team and the 1979 U.S. Pan-American Team. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 399 pages
  • Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (May 1976)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393031845
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393031843
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,514,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough but somewhat technical, not for the beginner, July 22, 1998
By A Customer
Anyone who has read Mr. Walker's work understands that he takes a very technical and analyitcal look at the sport of yacht racing. It is definatly an effort to get through the book, and I feel that the beginner will not get much out of it. Overall, he is very thorough and on target. There is much to be learned from the book, and it will make a person a better racer.

One humorous aspect of the book (and all of Mr. Walker's writing, for that matter) is that most of his examples consists of times that he has screwed up and lost the race. The reader occasionally wonders whether he should be taking his advice.... ;) However, the examples are often excellent illustrations of the point he is trying to make.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Useful information is obscured by wordiness and jargon, November 2, 2004
I bought this book many years ago and learned a few important tips from it. Why it is good to sail into a persistent shift upwind, and how to choose a side downwind (and why jibe-sets are important) for example. Yes the information is useful, but the book requires diligent plowing through to turn up the occasional useful nugget -- I found the anecdotes tedious after a while. I picked it up again recently and found it all but unreadable. I have sailed for many years and still find this work terribly wordy and filled with ambiguous jargon.

A good author or teacher will distil a complex subject into simple understandable concepts that can then be presented and digested readily before they are developed further. This work falls short in that regard.

As a brief example of the pedantry in store for you, consider this passage: "Head-to head conflicts must be welcomed as opportunities to demonstrate superiority, with the recognition that most competitors will be adversely affected by the demonstration."

All that said, anyone with the patience (It'll take a winter) to tough it out and get through this book will probably learn quite a bit about racing small boats. Hopefully enough to rewrite it in a more clear, logical and intelligible manner.
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3.0 out of 5 stars What are wind shifts?, January 14, 2012
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OK, my title is a bit of a joke but this book is all about wind shifts. I race in SF Bay and the best sailor I know (2 time national champion) says that he has seen wind shifts as discussed in this book be important once in 30 years of sailing. If you live where wind shifts are the name of the game, get the book. If you live where tidal current is the name of the game, not so much. I didn't finish reading it. Only one of a dozen books on racing and sailing I can say that about.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
Success in series racing depends upon success in individual races-in every individual race of a series. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
optimal sailing angle, new lay line, rudder angulation, blanketing position, oscillating veer, same sailing angle, headed jibe, second weather mark, starboard jibe, starboard tacker, leeward overlap, persistent shift, jibe mark, hydrodynamic side force, median wind, lifted tack, opposite jibe, port jibe, leeward boat, yacht clear astern, oscillating shifts, leeward yacht, hailing yacht, leeward mark, possible sailing angle
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Advanced Racing Tactics, Buddy Melges, Bob Reeves, Bruce Goldsmith, Great Lakes Soling Championship, Mistake Control, Queen Mary, Bob Mosbacher, Line Square, Long Island Sound, Prince of Wales Cup
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