Catamaran Racing: For the 90's [Paperback]

Rick White (Author), Mary Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

This book is a pool of thoughts of the World's Greatest sailors. It covers catamaran and trimaran tuning, boat handling, sail handling (including spinnakers/reachers/hooters), tactics, and much more. Written by the Hall-of-Famer and guru of multihulls, Rick White who tells it all, and then goes the extra mile to include chapters by such greats as Randy Smyth, Carlton Tucker, Hobie Alter, JR, Larry Harteck, Bob Curry, Dave Calvert, Roy Seaman, and Wayne Schafer. Eric Sharp, National Journalist wrote, "It doesn't matter what kind of multihull you sail, or what size -- this book will make you better at it..."

Editorial Reviews

Review

by Gary Hoyt, Sailing World Columnist: "Rick White has written a very definitive book on multihulls -- informative to the beginner and interesting to the expert. Everything is laid out very logically to take you to faster sailing, including comments from various class experts. This is easy-to-read information that will put more fun and more speed into your sailing." By John Burnham, Editor of Sailing World: "From A to Z, Rick White covers cat racing's tactics, techniques and tuning -- then sails the extra mile by providing expert advice from champions like Carlton Tucker and Randy Smyth on how to sail specific designs..." By Randy Smyth, Olympic Medalist and World, National and NA Champ: "Rick White and Mary Wells, the gurus of catamaran clinics, tell all in 'Catamaran Racing: for the 90s.' Forget theories, they are sharing proven, race-winning strategies and techniques." By Eric Sharp, National Outdoor Journalist: 'It doesn't matter what kind of multihull you sail, or what size -- this book will make you better at it..." -- Book Review

About the Author

Rick White, the creator of Rick White's Sailing Seminars, is one of the pioneers of catamaran racing in the U.S. He purchased his first sailboat, a Shark catamaran, in the early 1960's when fleets were first developing on the East Coast and the Great Lakes. He was looking for a sport that would be exhilarating and competitive, but less damaging to his body than motocross and football had been. He's been hooked on multihulls ever since. Since 1965, Rick has won over 180 championships, including Nationals, North Americans, Mideasterns, Midwesterns, Southeasterns, Cup of Miami, the Schenley Cup and numerous State championships in such boats as Sharks, Tornados, Hobies, MacGregor 36s, F-28s, F-27s, F25Cs and F-24's. Sailboat Week Magazine liked his contributive writing and hired him as Multihull Editor. That magazine sold and so he then became a correspondent for Yachting, Sailing World, and Soundings. Rick is presently a columnist/contributor for Multihulls Magazine, and columnist/executive editor for Catamaran Sailor Magazine. White has since written four books on multihull racing, the most recent, Catamaran Racing: For the 90's, was released in the spring of 1992. Early in 1995, he released a new book Sailing Drills: How to sail Better, Faster, Smarter, Safer, a compilation of drills to improve sailboat handling abilities for all types of sailing -- for multihulls, monohulls and boardsailors. The rights to the same book were given to Fernhurst Books who published it under a different title, "Race Training." He has just completed the textbook that is the Official American Sailing Association Guide to Cruising and Bareboat Chartering, "Multihull Cruising Fundamentals." Now living in the Florida Keys and in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, White still races competitively, but is spending most of his time putting on seminars to help others get faster and promote the sport of one-design sailing. White is a USCG 500-ton Master Captain, with a sail endorsement, and for six years ran charters to the Bahamas in 67' Ketches that slept 24 people, and chartered his own 42' Solaris Cat as well.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Ram Pr (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880871009
• ISBN-13: 978-1880871003
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best and most readable reference on catamaran sailing, February 5, 1999

By 

K. Kirk Gehman "kkirkg" (East Norriton, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catamaran Racing: For the 90's (Paperback)

I find myself reviewing this book before I hit the water. After I return from the day's sailing I refer to it again to try and understand how I can improve on what I done that day. Rick White and Mary Wells have the ability to clearly explain the basics of boat handing and racing tactics in readable and direct language. The book is not afraid of stating an opinion where there are several points of views. It also discusses these views. I recommend this book to anyone at any level of catmaran sailing.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality, but not quite cutting edge, April 19, 2002

By 

"waterbug_wpb" (Jensen Beach (check out last year's Worrell 1000 here - Yikes!)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catamaran Racing: For the 90's (Paperback)

A very well rounded book that covers the fundamentals, as well as specific hints on the various boats out there (Prindle, Nacra, Hobie, etc.). While it is not designed to be a "cheat sheet" on going fast, there are a few things I re-read - namely off-wind tactics. Due to the inherent differences between Cats and monos, there are a few things I needed to un-learn to get faster. I'm no Worrell 1000 winner, but this book has moved me from the "How do they get so far ahead?" to "nipping at their heels". And it has certainly helped fill the trophy case..

The section on spinnakers is a little weak, but still will get you going downwind fast.

All in all, this book will teach the intermediate sailor (or advanced sailor with little cat experience) enough to stay within sight of the pack leaders. The rest you'll have to learn from those guys. Tuning your rig/tactics/crew is what wins races, and these are so varied that it's actually better that the book doesn't cover this - so not as to confuse sailors too much.

SPECIAL NOTE: Due to the publishing date, this book is sadly lax in it's instruction on several newer boats - namely the I-20, F-18 class, Hobie Tiger/Fox. Several new ideas have emerged that seem to work, but you'll have to learn that on your own out on the course! ;-)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good low-mid to Upper mid level racing training, June 12, 2003

By 

Matthew R. Mayfield (Tilghman, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catamaran Racing: For the 90's (Paperback)

Rick White is the master of communicating how to sail a catamaran. This book mirrors his seminars and videos. I think the video series might even be an even better starting point for most catamaran sailors because much of book is about how-to activities that should be visualized and practiced.