Getting Started in Sailboat Racing [Paperback]

Adam Cort (Author), Richard Stearns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2004

A complete course in the fundamentals, Getting Started in Sailboat Racing dispels the sport’s elite aura and makes racing accessible to any sailor who wants to give it a try. This illustrated manual takes readers around the buoys, explaining the rules and tactics that govern starts, finishes, mark roundings, and boat-to-boat struggles for speed and advantage.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO WORK YOUR WAY UP THROUGH THE FLEET

If you sail—even a little—you’ve probably thought about trying your hand at racing. Now you can stop thinking and do it. Getting Started in Sailboat Racing makes this endlessly fascinating lifetime sport accessible to anyone who wants to give it a try.

This complete course in racing fundamentals breaks the racing experience down into bite-size pieces, making the process easier to understand and reflecting the leg-by-leg nature of a typical race. With scores of helpful illustrations, this user-friendly manual takes you around the buoys, explaining the rules and tactics that apply to each part of the race. You’ll learn how to:

*Execute quick, competitive starts *Maximize speed and efficiency on the windward leg *Maneuver for position around the windward mark *Take full advantage of downwind and reaching legs *Handle the spinnaker and beat the crowd at the jibe and leeward marks *Eke out every last bit of speed as you sprint to the finish

There are few things in this world more satisfying than racing a sailboat. Get in on the action and find out what you’ve been missing. All you need is a competitive spirit and a little help from Getting Started in Sailboat Racing.

Adam Cort is a former editor and regular contributor to Sailing magazine and a lifelong sailor, racing everything from dinghies to big keelboats. Richard Stearns is an America’s Cup veteran and a career sailor, sailmaker, and boatbuilder. He has participated in 28 Chicago–Mackinac races, winning it twice, and has compiled an impressive record of international victories including three wins in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC).

From the Back Cover

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO WORK YOUR WAY UP THROUGH THE FLEET

If you sail—even a little—you’ve probably thought about trying your hand at racing. Now you can stop thinking and do it. Getting Started in Sailboat Racing makes this endlessly fascinating lifetime sport accessible to anyone who wants to give it a try.

This complete course in racing fundamentals breaks the racing experience down into bite-size pieces, making the process easier to understand and reflecting the leg-by-leg nature of a typical race. With scores of helpful illustrations, this user-friendly manual takes you around the buoys, explaining the rules and tactics that apply to each part of the race. You’ll learn how to:

• Execute quick, competitive starts
• Maximize speed and efficiency on the windward leg
• Maneuver for position around the windward mark
• Take full advantage of downwind and reaching legs
• Handle the spinnaker and beat the crowd at the jibe and leeward marks
• Eke out every last bit of speed as you sprint to the finish

There are few things in this world more satisfying than racing a sailboat. Get in on the action and find out what you’ve been missing. All you need is a competitive spirit and a little help from Getting Started in Sailboat Racing.

Adam Cort is a former editor and regular contributor to Sailing magazine and a lifelong sailor, racing everything from dinghies to big keelboats. Richard Stearns is an America’s Cup veteran and a career sailor, sailmaker, and boatbuilder. He has participated in 28 Chicago–Mackinac races, winning it twice, and has compiled an impressive record of international victories including three wins in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (May 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071424008
• ISBN-13: 978-0071424004
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decent How-To Guide for Novices to Racing, April 27, 2005

By 

J. Comfort - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started in Sailboat Racing (Paperback)

I found this to be an excellent how-to guide that concisely explained the nuts and bolts of sailboat racing for the novice. Too many other books on racing, by big-name sailors, seem to me to be full of a lot of hot air, and lack an emphasis on the basics. Cort and Stearns do a great job of covering rules and tactics from start to finish.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the ticket to winning races, November 20, 2005

By 

Patrick J. Nowak (Holland, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Started in Sailboat Racing (Paperback)

Stearns and Cort do a great job explaining sailboat racing with clarity and brevity and a dash of humor. I've read Melges, the Colgates, Stuart Walker and those are all fine authors. But I think "Getting Started.." is much easier to understand. The little quizzes with their answers right after the questions at the end of each section hammer home the essential principles.

This might just be a series of happy accidents but I bought the book at the beginning of September, '05, and we won the next four races in our Colgate 26 racing on Lake Michigan near Holland, MI.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of 7 books I have read, July 27, 2007

By 

A. Edwards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started in Sailboat Racing (Paperback)

I have raced my 36 ft sloop lightly for the last 5 years and wanted a book to help me improve my finish (2nd every time but only 5 in class). I have now read 7 books on the subject. Most frustrated me as they only talk about racing upwind and downwind. My class races up, down, and reaching. To make matters worse, my class is no spinnaker. So, typically the upwind talk is how to tune a boat with a fractional rig, which I don't have, or a spinnaker, which I don't use. Some only talk about boats so small you can tip them over. This book covers everything, up, down, reaching, no spinnaker. It talks about little and big boats. It does as good a job on tactics as any of the books and in fact better than most. It is an easy read and not full of typos like some of the others. I highly recommend it.