High Performance Sailing [Paperback]

Frank Bethwaite (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

Based on 25 years of research and Olympic coaching, High Performance Sailing reinvents the strategies of sailboat racing. It presents revolutionary explanations of wind prediction and boat design, a fundamental rethinking of how to sail a boat fast--literally faster than the wind. Bethwaite's theories boosted the average speed of the highest-performance sailboats from two-thirds the windspeed to windspeed or faster. Bethwaite is Australia's most successful Olympic coach, and his family includes three Olympic sailing champions and three world champions. This book will have a revolutionary impact on racing sailboats and the way they are sailed.

"Essential for any serious racing sailor."--Gary Jobson

"It represents a breakthrough in the way that it relates the theoretical aspects of wind, seastate and rig shape to the way a crew would sail and handle a boat during a race. It has the potential to be a standard reference work on the subject and will not quickly date. It is a book that my Olympic squad will benefit from."--Rod Carr, British Olympic Sailing Team Manager

"Frank's book is a treasure chest, full of brilliant insights into the ways of air and water as they flow around our sailing boats. Best of all, he tells us what to do when we go sailing."--Alan Payne, Designer of America's Cup challengers Gretal I and II

"Allowed only one 'if only' in yacht racing . . . it would have been to have read Frank Bethwaite's High Performance Sailing years ago and to have it available for constant reference. Taking all the advice which he offers from his wide experience would have made championship winning a great deal easier."--Bob Fisher, Journalist, broadcaster and winner of many national and international sailing championships

"The most significant scientific thinking about sailboat racing to come along in three decades. A brilliant and important book for serious racing sailors."--Ed Adams, US Sailing Team Coach; national, North American, and world champion sailor

"Bethwaite's grasp of the entire spectrum of sailing speed is unique and formidable."--Gerry Hoyt, Yacht designer, sailing speed innovator

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the most readable books on the complex subject of sailing faster, and without doubt, a must for every racing sailor."—Yachts and Yachting

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Frank Bethwaite has been at the leading edge of national and world class sailing for over fifty years. Apart from his own outstanding racing successes, he has coached every level of would-be champion from basic to Olympic standards. Within his own family, three are Olympic champions and three are world champions in four classes.

From a background which included aeronautical engineering and meteorology, Frank spent thirty years in military and civil aviation and finally in scientific flying. His leisure pursuits, other than sailing, have been model gliders (twice open world endurance record holder) and also flying high performance gliders, which he used to explore the detail of some of the atmosphere's movements.

When he retired from flying he decided to find out how sailboats worked, so that he could try to make them sail faster. The experimental years followed, in which a combination of controlled experiments and fleet evaluation released a surge of creativity and the average speed of small sailboats increased from about one third the windspeed to about one half. This work then blended into a period when Frank and his family became involved with very high performance boats, partly the eighteen foot skiffs of Sydney and partly a series of twenty much smaller and progressively faster experimental craft. That the average "round the buoys race" speed of two thirds the wind speed has now increased to windspeed or faster, is in no small way due to Frank's theoretical and experimental input.

Product Details

• Paperback: 414 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070057990
• ISBN-13: 978-0070057999
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE resource for high performance sailing of our generation. February 20, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

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...

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars New information on wind and sail trim for serious racers July 3, 1998

By Garandman

Format:Paperback

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A strange but (in parts) brilliant book May 12, 2010

By A reader

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

First off, due to a confusion at Amazon, the other reader reviews shown with earlier dates than this one are not for this book but for an earlier book by the same author with the similar name "High Performance Sailing". This book "HighER Performance Sailing" was published June 1 2009.

Frank Bethwaite refers to the older book as HPS-1 and this book as HPS-2. This book is not a revision of HPS-1 but really a completely new book that picks up from, and in many cases revises, the information set out in HPS-1. In certain places Bethwaite gives a brief recap of information from the earlier book and then refers the reader to it for more detail, but you can profitably read this book without ever having seen HPS-1.

HPS-1 was a brilliant book whose audience was reduced by a very eccentric organization and a very awkward writing style. Where a conventional book would try to lead you carefully from topic to topic while making sure that you haven't been left behind, HPS-1 doesn't. It reads more like the personal notebook of a mad scientist whose areas of study are the wind, the evolution of performance yacht design, and racing strategy. There was a huge amount of valuable, practical knowledge in this book that was new and hadn't been written before, but because of its very awkward exposition it was hard to extract. I had to read HPS-1 twice to get the benefit of it --- the first time to get an idea of what points he was trying to make, and a second time to decode the details. But it was well worth the effort. The discussions about how the wind works, in particular, are far more sophisticated and useful than anything else you'll find in the sailing or meteorological literature.

Where most of the information in HPS-1 was relevant to racing in any kind of boat.... This new book is much more focused on the new and unique properties of modern skiffs and skiff-like boats that can sail faster than the wind. The writing style of this book seems to be better to me but perhaps only because I've become acclimated from the earlier one. The organization of this book is perhaps even more eccentric than the earlier book and jumps fairly randomly between various topics that the author finds interesting. There is also a huge amount of repetition. A good editor could have made this a much more appealing read.

But there are some gems of practical sailing knowledge in this book that I don't think you'll you won't find anywhere else. There is also a lot of historical information that won't help you sail faster but you will probably find surprising and interesting if you have an interest in the history of sailboat racing. Read more ›

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book ever on sailing or building faster boats October 19, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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.