Customer Reviews

Sail, Race and Win: How to Develop a Winning Attitude

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Read Walker and still can't win? Twiname explores how we learn - or fail to learn - the techniques necessary for success in sailing. In a sport most of us learn without the benefit of an experienced coach, the author explains how you can be your own "sailing coach" and develope a training program to achieve your goals.

... as a lifelong sailor, this has been one of the best sailboat racing books I've read. More than specific sailboat racing tactics, the book discusses a whole approach to winning regattas.

I have no connection with the world of sailing. I do not know how to sail. I have not seen a real sailboat outside of television. If I happen to come across a TV show about sailing while surfing channels, I will flick to another channel.

Why then do I give this book 5 stars?

Because this is a wonderful book about self-coaching yourself to achieve a goal. The book just happens to use sailboat racing as the area of application. The authors (the late) Eric Twiname, and former sailing champion (now coach) Cathy Foster describe practical, proven methods that you can use achieve greater success in winning competitions.

I first heard about this book from another book, "Four Practical Revolutions in Management", a book that has nothing to do with sailing. That book's authors, Shoji Shiba (renowned quality professor formerly from MIT Sloan), and David Walden (in a real sense, one of the original programmers of the internet) regard "Sail, Race, Win" as one of the best self-coaching books they have seen.

I agree with them. This book is focused on: a)self-coaching yourself to win b)to win in a competition c)to win a sailing competition.

If you have no interest in sailing (I don't), you can easily translate some of the tips about sailing into whatever domain you are in (say, another sport, business, professional development, career, etc.).

Be warned that there is a lot of sailing terms: tacking, heeling, kicking straps, boat tuning, etc. The book simply assumes you know what these are. You can just gloss over them as you read (I still don't know what these terms mean).

Chapter 5 - Ways of Learning was especially enlightening for me. If you think that study and practice are the only two ways to learn, this chapter should be enlightening as it describes the many other ways. The chapter on Mental Mindsets as a primary cause for failing to win is just spot on. These two chapters alone is worth more than the book.

This book is very focused and very practical and really useful and I have no hesitation recommending it.