Fast Handling Technique

Book excerpt: From the author of the bestselling High Performance Sailing and Higher Performance Sailing comes the first scientific analysis of what makes fast sailors fast. Eschewing the idea that luck or innate talent are the keys to success, Frank Bethwaite shows how knowledge truly is power. Making use of video cameras aligned to GPS read-outs to track the fastest racers, he meticulously analyses what winners do and how they do it, to show the rest of us how to get the best out of a racing craft. Frank Bethwaite's previous books were groundbreaking bibles that applied scientific theories to how sails and hulls interact with wind and water to influence boat speed. But whilst they applied scientific theories to boat construction, they didn't apply science to practical boat handling. This book fills that gap, and then goes further. Budding racers of all levels will welcomethis unique book as a godsend. It will inform, instruct and enable them toemploy the techniques (and timing) of the most successful racers, and make racingmore competitive for participants, and more exciting for those of us watching.