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Summary: Sailing Lessons from Buddy
Review: Many books cover the fundamentals of sailboat racing, but few do it with the charm of Buddy Melges, the Olympic medalist and America's Cup defender from rural Wisconsin. The lessons on tactics and boathandling are all here, interspersed with tales of races won and lost (mostly won) by the author. The book is well organized and clearly written. A short story from Melges' early career touches on the importance of sportsmanship without being preachy. Over the years I have read this book again and again as much for enjoyment as for instruction.
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Summary: More stuff to help you go fast.
Review: This book is a fast read, so it's easy to recognize (and reinforce) what you already know, while picking out the new stuff you didn't know that will help you race faster.As an example, here are three things that I benefited from immediately. After you read the book, you'll have your own list. 1. The mental aspect of boat preparation. You have to do whatever it takes to KNOW that your boat is fast and ready to win. Otherwise, when you're going slow you'll be making excuses instead of finding what's wrong and fixing it. 2. A killer diagram showing spinnaker pole positioning for reaching. This diagram makes it completely obvious what to do, but it's TOTALLY contrary to the "prevailing wisdom" among most of the folks I sail with. But the first time I used Buddy's position, boy did we point with that chute! 3. A great description of "feathering" the boat upwind on the beat. As always, the winning combination is read, then sail, read some more, sail some more, then repeat. If you don't go on the water to practice, no book can help you. The downside is that the book was written before the new racing rules came into effect, so be sure you're fully familiar with the rules before taking Buddy's advice on tactics that rely specifically on rules for their validity. (For example, in one circumstance the advice to a leeward boat is to luff up quickly, and "tap" a windward boat, fouling them out of the race. You'll be on thin ice if you try this in the new rules, with their clear emphasis on the importance of avoiding collisions.)
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Summary: Sailing Lessons from Buddy
Review: This is a short, easy to read book. You can knock it off in a couple of hours. What you learn in reading is how to win. No fancy tunning tricks, just the things you need to know how to win--the basics. His record proves the point. It is the best use of $10 I can think of to improve your skills. I'm a sailing instructor and plan to apply some of his ideas to my instruction.
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Summary: Serious about racing?
Review: This is a short, easy to read book. You can knock it off in a couple of hours. What you learn in reading is how to win. No fancy tunning tricks, just the things you need to know how to win--the basics. His record proves the point. It is the best use of $10 I can think of to improve your skills. I'm a sailing instructor and plan to apply some of his ideas to my instruction.
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