No other recreation combines so many elements--speed, tactics,
strategy, timing, execution--and penalizes a failure in any one of these so brutally as
sailboat racing. Successful racing depends on putting all elements together, and the
winning mix changes with each new leg of the race.
Around the Buoys looks at the racecourse leg by leg, buoy
rounding by buoy rounding, gathering together the relevant strategic, tactical, boatspeed,
and rule considerations where they apply, and showing how they interrelate.
You'll learn to recognize when you are threatened, and when you must
move to realize a potential advantage. The approach is comprehensive yet
unintimidating. Each chapter ends with a question-and-answer section that targets
the concerns of beginners.
This logically and holistically organized manual is both a primer
and a refresher for racing sailors that covers both one-design and handicap racing.
Michael Huck, Jr., has been racing sailboats on a
national level for twenty-five years. He has competed in everything from iceboats to
ocean racers. As an employee of Melges Boat Works, he has conducted racing clinics
and seminars, and traveled throughout the country lecturing and racing. Michael
currently lives in Florida and continues to race both one-designs and offshore boats.
A start-to-finish
analysis of sail trim, reading the wind, go-fast techniques, and offensive and defensive
weapons.
