Stuart H. Walker Books

Stuart Walker, a world champion celebrated for his books and columns on racing in Sailing World magazine, here takes his readers step by step through the elements that determine racing wind direction, velocity, temperature, stability, current strength, and direction. These racing factors, Dr. Walker explains, translate into boat speed, psychology, and tactics.Wind strength and wave formation, in turn, determine sail rig and fin trim, as well as the psychological approach needed to win. He demonstrates for both the new racer and the seasoned expert precisely how to collect and understand these elements, how to use them in the formulation of strategy, and, finally, how to formulate moment-by-moment tactics. This is a masterful guide to winning.

"Possibly the best book on racing tactics ever written." ―Ted Jones, Dolphin Book Club News Today far more sailors than ever before have reached a superior level of competitive ability, and the few individuals who remain at the head of the competitive classes year and after year must constantly improve their skills. This book will help the sailor analyze for himself the determinants of tactical success.One of the foremost theoreticians of the art of yacht racing, Stuart H. Walker is also an outstanding practicing racer. For eight years Dr. Walker kept a complete record of the factors that determined the outcome of every race in which he competed. The recommendations he offers in Advanced Racing Tactics are based upon the analysis of these races―the mistakes and the successes. He sets forth basic principles of starting, beating, reaching, and mark rounding that should be practiced every time, and he underlines what mattered, what consistently provided an advantage.The advanced racing skipper, Dr. Walker writes, must look around, examine his own mistakes and successes, record them, review them, remember them. When he recognizes from this own experience the validity of the principles presented here, they will become useful to him. When he has incorporated them into his regular racing patterns, he will have made a five- or ten-year leap forward.

A detailed, technical, and readable study of the tactics of winning for the experienced sailor―by one of the world's leading small boat racers. The author of "A Manual of Sail Trim" has designed a guide for the competitive racing dinghy sailor that explains the art of maneuvering. The object of the text is to provide instructions on keeping a dinghy in relation to its competitors so that it finishes the race in the lead.