Sailboat Racing -- The Winning Formula
The Winning Formula -- All you needed to know about winning sailboat races. sailing sailboat racing jonathan ho soling

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The Winning Formula
The Winning Attitude
The Winning Style
The Winning Form

He Who Knows The Wind, Wins
He Who Knows The Rules, Rules

Voodoo Magics Explained
Bring Out The Secret Arsenals
Bring Out The Mercenaries

The Winning Attitude

"If they can do it, I can do it too." -- Dennis Conner when he was nobody.

"You haven't won the race, if in winning the race you have lost the respect of your competitors." -- Paul Elvstrom.

"I will never try to steer myself into a situation that I know might create a discussion after the race ... any protest immediately cuts down on my social hours after the race is over." -- Buddy Melges.

The Winning Style

Mark Johnson's Racing Basics is a comprehensive online tutorial that covers racing from sail theory to tactics. A must read for beginners as well as seasoned pros.

Starting Drills -- notes from the usenet.

Think Simple Thoughts. by World Match Racing Champion Ed Baird.

Jim Brady's forum: 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist on Keep a Fast Course

Getting Better in the 5o5 You can apply many of the techniques to other boats too!

Stephen Bornet's Speed Guide.

Zig Zag Your Way from Top to Bottom by Ed Adams.

Two boat tune up with Dennis Conner and Jud Smith, by Michael Tamulaites.

Tucker's Tips Essays on performance sailing.

Book Excerpts

  • Tactics -- from "Racing A Beginner's Manual" by John Caig & Tim Davison.
  • The windward mark -- from "Tactics" by Rodney Pattison
  • Asymmetric Spinnakers, and Technique & Boatspeed -- from "High Performance Sailing" by 1996 Olympic 470 Men's Class Silver Medallists John Merricks and Ian Walker.

    The Winning Form

    Fitness Tips From the Brazilian Laser Class.

    Slip Sliding Away Is your bottom smooth enough? By Paul Grimes.

    Dennis' Menace Peter Isler describes how Dennis Conner prepares his boat.

    Design for the Second Millennium Mark Mills on current design trends. IOR, IMS, etc.

    He Who Knows The Wind, Wins

    Interactive Sail Trim simulator. (Requires Java script viewer.)

    David Dellenbaugh on Wind and Wind Shifts.

    Bob Drudge's Weather Sites covers wind and wave information essential for the calculated winners.

    The Telling Tales by WB Sails of Finland. Articles in sail development, aerodynamics and sail trim, etc. Very detailed explanations with captivating graphics. Some wind tunnel images. Definitely a FIVE star site.

    Weather Here And There an online weather tutorial for grade 4 students. I am sure it is simple enough for you to understand.

    He Who Knows The Rules, Rules

    ISAF -- RACING RULES of SAILING for 1997-2000.
    Full text of the Rules, includes
  • Course Illustrations,
  • Signal Flags and Protest Form, plus
  • Old Rules to New Rules Conversion Chart, etc.

    Art Engel -- the One Stop Authority on Rules. Featuring:

  • the invaluable Guide to the Right of Way Rules.
  • Bi-weekly Racing Rules Quiz.
  • Be sure to get on his mailing list!

    Excerpt from Bryan Willis' book "The Rules In Practice".

  • The Basics
  • In the Preparatory Period
  • The Start

    Dick Rose's (rules committee chair) series of rules article.

  • New Rules for Protests, Penalties and Exoneration,
  • New Rules on wearing weight; lifelines, bowsprits and more.
  • New Rules That Apply When Two Boats Meet.
  • New Rules Principal Definitions Changed on April 1.
  • New Rules Limits on the Course a Right-of-Way Boat May Sail
    ...stay tuned for more...

    From the Jan/Feb issue of David Dellenbaugh's Speed & Smart.

    Protests, The Jury And Umpiring At The Olympics By Bryan Willis (GBR) Member of the International Jury for the 1996 Olympic Regatta.

    Excerpt from Bryan Willis' book "Protests and Appeals".

  • The Hearing Procedure
  • Types Of Hearing
  • The Parties
  • Serving On A Protest Committee

    You don't like the Rules? Be a Judge and write your own ticket..

  • ISAF International Judges
  • CYA Judges' and Umpires' Resource

    Handicap systems suck, but you can win if you play by the rules.

  • The PHRF System explained -- from Britannia Yacht Club
  • Optimizing PHRF Lost in the Gray Zone? By Dave Powlison.
  • IMS and CHS as explained by RORC
  • UK Portsmouth Yardstick Handicaps for Dinghies.

    1997-2000 Racing Signal Flags by Dan Fleming. (Please also refer to your SI).

    Voodoo Magics Explained

    Mark Chisnell -- Into The Third Dimension

    Check out Wayne Beardsley's PHRF, IMS Calculators, etc. Great site.

    The Eighth Sea Boat Calculator

    SailPowerCalc a simplified module of VPP (Velocity Prediction Program)

    What's in a cloth from Bainbridge Sailcloth

    Introduction to CFD by Soga Technologies

    UK Encyclopedia of Sails

    Phillip Postle on 470 Olympic Dinghy Foresail Aerodynamics

    Bring Out The Secret Arsenals

    Faster, Lighter, Smoother High-Tech Sails by Peter Isler
    Mike Thomas's Sailboat Performance Analyzer software. FREE*
    Reviews of sailing simulators by Geoff Oxnam and Stephen Jones
    MultiSurf A FREE evalution copy of parametric surface modeler from AeroHydro.
    Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD FREE softwares including NACA airfoils.
    Bill Campbell reviews Tactical softwares.
    What makes Kevler so strong?
    Carbon Fibre spars
    ELB Race log software. Free evaluation copy.
    Does looking good make a difference? Douglas Gill Helley-Hansen

    Bring Out The Mercenaries

    Fred Cox's World Wide Crew List

    Have an army of advisors at your disposal, get on a Mailing List. Compiled by Stephen Jones.

    Sign up for the Free Semaphore Yacht Racing Newsletter.

    Check out the Sailing Forums ISAF, rec.boats.racing, or one of the web based news servers: AltaVista, Zippo, HotBot, Reference.Com, Dejanews. .

    Some of the races on my agenda

    The Canadian Olympic-training Regatta at Kingston CORK
    If you haven't been to Youngstown Level Regatta, you haven't raced (or partied).
    Block Island Race
    Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race | Halifax to Bermuda Race | Newport-Bermuda Race
    Key West Race Week | Antigua & Barbuda Race week
    Chicago - Mackinac Race | Port Huron - Mackinace Race
    Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race | Pacific Cup
    Hong Kong to San Fernando Race
    Fastnet -- you only live once.
    Kieler Woche

    Other sailing resources

    The type of boat I race on -- Soling.
    Stephen Jones' The Sailing Index 1,000+ links!
    International Sailing Federation ISAF was: IYRU
    Palmer Davis' most complete Index of Sailboat Class Associations on the WWW.
    Sailing dinghy database
    My favourite sailing magazine Canadian Yachting
    Canadian Coast Guard | The National Search and Rescue Secretariat NSS
    NavRules Download an evaluation copy of navigation rule tutorial
    Navigation books by Al Saunders

    Guest book

    Thank you for dropping by. This page started as the bookmarks of my surfing odyessey. I post this on the web because I thought you might find the information useful. Please leave me a note if you have comments and suggestions. E-Mail to: Jonathan Ho.

    Last updated: 19970731.

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