Olympic gold medal winning coach Jon Emmett and Extreme Sailing Series champion skipper Morgan Larson talk about the importance of making a plan for the start of a race. Fail to plan, and you could well fail to start. Says Morgan: "We can address any weak areas before attending a major championship. Getting a good start doesn't guarantee a good finish, but it certainly helps. You are better off ticking all boxes (an OK position, OK acceleration and OK timing)..."

Ian Walker talks through the lessons learned from winning two silver medals at the Olympic Games, one of which probably should have been gold, and one that probably shouldn't have been anything at all...

Gybing technique is one of the toughest and most critical elements of skiff sailing, but Trevor Baylis (world champion in 14s, 18s and 505) has some ideas that will help make heavy-air gybing a whole lot safer. "Whatever type of skiff you’re gybing, I’m a firm believer that the helm should be last person in and first person out. My thinking on this is that, like in mountain biking, it’s better to be completely out of control for a tenth of a second than vaguely out of control for 10 seconds. So if the helmsman can minimise his time through the boat, the safer you’ll be...."

Double Olympic Gold Medallist and America's Cup skipper Iain Percy offers a few tips on how to make the best of a bad job after you've made a poor start. Iain looks at the best options depending on whether you think right or left is the way to go up the first beat...

Ian Williams: what skills are transferrable from match racing back into the fleet racing world? Starting, mental strength, to name a couple. But boathandling and adaptability too....