Ed Baird likes to take time out from the rarefied world of America's Cup racing to do some good ol' fleet racing in sportsboats, including the Melges 32. Talking to Justin Chisholm, the American pro sailor shares his views on mental approach, learning from mistakes, and how the team works together...
Justin has been racing on the 90ft canting keeler Genuine Risk in the Caribbean, and talking to Dean Barker about flipping grand prix catamarans like the VX40 and AC45. Andy says he'll eat his hat if the multihull doesn't make it in for the Rio 2016 Games, but not much else is certain in the build-up to next week's controversial ISAF mid-year meeting in Russia....
Laser Olympic Champion Paul Goodison tells Jon Emmett some of his secrets to starting consistently and securing a front-row position up the first beat... "If I'm in the middle of the line and I'm unsure, I'll point the bow of the boat directly at the pin end and line the tiller up in the middle of the boat to see where that's aiming, and look through the tiller to see where that's aiming..."
Splicing is so simple, it's hard to believe it actually works! In fact a splice in most situations is a stronger alternative to a knot - which can weaken the break load of a sheet or rope. Below, we've rounded up some of the best video tutorials we've managed to find, focusing on five different splicing techniques that may come in handy on your dinghy, catamaran or keelboat.
There are good ways and bad ways of repairing a damaged centerboard or daggerboard. So here's a tutorial from a bloke who knows what he's doing. This video tutorial shows a tried and tested method for repairing a Laser dinghy daggerboard and rudder foils, although the methods apply equally to any dinghy or small sailboat....
In this latest Sailing Talk Podcast, amongst other chat, Andy and Justin mull over the Kiwi run Camper Volvo Ocean Race entry, British Star Campaigners Iain Percy and Simpson's plans for the 2011 season, the proposed race area for the 34th America's Cup and the AC45 action taking place in New Zealand recently...
“If Oracle were Little Red Riding Hood and Alinghi were the bad wolf who is Little Red Riding Hood now - because I only see bad wolves?” So says America’s Cup outcast Vasco Vascotto. Justin and Andy discuss the latest in AC34, along with 18-footers, Bacardi Cuppers and much other stuff in grand prix sailing...
Giles Scott was struggling to stay down to weight for the Laser. Standing 6’6 tall, Scott was keeping down to 83kg, only with a lot of dieting. His body fatpercentage was down to 6.5%, although he didn’t find it as difficult as it sounded. “Weirdly enough in the last year it was actually relatively easy because I was at uni. I was a lazy student and I didn’t have to go shopping all that often for food. I don’t know, it’s weird, I think you almost get used to living and feeling that way once you’ve done it for so long, and then it actually was a bit difficult when I suddenly got told that ‘right, you’ve got to eat, you’ve got to put on 15 kilos for the Finn.’”
You only ever do windward-leeward courses on a port-hand rounding, so why would you bother training for anything else? Even 49er World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks believed this, until they discovered the error of their ways...
Scott acknowledges that he needs to open himself up to more risk-taking in the medal race. “There are sailors that do take big massive gambles in medal racing and sometimes it comes off well for them. But obviously, the difficult thing about that is that every gamble you win you are going to lose one. Fundamentally I think that you just need to be more aggressive with it than everyone else is.”
Ask Giles Scott what his goal is, and he'll tell you. "The aim is to qualify for the Olympics and to go on and win gold." Already by the end of 2009, his first full season in the Finn class, the then 22-year-old had proven that he's a world class talent. Indeed he has been highlighted as one of the Daily Mail's ‘Magnificent Seven' athletes whom the newspaper is following in the build up to London 2012.
Peter Greenhalgh won the 49er Europeans in 2010 with Chris Draper after a 'disappointing' sixth place at the Worlds. What changed? One of the primary things this British team worked on was their communication, talking the same language. Justin Chisholm interviewed the sailors...
Ed Baird likes to take time out from the rarefied world of America's Cup racing to do some good ol' fleet racing in sportsboats, including the Melges 32. Talking to Justin Chisholm, the American pro sailor shares his views on mental approach, learning from mistakes, and how the team works together...
Justin has been racing on the 90ft canting keeler Genuine Risk in the Caribbean, and talking to Dean Barker about flipping grand prix catamarans like the VX40 and AC45. Andy says he'll eat his hat if the multihull doesn't make it in for the Rio 2016 Games, but not much else is certain in the build-up to next week's controversial ISAF mid-year meeting in Russia....
Splicing is so simple, it's hard to believe it actually works! In fact a splice in most situations is a stronger alternative to a knot - which can weaken the break load of a sheet or rope. Below, we've rounded up some of the best video tutorials we've managed to find, focusing on five different splicing techniques that may come in handy on your dinghy, catamaran or keelboat.
There are good ways and bad ways of repairing a damaged centerboard or daggerboard. So here's a tutorial from a bloke who knows what he's doing. This video tutorial shows a tried and tested method for repairing a Laser dinghy daggerboard and rudder foils, although the methods apply equally to any dinghy or small sailboat....
In this latest Sailing Talk Podcast, amongst other chat, Andy and Justin mull over the Kiwi run Camper Volvo Ocean Race entry, British Star Campaigners Iain Percy and Simpson's plans for the 2011 season, the proposed race area for the 34th America's Cup and the AC45 action taking place in New Zealand recently...
“If Oracle were Little Red Riding Hood and Alinghi were the bad wolf who is Little Red Riding Hood now - because I only see bad wolves?” So says America’s Cup outcast Vasco Vascotto. Justin and Andy discuss the latest in AC34, along with 18-footers, Bacardi Cuppers and much other stuff in grand prix sailing...
You only ever do windward-leeward courses on a port-hand rounding, so why would you bother training for anything else? Even 49er World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks believed this, until they discovered the error of their ways...
Ask Giles Scott what his goal is, and he'll tell you. "The aim is to qualify for the Olympics and to go on and win gold." Already by the end of 2009, his first full season in the Finn class, the then 22-year-old had proven that he's a world class talent. Indeed he has been highlighted as one of the Daily Mail's ‘Magnificent Seven' athletes whom the newspaper is following in the build up to London 2012.