Crewing to Win

The crew of a racing boat is as important as the helmsman - they work as a team to sail as fast as they can. But different members of that team have different roles in the boat. In addition to the obvious roles which belong to the crew - trimming the jib and spinnaker and helping keep the boat upright - the crew can also contribute to tactics, boat tuning, watching the competition and so on. In this book, Olympic gold medallist crew, Saskia Clark, describes all that is needed to become a top-rate crew, or just be a better crew at whatever level you want to compete at. She initially takes you through getting started as a crew and team - choosing a boat and setting your goals. She then turns to the specific crewing skills of hiking, trapezing, tacking, gybing, handling the spinnaker and having good boatspeed on each leg of the course. The focus then turns to racing and particularly the roles of each member of the team, communication, decision making and execution around the race course. Finally, she brings it all together with advice on how you can be the best crew and a great team. Packed with photographs this is the ultimate book for crews whether they are trying to win a championship or just wanting to sail at their local club. If your helm doesn't buy it for you, treat yourself!

Auteur

Saskia Clark has sailed in 3 Olympics in the 470 class, coming 6th in 2008, winning a silver medal at London 2012 and going one better in Rio, the latter two sailing with Hannah Mills. She medalled 6 times at the 470 World Championships over a 10-year period, claiming gold in 2012. With Hannah, Saskia was voted World Female Sailor of the Year in 2016. She was awarded an MBE for services to sailing in the 2017 New Year Honours' list. Not bad for someone who hated sailing when she started in an Optimist aged 8 at Dabchicks Sailing Club!