Wind and Strategy

A complete discussion of the effects of wind and its changes on racing strategy--by one of the world's most successful sailboat racers.

A world authority and champion sailor has written the definitive book on one of the most important, and least understood, factors in winning: the wind, its changes, and its effects on racing strategy.

Races are lost by a failure to understand and predict changes in wind. This book is the first and only one of its kind to deal with the character of the wind as it applies specifically to the racer. It shows how surface wind is affected by season, time of day, temperature disparities, clouds and geography. It supplies the meteorology needed to understand surface winds, and it shows how to predict the many kinds of wind shifts. Above all it shows how to take advantage of this special knowledge.

The book includes a wide range of illustrations in a section called "Winds of the World," showing how the wind behaves in many of the world's major racing areas. There are numerous examples of application of wind prediction to the planning of a race. The author includes a cross index which makes readily available all the factors needed to make wind predictions: the effects of season, time of day, origin of the wind, the weather system extant, cloud cover, wind velocity, origins of shifts, etc.

This book is essential equipment for every racing sailor, whether competing in small boats or in the cruising classes.

Stuart H. Walker is professor of pediatrics emeritus at the University of Maryland Medical School and an international dinghy champion. He was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team and the 1979 U.S. Pan-American Team.