Positioning: The Logic of Sailboat Racing

During the race, you see WHAT others are doing. This book provided me with lots of explanations about WHY the best racers are doing what they are doing - a kind of explanations you so rarely can get from other racers, coaches, etc. Invaluable for self-training.

This is the best of the Dr. Walker books. It's a concise treatice on all the tactical elements needed for around the buoys racing.

This is the book by Stuart Walker which cleared a lot of things up for me -- I go back to it constantly, especially when there are areas of my racing that I want cleared up a bit. As he likes to do, the author has plenty of real-race situations from which he draws his experience. This one is out of print, but keep checking out-of-print sources; it is well worth the search!

Dr Walker's book, Positioning, has provided me with an integrated and logical framework with which to formulate my own racing strategy. The categorisation of beats and runs into category I, II or III conditions and a thorough discusion of the principles pertinent to each, greatly simplify the process of data collection and effective strategic decision making during a race. The book is made very readable by Dr Walker's use of interesting examples from races in soling yachts conducted at a high level (names such as Torben Grael, Buddy Melges and Hans Fogh feature regularly). The book integrates much of the content of Dr Walker's earlier books such as Advanced Racing Tactics into a far more digestible format which is suitable for beginners, but also is beneficial for experienced sailors wishing to achieve true mastery of sail boat strategy and wind shifts.