Frank Bethwaite

Top sailors prioritize smooth weight movement and constant angle of heel, especially in light air. In light air, flow over sails and foils boards is marginal. Any disturbance shakes the flow and makes an already tough situation worse. Even without…

Thus far in our SailZing posts about puff response, we have consistently advocated “feather and ease, hike, and trim” as the best technique for puff response. So, we were intrigued to read “The Fallacy of Ease, Hike, Trim” (Sailing World),…

A well-sailed boat can develop a great speed advantage; … so it is not unusual to see the largest race-winning leads developed in the lightest of conditions. Greg Fisher in When the Going Gets Light. . . Sitting on the low…

Shiny streaks, or “wind lanes” appear between the darker areas. These  indicate the direction of the approaching wind with absolute accuracy. Frank Bethwaite in High Performance Sailing, Section 5.4 This statement in Bethwaite’s authoritative book peaked my interest. What sailor wouldn’t…

Here’s Part 2 of our list of capsize causes and solutions for small boat sailors. In Part 1, we covered upwind situations related to too much heeling force and not enough righting moment. In this part, we’ll talk about off-wind…

For a useful understanding of the inner workings of the wind, check out Frank Bethwaite’s Higher Performance Sailing. In Chapter 4, “The Spectrum of the Wind,” he names and describes four distinct types of wind changes we see on the…