We are happy to feature the following two installments with 10 pages excerpted from the book KISS Your Dinghy! by Uncle Al Schonborn. To buy a copy, go here.
Below is the author’s description.
Keep It Simple, Sailor! KISS Your Dinghy!
Contents
1. boat set-up, gear
2. tuning basics
3. sail tuning & trim simplified
4. safe efficient sailing
5. spinnaker & other techniques
6. making lighter work of heavier air
7. strategy & words to live by
8. the Racing Rules of Sailing
It is hard for me to nail KISS down into one category, and I am hoping it will be seen as unique rather than as a misfit. KISS is a collection of frequently unique things that I have learned, usually the hard way, during more than 60 enthusiastic years of sailing. Those years include a boringly lengthy list of Wayfarer championships won. My acquired wisdom includes a number of techniques that as far as I am aware - I have shelves full of books on sailing - no one else has publicized or promoted. I feel very strongly that they should be published and that actually was the first reason I wanted to write a book.
In addition to helping folks save money and effort, I address the matter of priorities. How vividly I recall the light going on for me as Eric Twiname in Start to Win pointed out that boat speed and strategy do not always occupy the same positions in the racing hierarchy of needs, which changes depending on where you are sailing: On open water, priority 1 is speed; on small lakes, strategy takes top spot. Priorities in all areas of sailing are another thing that I address – from vast experience. It makes the sailing life simpler and less expensive to have the many things that need doing prioritized. Few of us can afford them all, and in action, all of us often must pick and choose what is the most cost- and effort-effective.
While largely aimed at people who race non-high-performance dinghies, I believe that what I have to say is useful to sailors across the entire spectrum, high performance to stodgy keelboats. Last but in my opinion not least, I have illustrated everything with lots of photos. The book is intended to be a companion to The Wayfarer Book published by the UK Wayfarer Association, but KISS Your Dinghy is a better title since the same principles apply to all dinghies and KISS should appeal to dinghy sailors in general.
Target readership: All sailors except perhaps the total novice.
We have a signed copy of the book on the way to us. We’ll give it away to one lucky reader. Just type “Interested” in the comments below to be eligible. —Eds
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Small Craft Advisor to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.