Sail Power: The Complete Guide to Sails and Sail Handling

by Wallace Ross

Book Overview

The encyclopedia guide to sailing technique and design. Absolutely everything a sailor needs to know about sails; for the beginner and the expert. Now in paperback. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394471512
• ISBN13: 9780394471518
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Best Book I Ever Used...

I, too, bought Sail Power in hardcover in the early 80's when I lived in Hong Kong and getting into racing. I wanted an in-depth, authoritative and highly-useful book to be my bible on sail trim. This is it, for both theory and practice (which it combines with practical text and good supporting diagrams). I've been racing since 1978, have a degree in mathematics, and believe that understanding the interplay of technology and natural forces is part of the joy of sailing, so I care about getting it right and this book have served me in very good stead - in round-the-marks racing and in a typhoon in the South China Sea. From the basics of wind gradients and the imprtance of "apparent wind", to controlling sail "twist" (and when and why), to being able to glance at other boats in a race and immediately see mistakes in their spinnaker set ups, to learning the interplay of cunninghams, outhauls, vangs, travelers, and halyards. Knowing "Ross" got me many good "rides" as foredeck crew on passage-making races. If you really want to understand the game, you need an in-depth book like this, not the lightweight "learn to sail" texts. I have at least one big Silver Cup that I won because of Sail Power. I see that other reviewers suggest alternatives - You might do well from differing approaches but I suggest that it is well worth the cost to have Sail Power, regardless of what else you choose. When I find something better, I promise to come back here and say so.

Absolutely excellent

I heartly agree with Kip Putnam... This is perhaps the best book for sailors to read, it should be in every avid sailors library. Fully comprehensive, it covers basic sailing theory but also explains in easy to comprehend english the finer most complicated details fo sailing. I purchased the hardcover version in 1976 and have used it consistantly ever since. Mr. Putnam's comment, "No other book does so great a job of explaining the sport from beginniners to professionals." is oh so true.

Sheer excellence

This is perhaps the best book for sailors to read, Fully comprehensive, it covers basic ideas like the slot theory, but also explains the Kutta-Joukowski theory that defies it. Ross goes on to describe other simple things as well as things that are not so simple. The book is well laid-out; chapters are in good order, more complex details towards the end of the book. What the table of contents does not tell about the location of a particular subject, the complete index does. At least as much testing of these theories as research went into the writing of this book. Although the thickness of the book attests to the complexity of the sport, its author explains each detail in a wonderfully simple style. No other book does so great a job of explaining the sport from beginniners to professionals