Inspirational Sailors

Yes, Start to Win...how could I forget! That was another of the batch of books I got from Amazon. In the days I was at QM he had the tattiest boat in the fleet and I remember him putting his feet inside plastic bags before putting his boots in the changing rooms. In those days, when they got fleets of 30 or more lasers out racing, he was still the man to beat. A great book and a man ahead of his time.

Eric Twiname, as a sailor and author.

Books wise, I would read everything I could find about small boat racing, especially about all the different designs out there. Burrett's Dinghy Recognition and Catamaran Racing, by Reg White and Bob Fisher stand out, as does Elvstrom and Uffa Fox.

Sailors who stand out - Stevie Vines, who taught me how to race, simply by being in a boat with him. On a less personal level, Mark Rushall, Peter Knight (not a complete coincidence that we own the boat they both won the Firefly Nationals in twice), and many of the local Firefly sailors from Tamesis and the clubs nearby. Somehow in those days, with no internet, you either knew about the very famous, or local heros.