Sail Trim: Book Review

Created by doina. Last modified on 2006-02-10 11:45:33
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Topic: Books,Charts and DVDs

Sail Trim by Peter Hahne

Adlard Coles Nautical

First edition 2005

UK recommended price £12.99

ISBN 0-7136-7225-0

Peter Hahne has somehow managed to distil in just over one hundred pages all the information for which other authors have needed a book four times this size. Undoubtedly this will be highly appreciated by the majority of readers, many of whom may be only marginally interested in the purely theoretical aspects of the subject. In fact, the theory of trimming sails and the basic rules of aerodynamics are dealt with efficiently in a couple of chapters that present an overview of the science of sailing.

Besides sailing trim generally, the author discusses various related subjects, such as masthead and fractional rigs, the various types of sailcloth as well as types of rig, including some unusual types. In the section on downwind sails, the author describes the various types of spinnakers and makes an excellent case for their use on cruising yachts. A new development in spinnaker design, the Parasailor, is described in great detail as are its various advantages. This reviewer has used a Parasailor extensively in the last two years and entirely agrees with this positive assessment.

One small criticism is that while the author describes the advantages as well as disadvantages of a fully battened mainsail, he only deals in passing with in-mast and in-boom furling mainsails, a subject which is of great interest to cruising sailors. Generally, however, this is a well written book that will be highly appreciated by any sailor who wants to sail his or her boat more efficiently.

If you wish to order this book directly from the publishers go to http://www.acblack.com