Helming to Win

Nick Craig is the 'Champion of Champions', having won the Endeavour Trophy a record six times. He has also won 28 National Championships, 8 European Championships and 9 World championships to date, in a variety of classes including the B14, D-One, Enterprise, Finn, Merlin Rocket, OK and Phantom. Remarkably he is not a professional sailor - all of this has been achieved alongside a full-time job.

“A welcome return of the `Sail to Win’ series from Fernhurst Books and you could hardly ask for a more qualified sailor to explain how to win races as a helm than Nick Craig.” (Yachts & Yachting, Jul 2015) “The content is easily accessible in a very nicely managed layout that allows you to dip in for inspiration. Highly interesting, as well as hugely entertaining, to get inside the head of Nick Craig.” (OKIDA) “In this book he provides you with the tools you need to make the transition – just as he did – from club racer to championship winner. Packed full of intelligent insight, brilliant top tips and engaging photo sequences, it will have you following in his winning footsteps.” (Sailing, Nov 2016) "If you could ask Nick anything you wanted about how to win a sailboat race, the chances are Nick has covered it in this book in an original and thought provoking way. This is a book like no other that has gone before it." (OKDIA) "Many sailing books can be recycles of familiar themes and ideas. Not this one! This is a highly personal and radical, fresh view of the subject area. This is an impressive book by a debut author, who adds a fresh perspective to successful racing." (Yachting Life) "Packed full of intelligent insight, brilliant top tips and engaging photo sequences." (Sailing Magazine) "Helming to Win is a real insight into the methodical process that Nick uses to go about his campaigns in so many different boats. There's plenty to learn from the Olympic stars, but making the best use of limited time is one of the biggest skills for weekend sailors, which made Nick an inspired choice of author. Like most of us, he's a keen amateur who manages to juggle his time between family commitments and holding down a proper job outside the sailing world." (Andy Rice, Yachts & Yachting) "[Nick] has been so successful by really understanding what makes a boat sail fast and applying this on the race course. This book allows anyone to gain from his experiences. In my own journey from club racing my Optimist to winning major championships I have deployed a lot of the techniques that Nick describes. Anyone reading this book will greatly accelerate their learning curve and be taking an important step to achieving their own championship objectives." (Sir Ben Ainslie) “In teaching you to win, Craig breaks his book down into five major sections - learning to win, sailing fast in a straight line, boat handling, championship sailing, and bringing it all together. Each one of those parts holds more detail, showing you what to look for, what to do, when to do it - from starting to finishing, from rounding marks to finding speed upwind and downwind. It is spiced with top tips and good illustrations. In the final, very short chapter, Craig 'brings it all together' with his 10-point plan for helming to win! Better praise you couldn't get for the book than from Ben Ainslie, who writes: 'Anyone reading this book will greatly accelerate their learning curve and be taking an important step to achieving their own championship objectives.'” (Sailing Magazine, Feb 2016)

• FOREWORD PART 1 LEARNING TO WIN Ingredients for Winning Accelerating your Learning Curve Where to Look when Racing PART 2 SAILING FAST IN A STRAIGHT LINE How to Get Fast! Upwind Speed Downwind Speed Fixing an Attack of 'The Slows' PART 3 BOAT HANDLING Turning Corners Mark Rounding PART 4 CHAMPIONSHIP SAILING Sailing at Championships Starts at Championships Mental Approach at Championships PART 5 BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER 10 Point Plan for Helming to Win