Sailfaster: The Podcast For Racing Sailors

Today’s guest is Chelsea Freas, a highly sought-after expert in weather and routing forecasts for sailors of all kinds—offshore racers, regatta competitors, cruisers, and even Olympians. She’s the founder of SeaTactics, offering marine weather solutions like weather routing, regatta forecasting, navigation, consulting, and education—check out www.sea-tactics.com - it includes some excellent free c...

We’re switching to offshore racing in the Southern Pacific/Australia for this episode!  Richard Hudson has racked up over 150 offshore races of 200 miles or more, including multiple Rolex Sydney-Hobart Races, 34 Sydney-Gold Coast Races, China Sea races, Hong Kong to Philippines, Hong Kong to Vietnam, the 600 mile New Caledonia Groupama Race and many more.  Richard is the owner of Farr 45 Pretty Wo...

Really enjoyed my conversation with top Chicago sailors George Simkins and Mark Fruin about the famous Mackinac Race.  With multiple podiums between them, you'll hear how they prepare their J111 and J105 for the race, how they think about routing decisions, dealing with tough conditions, avoiding the black flies, why sailing racing is worth investing time in, and finally how Sailfaster caused Mark...

So much to learn from Ryan Simmons and Brent Draney of San Francisco-based J/105 Blackhawk!  In this episode we interview Ryan and Brent fresh off their recent success at San Francisco’s Rolex Big Boat Series. We discuss crew dynamics and longevity, the crossovers between business and sailing as well as the team’s history of success including Blackhawk’s six victories in the Big Boat Series.  Bren...

Part 2 of my thoroughly enjoyable conversation with Tom McLaughlin in which he recalled what went wrong with the NYYC's 1987 America's Cup campaign, along with great anecdotes about Dennis Connor, insights on Buddy Melges' helming, and the fundamentals of winning sailing races.  Such an interesting, talented and gracious guest!

Tom McLaughlin's sailing career is enviable. Growing up in San Diego - then the hotbed of offshore racers -Tom was mentored by Dennis Connor, Buddy Melges and Lowell North. He’s raced in multiple Admirals Cups including the infamous 1979 Fastnet race, and gained deep experience of the America’s Cup through two challenger campaigns - he was training helmsmen racing for John Kolius in the New York Y...

Here’s the very talented Mary Ewenson talking about the 2024 Annapolis Sailboat Show and sailing her Viper 640!  We recorded it outside at the Annapolis Powerboat Show so you’ll notice the background noise, but hopefully it doesn’t diminish your enjoyment of the episode.  Mary’s also the co-founder of the Spinsheet publications and the founder of the EWE Spirit Foundation, which honors the legacy...

Multi-time world champion Luke Lawrence talks to Sailfaster podcast about the visualization techniques that are a key part of his preparation for top regattas.  It’s clearly working for him as his record attests: Star junior world champion (with Alexei Selevenov) and 2021 star Western Hemisphere championships with the great Paul Cayard plus the Etchells North Americans, the J24 US Nationals, the J...

Check out this special episode of Sailfaster focusing on the upcoming Women’s J105 Regatta in Annapolis.  Joining me on the pod were regatta organiser and long time advocate for women in sailing, Molly Wilner, along with top sailors Marie Klok Crump and Claire Ward, all sailing in the regatta.  We discussed the origins and goals of the regatta and had a very interesting discussion about the differ...

I was thrilled to chat recently with Britain’s top ocean racer Pip Hare.  Pip is a core member of that extraordinary group of athletes - the round the world solo racing sailors who fly across some of the planet’s most inhospitable oceans in huge, high-tech foiling yachts.  With the 2024 edition of the Vendee Globe blasting off in November, I was lucky enough to catch Pip for a fascinating conversa...

Echoing high-performance team development in the business world, sailing instructor Kristen Berry focuses on the more cerebral aspects of sailing and team dynamics. We had a fascinating discussion about this different approach to coaching sailing teams. Lots to take away from the conversation, including why when the helmsperson is yelling it usually means they are out of mental bandwidth (!) and w...

A fascinating discussion with renowned racing sailor Allan Terhune.  We discussed with Allan in-depth the art and craft of decision-making at gates, his philosophy around focus and simplicity,  and recovering from (and avoiding!) bad starts.  Allan’s a world champion in J/22s, has eleven North American wins in the Lightning, Pan-Am Games gold medalist and a multi -year finalist for Rolex Yachtsman...

Prepare to hear from Randy Hecht and Russ Silvestri’s masterclass on the finer points of sailing a J/105!  Randy and Russ raced their J/105 Niuhi to back-to-back North American championships on the breezy waters of San Francisco Bay in 2022 and Rye, New York in 2023, only the latest in a long career of sailing success. From collegiate sailing in California to being pipped by Dennis Connor in the 1...

This week I was able to grab time with Quantum’s Scott Nixon in between his many racing and sail design commitments.  It was a fascinating discussion that included thoughts on starting, mark rounding and the tactical advantages of wing-on-wing.  I knew Scott would be interesting to have on the pod not just because of his stellar racing pedigree, but also because he is directly involved in testing,...

Today we’re talking to Cam Farrah, a world champion foiler who experienced what’s it like to be thrown into the Strategist role on the US SailGP team. Cam has some remarkable stories of what it’s like to be at the sharp end of a 70 mph catamaran in full view of the cameras!   Surviving a SailGP series is only one of Cam’s skills, she’s one of the US’s best young sailors and has fully embraced the...

Today’s episode features sailing legend Dawn Riley at the renowned Oakcliff Sailing Center. Dawn’s been interviewed hundreds of times but I tried to home in on her thoughts on getting boats and teams to sail faster.  Our episode touched on many things – managing campaigns and teams, race preparation, nutrition, and we spent a fair amount of time on her approach to helming. Oh we also talked about...

Today’s Sailfaster guest is Kristen Robinson.  Kristy’s well-known on the east coast – part of a husband and wife duo who are not only devastatingly successful racers but also terrific fun.   Kristy is a highly experienced and successful sailor, but also she’s a leader of multiple sailing organizations including board and president roles for J70 / 80 / 29 classes, and yacht clubs. On the water she...

In this episode I’m joined by one of America’s top sailors, Olympian and award-winning author, Carol Newman Cronin.   Carol is very well known internationally as a member of the 2004 US Olympic team that won two races on Athens beautiful, Saronic gulf.  She is a multi-time winner of the Snipe NAs, a winner of the Snipe Women’s Worlds with her long time team mate Kim Couranz, as well as a winner of...

Charleston’s renowned Pirate Princess Racing Team is one of the US’s largest women’s sailing organizations. In this lively episode, listen to Sarah Schiall Colarusso, Catie Yeagar and Katie Mallory discuss how to manage a racing campaign, the pressures of driving, and what has made them better sailors.  And don’t miss Catie’s pre-race nerve-settling prep…!

This week we’re talking to Scott Steele, Olympic Silver Medallist and professional coach about his path to the 1984 Olympics, what top boats do that others don’t, managing changes in current/wind dynamics, sail trim, and reminding ourselves that even the best sailors make mistakes 

In this episode we’ll hear from top sailors Mike Beasley of Beasley Marine and Jason Currie of Quantum Sails about regatta preparation, managing the slot, the dockside ‘intimidation’ factor and the perils of poor nutrition while racing! Both Mike and Jason grew up in New Zealanders but transplanted to the USA a few years ago.   Mike’s a round-the-world racer with a long list of sailing accolades. ...

We are very privileged to have as our guest today Lorie Stout, a well known, very experienced and successful sailor from the Annapolis area.    Lorie's winning ways started early and continued at Boston University where she was ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the Women’s National championships during her college years, as well as winning the Fowle trophy for top team.   Her post college sailing...

Jen Sturmer has a fantastic racing resume; she has crewed expertly on pretty much everything from Express 37s, J22s, Farrs, Snipes, 420s, J70s and - most recently - J/105s.   Jen’s competed in a long list of national championships including J/70 Worlds, Rolex Women’s Keelboat Championships, Snipe Nationals, Women’s European Open Championship and US Women’s Double-handed Open Championship, among ot...

Today it’s our huge privilege to welcome Ray Wulff To the Sailfaster podcast.  A resident of Annapolis, Ray cut his teeth racing lasers and 420s on Long Island Sound and at the University of Rhode Island where he won a silver medal in the Collegiate Keelboat World Championships.   After university, he moved to Annapolis and pivoted to racing J-22s, J-70s, Melges 32s and Farr 40s. More recently, he...

Doug’s a highly-accomplished sailor from the Annapolis area; I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Doug is obsessed with how to make his J105 "Mayhem", sail faster.  As you’re going to hear. Doug’s always at the front of the j/105 fleet, despite being relatively new to the design.  I suppose it’s not that surprising that he sailed his way to the front given his formidable achievements in...