Learning to Fly: America's Cup XXXIII 2010

“Learning to Fly” (LTF) isn’t the author’s best work. His book, “The Grand Gesture” (TGG), about Ted Turner and the 1974 America’s Cup is much better.LTF is fragmented and lacks the story telling craft he used so effectively in TGG. LTF lacks exploration of the Swiss point of view.

Flying was my vocation for 50+ years. Flying is about speed from A to B. Sailboat racing is about speed from A to B. Faster wins.. This book is about the America’s Cup, one of the world’s premier yacht races, and it’s transition from rules bound monohull boats to 21st century multi-hull technology. It covers the outsized personalities, legal wrangling, business acumen, team building, financial wherewithal, and logistical solutions required to compete at this level. I applaud the willingness to ignore tradition, to go out on a limb and affix a wing similar in length and mechanical complexity to that found on a 450 ton Boeing 747 to a light weight trimaran, then figure out how to tame “the beast”. Traditionalists may not endorse this new metric but the book will inform those who are, as I am, fascinated by the latest technological advances.

Got my copy yesterday and read it non stop cover-to-cover. As usual, Roger gets to the heart of the matter; this was a campaign of risk management piled on top of some of the most challenging design work ever seen for a yacht - but in the end it was risk management. In some ways it was a revisit of the Big Boat series on steroids because building the fastest boat was only one leg of the stool also supported by legal and survivability considerations. In my own mind, the most insightful disclosure in the entire book was the special blend of experience and engineering represented by Dave Hubbard supporting the new blood with cautious adult supervision ; the next generation "wingnuts".

I can't review the content because the page won't flow on kindle, almost like it's an image not text. Returned it.

Vaughan's book on America's Cup XXXIII is a fantastic read and with the Christmas Cup coming right up, it's a good time to read about the Cup's evolution to ultrafast foiling machines. The Beast, as the crew named the Golden Gate Yacht Club's trimaran, was a technical wonder. Its gigantic fixed wing sail towered at over 200 feet making it unbeatable. The author takes you through the entire journey from drawings and concepts to the Beast at the finish line. Reading Learning to Fly felt like I was Jimmy Spithill, careening over the water at breakneck speeds.

Once again Vaughan has hit the nail on the head with a comprehensive view of Cup racing...In a manner that everyone can understand. It was fascinating to learn not only how these new machines work, but to then be put on board for hair raising rides.

If you are a sailor, enjoy racing, enjoy cutting edge design and engineering of fast boats, this book is for you. I couldn't put it down. The design, engineering, building, testing and re-building of USA17, "the Beast" is amazing. The work going from the original rig of traditional sails to a wing is over the top. The loads these guys dealt with are breathtaking.One of my favorite quotes from the book:"John Kostecki says "terrifying" is the right word."Let me put it this way, I was more scared on this boat than I was at any time during the Volvo Race. It wasn't just a little scary, it WAS scary."Like I said, it's a page turner!

Roger gains surprisingly comprehensive access to the key players and pieces together this acrimonious period into a living and breathing document that I found hard to put down. While you can argue the event’s current trajectory, walking in the shoes of those that lived the experience of that era was well worth the read.

Title is very misleading... Story is very one sided and not very insightful... I was really hoping for something with more technical details of what went on and more than what you can read online through forums, articles and other magazines... Very disappointing read.