Sailfaster: The Podcast For Racing Sailors

In Part Two of our conversation with three-time world champion Steve Hunt, we go deep into the tactical decisions that separate good sailors from great ones.  Steve starts with a deceptively simple idea: keep it simple. Sail in more wind. Sail towards the mark. But then he takes us deep inside the decision-making process of a world-class tactician.  We're pretty much aboard the race boat as he talks us through shifts, pressure, current, course geometry and boat-speed modes — explaining not just what he would do, but exactly why and when.  We also explore how to categorize the racecourse, connect the dots in puffy conditions, balance shifts against a favored side, and recognize when the smartest tactical decision is simply to do nothing and sail fast.  A practical masterclass in racecourse tactics.  REMEMBER - SailFaster listeners get 30% off SteveHuntSailing.com with code SAILFASTER30.

In Part 1 of our latest conversation with three-time Etchells World Champion Steve Hunt, we discuss racing fundamentals that work at every racing level. Why is sailing in more wind rule number one? When should you prioritize pressure over shifts? And why does sailing towards the mark solve so many tactical problems? Steve also shares a simple way to recover from a bad start — and explains why, when racing gets complicated, the best sailors get back to basics.  Part 2 coming soon...and remember that Sailfaster listeners receive a 30% discount on stevehuntingsailing.com when you enter sailfaster30 into the coupon code!

What happens when 11 sailors who’ve never raced together take on one of the world’s top women’s one-design regattas? You buy the only IC37 on the West Coast and start practicing.

Pete talks with Cascadia Sailing’s Joy Dahlgren and Chris Wolfe about building a battle-ready Canadian-American team for the New York Yacht Club International Women’s Championship. They talk teamwork, offshore lessons, data, communication, the quirks of sailing an IC37—and why Americans and Canadians apparently can’t agree on how to pronounce “buoy.”

A lively conversation about talented sailors, steep learning curves and turning 11 individuals into one seriously gritty team.

Racing under handicap can feel frustrating—but is your rating really the problem?  After joining the J/105 Javelin for the IRC Europeans, I came away convinced that the best teams don't spend their weekends complaining about the rule. They focus on preparation, communication, boat handling and relentless improvement.  Drawing on conversations with owner Richard Newsom and navigator Tony Owen, this episode explores how top crews play to their strengths, trust their race plan, build repeatable systems, and keep searching for the next tenth of a knot.  Whether you race IRC, ORC or one-design, these lessons will make your team faster.

Modern sailboats have evolved dramatically—but has yacht racing kept up?  In this episode of Sailfaster, Pete talks with Andraž Mihelin, co-founder of Seascape and the force behind the Beneteau First range, and offshore racer Charles-Etienne Devanneaux. Together they explore why today's boats are faster, lighter and easier to sail, yet racing often remains rooted in another era. They discuss the rise of double-handed sailing, the philosophy of "effortless joy of planing," why fun should come before handicap rules, and what the future of sailing could look like. Whether you're a racer or cruiser, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on where our sport is heading.

Tom Kassberg's the owner of Malolo, one of the fastest performance cruising catamarans in the world, with victories in the ARC and class honours at the Caribbean 600.  In this episode, Tom joins Pete to unpack how he built a championship offshore racing program from the ground up—from choosing the right platform and assembling an elite crew to developing boat-specific performance data and making high-pressure decisions at sea. They also discuss the unique demands of racing high-performance multihulls, managing risk at speed, weather routing with Vendée Globe sailor Will Harris, and why preparation, teamwork and continuous learning are the real competitive advantages.  Please forgive the dodgy sound quality!

Olympic gold medallist, America’s Cup winner and SailGP superstar Tom Slingsby joins Sailfaster from San Francisco airport for a fascinating deep dive into what it takes to perform at the highest level of sailing. From surviving one of the toughest and most dramatic SailGP race days of his career to the mindset shifts that helped him overcome Olympic heartbreak and become a world champion, Tom shares the lessons, habits and psychological edge behind his success. He reveals why sailing is really a game of marginal gains, how he makes split-second decisions at 100 km/h, the single performance metric he obsesses over, and the leadership lessons learned during Oracle Team USA’s legendary 2013 America’s Cup comeback. Packed with insights on pressure, preparation, competition and continuous improvement, this is a masterclass from one of the greatest sailors of his generation.

Offshore racing has long been seen as one of sailing's toughest frontiers—physically demanding, technically complex, and historically dominated by men. But Emma Rosenbaum and Marianna Fleischman of Spite Sailing are working to change that.

In this episode of SailFaster, we dive into the story behind their women-led offshore racing campaign, their journey into short-handed sailing, and their ambitious goal of competing in the Bermuda One-Two aboard a Mini 650.

Emma and Marianna discuss the barriers that still exist for women in sailing, why access and representation matter, and how they're creating a performance pathway to help more sailors progress from local club racing to offshore competition.

GPS-based starting systems are changing sailboat racing — whether sailors like it or not.  In this episode, Pete Boland talks to Todd Wilson, co-founder of Vakaros, about how RaceSense and modern GPS technology are transforming starts, protests, race management, and training.
(Note this is NOT a sponsored episode!)

Todd explains why even elite sailors struggle to ping a line accurately, how RaceSense works, why starts are becoming tighter and more aggressive, how Olympic, J/70, and TP52 fleets are adapting.. and why he was “happy to lose a protest” using his own system’s data

It’s a fascinating look at the technology reshaping competitive sailing — from club racing to the Olympic level.

Ambre Hasson went from learning to sail in 2020 to completing the Mini Transat just five years later. In this episode, she shares her rapid rise into offshore racing, including losing her first boat during qualification and rebuilding her campaign from scratch.

She discusses resilience, managing fear, and key performance ideas like pacing, pushing to the “friction point,” and preserving the boat as a critical part of racing fast. Drawing on endurance sports, Ambre explains how handling discomfort and risk is central to success offshore.

Now moving into the Class40 circuit, she outlines her next goals and what it takes to keep progressing at the highest level.