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.

Kristen Berry kindly invited me to take part in North U / American Sailing’s Performance Race Week in St Thomas this February; this collaborative episode is a detailed debrief of that programme.

We unpack the structure of the week, the coaching approach, the type of sailors who benefit, and the key performance insights—from start sequence execution and acceleration mechanics to decision-making and the mental game under pressure. All of it played out in IC24s in consistently challenging – and beautiful - Caribbean conditions.

If you’re looking to refine your racing process and extract marginal gains, there’s a lot in here to take away.  Hope you find something you can use on the water this Spring!

Olympian and performance coach Lara Dallman Weiss joins Sailfaster to unpack what actually makes boats go faster—and it’s not just technique.

From her background in Olympic 470 racing to keelboat campaigns and coaching, Lara shares a holistic view of performance that blends decision-making, teamwork, communication and mindset. At the core is a simple idea: sailing is constant problem-solving, and the best sailors are the ones who can stay calm, identify what matters, and take the next step.

We get into how to manage pressure, why the “human” side of sailing is often overlooked, and how small gains—whether in training, communication or preparation—add up over time. Lara also talks about building alignment within a team, making the most of limited time on the water, and why focusing on process beats chasing results.

This is a conversation about clarity, consistency and learning to perform when it counts.  
(Image courtesy of Salty Brother)

in Part 2 of our discussion, Morgan “Truby” Trubovich returns to finish his deep dive on what actually wins races: process, communication, and smart feedback. He explains when results do matter, why elite teams talk like air-traffic control, and how onboard audio/video accelerates learning—often with audio proving more valuable than the camera.  So much to learn from the Kiwi legend!