Abby Freeman Laser sailing on Lake Erie

Following the Corinthian Spirit, the second invaluable lesson my father taught me through the sport of sailing is to keep your mast pointed to the sky. This seems like a simple concept to grasp, unless you learned to race on a full rig Laser while only weighing 100 pounds as I did. As you might imagine, “keep your mast pointed to the sky” was a line I heard regularly.

© Chris Cameron/etnz

ETNZ Practice sail

It's getting hotter in San Francisco ... and not just the summer temperatures, and what's a Cup without a bit of slinging. There's no doubt that Artemis has its back against the wall, and while entering an untrained team on an unproven boat is dangerous, I'm sure ETNZ is not keen to go full-barrel into the first dial up against a foiling AC72 newbie. Perhaps this is why Dalton is happy to tell it like it is ... and be just as happy without the Challenger of Record on the course.

© Courtesy Amelia Quinn

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While college sailors will spend the majority of their time in 420s and CJs, other dinghies, like Tufts’ Larks, should not be forgotten. Even in these relatively foreign boats, the top sailors will ultimately place well, but there are a few tips and tricks to make the transition into Tufts’ Rondar Larks easier. Until a uniform college sailing dinghy is developed, it’s worth taking a moment to go over how to hit the sweet spot in the fastest boats in college sailing.

© Gilles Martin-raget

Chris Draper, skipper of Luna Rossa

High performance sailor Chris Draper is fortunate to have helmed for two America’s Cup teams in the past two years, sailing early on for Team Korea before being hired by Luna Rossa in 2012. Even though the Italian team were almost a year late into the game, Draper’s experience on the Extreme 40 series has helped his team maintain a fairly consistent place in the top half of the fleet in the AC World Series events, recently finishing second overall in the match racing event in Naples.