Mary,
My Soon to be wife ordered me a book on Amazon (cause she knows I love to sail) called "Catamaran Racing" she thought it was new but it came signed by mary wells to Brandi, She sails with her dad and might go to college.
What is the vintage / history of this book, is it a good story?

Okay, Marc and everybody, disregard. Rick led me astray. It was not Brandi who is the star of the blooper video; it is Ricki, another teenager who came with her dad to a seminar. The whole story about Brandi was correct except for the fact that it was not Brandi, so I have now deleted the whole thing.

So, Marc, I now have no idea who Brandi is or when I might have signed the book. Sorry.

I wonder if this family is still sailing in our fleet. It sounds like they were pretty enthusiastic at one time. Off the top of my head I don't know a Brandy, but I'll ask some of the long-time members and see if the name rings and bell.

Steve Titus, Commodore, Hobie Fleet 61 Denver

Okay, Steve, maybe I CAN help you, though. I have the man's name, and I will send it to you in a private message.

The girl in our Bloopers Tape's father was a big guy (like Butkus) and was a Ski Patrol in Colorado.., I think it was A-Basin, but not sure. Since we used to live in Vail for about 9 years, he and I talked a lot about skiing.
Rick

the sig says,
Brandi,
the great thing about being a crew is that the crew always finishes first. so you always beat your dad accross the line. And if you go to college the sailing club is the best place to find the best guys. MAW.
No bells? Not real sure how amazon gets used books so how this one came to me might be interesting.

Marc,
I can't find her in any of my seminar rosters, so I am assuming that she and her parents were staying at Rick's Place and she either brought one of our books with her or bought one at the time. Rick must not have been home, if he did not sign it, too.

Which edition of the book do you have -- "Catamaran Racing: Solutions, Secrets, Speeds," which was published in 1983, or "Catamaran Racing: for the 90's," which was published in 1992? I'm assuming it was the latter.

Since we don't know anything about her or about this book, I guess you can make up whatever story you want to about it.

I'm guessing that she did not take my advice about finding a nice sailorman. But, whatever happened, I think it's very nice that she or the family cared enough to pass the book on through the used-book market rather than just throwing it away.

Oh well, I guess it is a mystery. It is the 1983 version.

Wow, the 1983 book is almost impossible to find any more, so hang onto it. And it has an excellent crewing chapter by someone named Mary Wells. That's probably why Brandi had me sign it. That chapter is not in Catamaran Racing for the 90s.

Mary,
When I was 8 years old I wanted to learn to sail and my dad handed me his Reese Sailing Illustrated book. I absorbed that damn book. I remember sailing with my dad (on a Lightning) and these cats would come flying past us.
"Dad why are they so fast?" I'd ask
"Those arent sailors!" My dad would reply. "There just a bunch of pot smoking speed freaks!"
I found some of those speed freaks in high school and just fell in love with cats.
That was 20 years ago. 11 years ago I wanted to get back into sailing and cat sailing in general. So I went up to my parents attic and found that old Reese Sailing Illustrated book. I also went to the public libary and found a book written by Rick in the 1970's about catamaran sailing. I cant remember the name, but it was mostly about the Tornado. I wish I would have never returned it!
Then I found Catamaran Sailing for the 90s and it has more curled edges on it than Friar Tucks Bible ... but not as many as Reese's Sailing Illustrated has!

Good day,
Danny
P.S. I cant believe I used to do a "chicken jibe" in heavy air on my cat until I got Y'alls 90s book.

That book you returned to the library was "The Complete Manual of Catamaran Racing," by Rick White, and it was the first book that explained how to rig, sail and race catamarans (published in 1976). Reg White, no relation, published an earlier book, but it was mostly devoted to the history of catamaran sailing/racing rather than the how-to's.

Jack Sammons wrote a book that came out in 1977, and following that were books by Jake Grubb and Phil Berman.

All of these are still valuable reference books -- and they help to track the history and development of the sport.