Sailfaster: The Podcast For Racing Sailors

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.