Cruising to the starting line: How to get started yacht racing

Many cruising sailors can’t think of anything worse than charging round the cans, but it can make you a far better cruising sailor, says Nigel Lloyd

As a committed cruiser of 30 years, I often wondered what the point of yacht racing was. There seemed to be a lot of expensive looking boats, some shouting, confusing rules and uncontrolled course alterations. I was quite content to set the sails, put the tea on and not to touch the bottom.

However, with an early retirement and the onset...