Winging It

ORACLE TEAM USA's Incredible Comeback to Defend the America's Cup

By: Diane Swintal, R. Steven Tsuchiya, Robert Kamins

Narrated by: Patrick Conn

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

A miracle on the water

Millions of sailing enthusiasts and casual fans alike watched the America's Cup in awe as the ORACLE TEAM USA, trailing one point to New Zealand's eight, was first to the finish line in eight consecutive races. This miracle triumph left many wondering, "How did they do it?"

The answers come together in Winging It, with insights from naval architects and builders on their radical boat designs, the consequences of racing these untested boats, and explanations of how the foils and wingsails - rarely seen on boats before - work.

The book explores the impact of events that led up to the Cup, including how a sudden capsize threw the entire event into doubt before the 2013 America's Cup ultimately delivered an epic finale. Top sailors share their stories, including the victorious Jimmy Spithill on USA 17 and the shockingly defeated ETNZ skipper Dean Barker.

This is the story of a historic win that goes beyond the emotions of the day to explain how the many months of innovation, research, trials, and failures helped secure the Cup in the final race on September 25.

©2014 International Marine/McGraw Hill Education, LLC (P)2014 New Street Communications, LLC

Thorough review and solid documentary

Overall, I really enjoyed this listen. The story is captivating and the performance is very good.

I think that it’s on the lengthy side as it documents each and every aspect in great depth. You need to appreciate sailboat racing before you listen to this one or you would probably be overwhelmed by the depth and terminology.

However I do plan to listen to it again sometime in the future and would recommend it to sailboat racing enthusiasts.

Seriously Dissapointing

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Actual details of what went on during the campaign that were not part of the readily available news reporting

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

No back story or details about what went on to get the series from 1 - 8 to 9 - 8 just a dull race by race recap. This book could have been written by anyone by simply reading the news reports available in the main stream media of the time.

What didn’t you like about Patrick Conn’s performance?

The performance suffered greatly from very boring material.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Winging It?

I would have cut most of the weak news account buoy by buoy race details that do not play well in a book and the belaboring of the cup history (probably about 2/3 or more of the material).

Any additional comments?

I woul have handed the authors a copy of "The Billionaire and the Mechanic" by Julian Guthrie and said "Here's how you get a story like this right. Now start over."

1851 to Present: 10 times

Any additional comments?

First 3 hours go back and forth from 1851 to present telling us how much sails costs (adjusted for inflation) Some interesting tidbits, but mostly boring. I have not get gotten to the stuff the title claims to tell. I am a hardcore AC fan and have been following it for 45 years.

Reading speed high

An excellent book covering the history of the Cup and the move to just offshore foiling cats. However, the reading speed appears fast say 1.1 normal speed so the 0.75 option is then too slow. By 1/3 through the book you are getting used to it and there are times when listing stuff and events that it's a blessing. Maybe Audible needs a finer tune on reading speed. Don't let this pit you off a great book.