12-Metre Images

What happens to those magnificent racing boats in the off-years of the America's Cup? Fisher, author of Great Yacht Races and longtime yachting correspondent for British publications, is a fount of information about the ""Twelves.'' Reviewing their history since becoming the official boat of the America's Cup (1956), he defines the craft and explains the variables in design. Fisher reports on the World Championship competitions, the other major race, but much of the book focuses on trials and challengers for the America's Cup. He apparently knows everybodydesigners, skippers, sailors, officialsand has poked about all the boats (including a midnight sortie to peek at a new computer aboard Courageous. For blue-water sailors and readers who follow ocean racing, this is a bonanza; even landlubbers will appreciate the dramatic photographs. (August)