The Shape of Speed: Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler by John Bevan-Smith Hardback, 1999, 437pages, front cover title rub off, contents in very good condition name in feo

The international success of Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler is staggering in any terms, on any scale. This book tells the story of that success - how two New Zealanders from ordinary beginnings joined forces to change the shape of speed and became the most successful yacht designers the world has ever seen.

Fierce competitors both on and off the water in their youth, and now partners, Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler have revolutionised small-boat sailing in New Zealand and internationally, winning world championships with their designs.

At age 20, Farr designed the world's first light displacement keel-boat to compete successfully within the rating rules of international competition. Where other designers had tweaked and modified, Farr started again from scratch, and his boats were to revolutionise boat design. International sailing rules were altered to try to give the older, heavier boats an edge - but Farrs designs won through. When Russ Bowler, a pioneering genius in composite technology, joined Bruce Farr in their move to America, their designs became so dominant that they would win an astonishing 33 world championships, dominate the Whitbread and Admiral's Cup fleets, and win every major race and regatta in world yachting. If 'speed is the result of power overcoming resistance', Farr and Bowler have given yachties all around the world the shape with which to do it.

Their shapes 'must be the way the god of sailboat design wanted hulls to look like,' enthused an American critic.