Sailing, Seamanship and Navigation for the Modern Yacht Skipper
By Tom Cunliffe
Published by Adlard Coles Nautical, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. Plc, 310 pages hardcover $40
An extensively revised eighth edition of a time-tested reference, Tom Cunliffe’s The Complete Yachtmaster is an essential read for anyone contemplating making a coastal or offshore passage. Taking into account new developments in marine electronics and sail handling systems, it has information about using the newest chartplotters and integrated systems and navigating with apps, tablets and smartphones.
Additional information includes a look at what makes a good skipper, the theory and practice of sailing, seamanship, planning a passage, meteorology, handling heavy weather, and coping with emergencies. The new edition also has new photographs (by the author) throughout, and its wealth of information includes plenty of humor. On the subject of keeping a supply of sharp pencils at the nav station, the author advises, “…condemn any individual who purloins one to a week of head-cleaning fatigues. The same dire retribution should await the villain who wanders away with your nice, soft eraser.”
A sailor for most of his life, Tom Cunliffe is a Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster Examiner and a regular columnist for Yachting Monthly, Yachting World, and SAIL. The owner of a 44-foot cutter, he has sailed from the Caribbean to Russia and from Brazil to the Arctic.
