Description: This book is thoughtfully written to help yachtsmen enjoy the sea, and to do so safely. It's not another navigation textbook - it's well-informed, easy to read and honest. With a lifetime's experience at sea, the author brings the subject to life to help sailors refresh their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the timeless skills of navigation.
Brief description: Paul Boissier was formerly a senior Admiral in the Royal Navy and has spent much of his professional life at sea in a wide variety of vessels, commanding two submarines and a warship. He is also a very experienced yachtsman and has cruised extensively. These perspectives, from the cockpit of a yacht and the bridge of a large ship, make him the ideal author for a COLREGs guide that will be equally useful to leisure boat users and professional mariners. Paul is currently the Chief Executive of the RNLI, the charity that saves life at sea, and operates over 340 lifeboats around the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Review Quotes: "It's beautifully laid out, very clear and easy to understand, and very knowledgeable." (Weems & Plath) "Boissier's latest book is superbly illustrated, informative - and offers prime snippets of the author's triumphs and disasters over a lifetime's navigating... A writer who shares rather than dictates a lesson. Highly recommended." (Julian Stockwin) "This book covers everything needed in order to know where you are at a given moment, plan a voyage, predict water movement around the boat, calculate a course to steer and estimate arrival time." (Classic Boat) "The chapters on pilotage and blind navigation are the best I have read, as are the chapters on tidal heights and streams, which contain useful rules of thumb, various tricks of the trade and other tips follow in subsequent chapters... Most people will probably learn something from this book. It is very well written and the explanations are clear, as are the diagrams and well-chosen illustrations." (Royal Cruising Club) "There is a wealth of practical detail and advice within the soft-back volume's 208 comprehensively illustrated full-colour pages... Navigation manuals are a crowded field but this one deserves its place in the skipper's library." (Cruising Association) "Navigation techniques are brought to life with practical experience and insightful commentary in his honest account of the highs and lows across a lifetime of navigating... a useful guide for the fresh-faced amateur as well as the experienced sailor." (RNLI Lifeboat)