Books published by Fernhurst Books Limited

A compact guide which clearly explains how the wind works. It allows you to visualise the invisible and work out how the big-picture forecasts will affect your race course, wherever the venue. This information is vital to constructing a race-winning strategy through identifying wind bends, understanding the clouds, or anticipating a sea breeze.

Navigators have only 2 questions: Where am I? Where do I go now? This book shows the simplest way to answer these questions. It starts from scratch, uses no jargon and features graphics instead of words wherever possible. This bestselling book has been updated to cover all modern navigation. It is recommended by Fernhurst for beginners and Day Skipper students. Explaining how to look at charts, find your position, look at tides, plan your passage and determining the course to steer. It will help you find out where you are and how to get to where you want to be.

Learn how to sail the world's most popular junior sailing boat fast. Originally written by Ben Ainslie's Optimist coach, this new edition has been completely updated by top coach Steve Irish. It shows how to achieve blistering boatspeed through technique and tuning, perfect boat handling and tactics as well as covering the mental and physical side.

The first UK how-to book on Stand Up Paddleboarding: a perfect introduction. It shows you how to SUP: launching, the correct stance, paddling, turning and landing. It advises you how to choose your equipment and look after it. It talks about weather and safety issues and the main types of SUP: touring, racing, surfing and yoga / fitness.

A handy, splash-proof, on-the-water reference guide to writing a clear and logical passage plan for a sea voyage, covering routing, pilotage, points of departure, landfalls, weather, tides, currents, safe havens, lights, communications, watchkeeping, safety, rations, fuel supplies, stowage and briefing.

A compact guide to repairing a fibreglass boat to achieve a lasting, strong and invisible repair. The equipment, tools and material you need are detailed, followed by the 8 stages of glassfibre repair: from the vital initial preparation to the final polish - all amply illustrated. Finishing with a step-by-step guide to 8 common types of repair.

Inspiration and practical advice to help you escape the daily grind, guiding you through the planning for and enjoyment of the adventure of a lifetime. This essential guide contains information on everything the 21st century blue-water sailor needs to consider, from choosing a boat to crossing oceans, including safety, communications and budgeting.

The ultimate crewing manual from a gold medal winning crew. Covering getting started as a crew and team, the particular skills a crew needs and how these can be utilised on the race course, along with the other roles, communication, decision making and execution that are needed during a race. Shows you how you can be the best crew and a great team!

This book shows you everything you need to know about handling a boat alone or short-handed, from choosing a suitable craft to passage planning, manoeuvring, sleep management and watch keeping. Full of photographs and diagrams, this practical book will demonstrate how to operate in coastal, offshore and ocean waters.

A book of training exercises for each element of a sailing race. Each exercise is described, illustrated and explained (the skills you are trying to improve and how to make it harder or easier). It will enable coaches to deliver better training sessions and those without a coach to train themselves, either alone or with groups of other boats.

The definitive 'at a glance' guide to powerboating - in Fernhurst's popular Companion series A powerboat is a craft that incorporates an engine. (about 90% of all boats) This book is the definitive small version of Peter White's Powerboating - The RIB and Sportsboat Handbook.

A compact, handy summary of the key things you need to know about navigation: the perfect quick reference guide to keep onboard. It covers all the essentials: charts, compass, tides, dead reckoning, estimated position, course to steer, lights, GPS and buoyage in a highly illustrated easy-to-understand format - ideal when you need an answer fast!

This easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide takes you through the basic principles, preparing to sail, your first sail and safety at sea. It includes advice on choosing and buying a yacht, essential equipment, boat handling, tides, weather and navigation, all taken from the courses delivered by the UK's biggest sailing school, the UKSA.

A travel memoir of a young woman who had not stepped on a yacht prior to sailing over 18,000 miles with her partner across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and back over 3 years. She doubted her abilities and suffered from anxiety but discovered that it is only when you take such risks that you can connect with the world at large and oneself.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's views on seamanship and some of his seafaring experiences over the last 50 years.

THIS IS A NEW, UNPUBLISHED, ARTHUR RANSOME STORY. It describes a sailing cruise in Latvia with his new wife Evgenia (formerly Trotsky's secretary) up the Aa River, from Riga to Mitau and back. A classic Ransome story, it is illustrated with his own photos.

Navigation and charts fascinate novice and experienced seamen alike, and this book is the easiest way to gain an immediate and clear understanding of the wealth of information available on a nautical chart. There is a full explanation of how to establish the accuracy of charts to allow you to navigate with confidence and safety.

An introduction to dinghy foiling enabling most competent sailors to get on the foils and fly! It explains how foils work and how to foil.

The complete guide on how to trim sails and tune rigging for all conditions, making the boat sail faster and safer. Thoroughly researched with riggers, sailmakers and elite sailors, this book should be part of every sailor's basic kit. With hundreds of colour photographs and illustrations throughout it is suitable for all levels of experience.

A tactical bible for sailboat races from the highly original and multi-championship winning author. Nick Craig, shows you how to develop a strategy and what tactics to adopt on every leg and at every mark of the course.

Published to celebrate the life of Mike Peyton, 'the world's greatest yachting cartoonist', with personal tributes from successful and well-known sailors.

An inspiring personal narrative of a weekend sailor's circumnavigation of Britain in 50 day sails (with 1 night passage).

The invaluable on-the-water reference guide to the essentials of the racing rules, updated for the latest 2017-2020 Racing Rules of Sailing. Every racing sailor should have a copy! The book summarises the basic principles, definitions and rules and then covers every aspect of the race. This edition includes a new section on starts as well as mark rounding, obstructions, signals, and dispute resolution. Colour diagrams throughout ensure the concepts are easily understood. Splash-proof and spiral bound, this little companion stands up to frequent use and serves as a great aide-memoire that will fit into your pocket or kit bag. Written by the acknowledged rules expert, Bryan Willis.

An engrossing narrative of one man's struggle to achieve his dream against all odds, this is both a fast-paced adventure and a telling commentary on how heroes are often made despite the system they operate in, by dint of sheer perseverance and commitment to a chosen path. Above all, it's a paean to the power of self-belief that serves to inspire, motivate and exhilarate. On 19 May 2010, as he sailed INSV Mhadei into Mumbai harbour, Commander Dilip Donde earned his place in India's maritime history by becoming the first Indian to complete a solo circumnavigation under sail, south of the 3 Great Capes. The feat, successfully completed by just over 200 people in the world, had never been attempted in his country before. In his own words, the book chronicles his progress over four years, from building a suitable boat with an Indian boat-builder; weaving his way through the 'sea-blind' and often quixotic bureaucracy; and training himself with no precedent or knowledge base in the country, to finally sailing solo around the world. During this gruelling task he was mentored by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo non-stop around the world.

Looking back at the lives and sailing careers of some of our lifetime's finest yachtsmen, this collection of eleven original, moving accounts is just as much a celebration of the good - tales of hope, achievement and courageous spirit - as it is an account of their tragic final voyages. Included are world-renowned racers, like Eric Tabarly and Rob James, highly experienced cruisers and adventurers, like Peter Tangvald and Bill Tilman, and the notoriously ill-prepared Donald Crowhurst, as well as other famous and some less well-known sailors. Starting with the sad loss of Frank Davison and Reliance in 1949, the book concludes with the amazing last voyage of Philip Walwyn in 2015 - crossing the Atlantic single-handed in his 12 Metre yacht Kate. All of the men and women described were friends with or known to the author, Nicholas Gray, who himself competed in several short-handed long distance races, where he met and raced against many of these fascinating characters. Peppered with photographs showcasing the sailors and their yachts, this is a refreshing look at those who have helped to shape this sport's history, honouring their lives and accomplishments before detailing their tragic last voyages.

Set sail on a thrilling journey to discover some of the most exciting tales of adventure afloat. There's every sort of vessel from majestic square rigger to humble homemade yacht. Journey around gale-whipped headlands and survive mountainous seas - or turn the page to discover the delights of cruising among the islands of a tropical paradise. The exploits of sailing's greatest names are recounted, along with an eclectic mix of tales that never made the headlines, yet make compelling reading. Discover a treasure trove of sailing stories from across centuries, and from the four corners of the globe. This is wonderful reading for anyone with a love of sailing and the sea.

For most sailors, boat tuning may seem a mystery understood only by sailmakers and the like. In this book, sailor, chandler and championship winner, Ian Pinnell, unravels this daunting subject and will help improve your boatspeed as a result. Since most races are won or lost by a difference of less than 2% of racing time, you will soon be moving up the fleet. With hundreds of photos and diagrams to illustrate every point, the book clearly explains what each control does and how to set it up optimally for different conditions. Additional troubleshooting and skills sections take things even further, making this the bible of dinghy tuning.

Everything you need to know about trimming the foresail: from lift, drag and sail shape to wind changes and sea state, with lots more in between.

The Solent is the spiritual home of sailing and one of Britain's most popular sailing spots, offering a varied and interesting cruising ground. In this fully updated third edition, Derek Aslett provides an authoritative companion that helps you make the most of your visit. Centred on Cowes and covering the area from Keyhaven and Yarmouth in the west to Chichester and Bembridge in the east, the Solent Cruising Companion provides comprehensive pilotage and nautical information, as well as suggestions of where to eat and what to do ashore. The book is enhanced with colour charts and detailed photography, including spectacular aerial shots of ports, harbours and anchorages.

Racundra's First Cruise is Arthur Ransome's account of Racundra's maiden voyage, which took place in August and September 1922. The cruise took him from Riga, in Latvia to Helsingfors (Helsinki) in Finland, via the Moon Sound and Reval (Tallinn) in Estonia and back. His first book on sailing, it was also the first of his titles that achieved such high levels of success. Although reprinted many times in various editions and formats, Fernhurst Books' hardback edition of the title (2003) was the first to use the original text in its entirety - with the original layout, maps and photographs - and also includes an excellent introduction by Brian Hammett containing a treasure trove of previously unpublished writings, essays and photographs. Ransome's first attempts at Baltic sailing, in his two previous boats, Slug and Kittiwake, are also explained in detail using his writings and illustrations. The life of Ransome's beloved Racundra is chronicled to its conclusion and there is an explanation of how he came to write the book. The original illustrations are enhanced by the inclusion of present day photographs of the same locations. Having gone out of print in 2012, this new paperback edition retains all of the original and additional features; bringing back to life Ransome's epic first cruise in his pride and joy, his treasured Racundra.