Kim Sturgess was a weekend sailor: he enjoyed club racing and several brief sailing holidays, but had never attempted a substantial expedition. Reaching the age of fifty focused the mind and he decided to sail around Britain. While many cruising sailors would not contemplate a 1900 nautical mile voyage, he broke the voyage into a series of day sails, making it an achievable ambition for him, largely single-handed, and for many other weekend sailors who might dream of sailing around their home island. This book tells the quirky traveller's narrative of the voyage and visits to forty-eight towns. Evoking the spirit of both Jerome K. Jerome with his Three Men in a Boat and Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World, Kim shares his thoughts and struggles, recounting how easy it is for anyone to become an adventurer here at home. But don't expect to always agree with him – he has been described as "the Jeremy Clarkson of yachting"!

This book, based on a highly successful series of articles in Practical Boat Owner magazine, is a detailed practical guide to sailing around the UK - all by means of day sails. Roger Oliver, a passionate sailor, explains his in-depth passage planning, boat preparations, weather checks and log-keeping, as well as his choice of routes, the detailed navigation, sail trim tips and on-passage maintenance, all for the benefit of sailors who have a yen to follow in his footsteps. Packed with a wealth of practical tips on seamanship, anchoring in high winds, coping with big seas, problem-solving, harnessing the tide, sailing short-handed and living aboard for extended cruising, this book will be a godsend to the many thousands of sailors who enjoy coastal cruising and who will discover (as did Roger) that it is perfectly possible to cruise around the whole of the UK in a series of day sails. With this book to hand, and inspired by Roger's detailed route maps and spectacular photographs, anyone can experience the thrill and enjoyment of sailing around the beautiful and varied UK coast from any starting point.

This book, based on a highly successful series of articles in Practical Boat Owner magazine, is a detailed practical guide to sailing around the UK - all by means of day sails. RogerOliver, a passionate sailor, explains his in-depth passage planning,boat preparations, weather checks and log-keeping, as well as hischoice of routes, the detailed navigation, sail trim tips and on-passagemaintenance, all for the benefit of sailors who have a yen to follow inhis footsteps. Packed with a wealth of practical tips onseamanship, anchoring in high winds, coping with big seas,problem-solving, harnessing the tide, sailing short-handed and livingaboard for extended cruising, this book will be a godsend to the manythousands of sailors who enjoy coastal cruising and who will discover(as did Roger) that it is perfectly possible to cruise around the wholeof the UK in a series of day sails. With this book to hand, andinspired by Roger's detailed route maps and spectacular photographs,anyone can experience the thrill and enjoyment of sailing around thebeautiful and varied UK coast from any starting point.

This volume examines the various ways in which islands (and groups of islands) contributed to the establishment, extension, and maintenance of the British Empire in the age of sail.

The pilot cutters that operated around the coasts of northern Europe until the First World War were amongst the most seaworthy and beautiful craft of their size ever built, while the small number that have survived have inspired yacht designers, sailors and traditional craft enthusiasts over the last hundred years.??Even in their day they possessed a charisma unlike any other working craft; their speed and close-windedness, their strength and seaworthiness, fused together into a hull and rig of particular elegance, all to guide the mariner through the rough and tortuous waters of the European seaboard, bought them an enviable reputation.??This new book is both a tribute to and a minutely researched history of these remarkable vessels. The author, perhaps the most experienced sailor of the type, describes the ships themselves, their masters and crews, and the skills they needed for the competitive and dangerous work of pilotage. He explains the differences between the craft of disparate coasts Ð of the Scilly Isles and the Bristol Channel, of northern France, and the wild coastline of Norway Ð and weaves into the history of their development the stories of the men who sailed them.??Written to complement the recent histories of pilot schooners and open boat pilotage, edited and written by the author, this book will be an essential addition to the libraries of historians and enthusiasts of traditional boats.??As seen in the Wiltshire Times.

This is the first time anyone has sailed round Britain singlehanded on a Laser Olympic Class Sailing Dinghy, unsupported. The whole summer of 2004 was spent on this project, but what an adventure.