This handbook, (published by Adlard Coles or Bosun Book 17, price 6/-d.) packs into 64 pages a mass of information. Experienced dinghy cruisers will find it full of useful ideas and those just starting will get a very good idea of how much there is to learn and of how to set about it. No book of this length could be a complete guide - there are many subjects on which Ian Nicolson has room only to point the way - but there are few essentials which are not at least mentioned. There are some very useful and informative diagrams, and the illustrations of different types of dinghy are a helpful addition. Sometimes opinions are rather baldly stated, without the author having time to explain his reasons - this is perhaps a carping criticism, as one cannot expect otherwise in a book into which so much is squeezed into a small space. Those who come to dinghy cruising because they read this book will no doubt be led also to read more widely and to discover for themselves what lies behind the favoured choice of, say, spoon-bladed oars, or the given weights of anchor.

This book was written with the many innovations in materials and equipment which have gone into dinghies of recent years well in mind. It is perhaps aimed to some extent at the ex-racing dinghy owner, or the racing enthusiast who wants to sail further in addition to racing. The preponderance of light racing craft is taken for granted, and although the most desirable shape for a cruising dinghy is commented on, I feel a certain bias in favour of the light and lively boat. (Probably I am prejudiced here, being a confirmed ambler myself; just a little too much emphasis on how to right the capsized boat as against my own fixed determination never to capsize?)

One other slight criticism I have is also the result of personal circumstances; it seems to me that the immense importance of the tides to a dinghy cruiser is under-emphasized - the world of mud banks and ever-changing creeks is perhaps not the one most familiar to the author, whose recommended cruising grounds range widely, though he doesn't mention any English coasts other than the south and east. This, too is perhaps his reason for accepting paddles as a possible, if not ideal, means of auxiliary power - oars every time for me!

No mention of the D.C.A. I regret to say, although more than one of our members appears. Altogether this is a most useful and thought-provoking book, I doubt if any of us will read it without making some change in gear or methods! Joan Abrams