The Wayfarer Book, 167 pages. UK Wayfarer Association. 1988. £10 to non-members.

This advanced and comprehensively revised manual is of great significance, not only to Wayfarer owners, but for all dinghy cruising people. It reflects the experience of the many Wayfarer owners as well as that of sailing schools and adventure organisations, and of RYA senior coaches too. Some 40 pages of the manual are devoted to racing. The rest is general, cruising and day-sailing information. There are now 3 Wayfarer types suitable for cruising and 1 racing version. These are described with the aid of drawings, and their features — such as capsize recovery versus ability to sail on when flooded — are discussed objectively. The manual’s views on subjects such as man-overboard recovery seem to differ radically from what was taught a few years ago. For instance, the scoop method is mentioned only as a desperate last resort.

Not only are the expected subjects such as food, cooking, tents, first aid, hypothermia, clothing and so on covered briefly (but quite adequately), but sailing methods for heavy weather situations, reefing methods, anchoring, mooring are dealt with in some detail and, in many cases, with a fresh approach. The subject of landing on open beaches and hauling out on non-floating rollers is of particular interest. Living on board — even the problems of children, dogs and… shall we say, ‘honeymoon couples’ — is covered. The limitations of outboard motors and the danger of relying on them unduly is also mentioned.

There are, of course, a few errors and omissions, but generally this manual provides excellent coverage of ‘state of the art’ dinghy cruising and a fine refresher for those of us who have been on the dinghy cruising scene for a long time.