Books and Publications

RYA Competent Crew Skills - RYA Competent Crew Skills is the official companion for the RYA’s popular Competent Crew Course. It is also a good resource for non-English sailors that have experience but want to grasp the English sailing nomenclature.

Reeds Crew Handbook - Invaluable primer for new the crew before going to sea, and a handy pocket-sized aide-memoire to brush up knowledge.

Reeds Skippers's Handbook - A brilliant pocket-size guide for beginners and an excellent refresher for more advanced skippers.

The Complete Yachtmaster - Bestseller since first publication that has established itself as the standard reference for Yachtmaster students as well as skippers of all levels of experience.

Yachtmaster for Sail and Power - a highly respected and practical study guide covering the whole syllabus of RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore, illustrated with colour photographs, charts and examples. Similar in content to “The Complete Yachtmaster” book.

RYA Introduction to Boat Handling for Power and Sail - Informative and clearly illustrated book on boat handling techniques for tidal and non-tidal waters.

Stress-Free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques - Step-by-step photographic guide on how to perform essential sailing techniques shorthanded. Similar in content to “RYA Introduction to Boat Handling for Power and Sail” but focused on singlehanded techniques.

The RYA Navigation Exercises - First-rate book on navigation with exercises. It accompanies all RYA training courses and includes two training charts (RYA Training Charts 3 & 4).

RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased Notes - Highly illustrated book on all aspects of the RYA Yachtmaster syllabus.

Sail and Rig Tuning - This beautifully illustrated and well-organised book shows how to trim sails and rig for maximum performance.

Expert Sailing Skills: No Nonsense Advice That Really Works - A selection of the best practical articles from the pages of Yachting Monthly magazine that can help sailors at every level. Each chapter deals with a specific skill and is highly illustrated with step-by-step photos, ranging from dropping anchor to planning a passage.

The Ultimate Book of Everyday Knots - Very popular book on knots and how to tie them. This beautiful full-colour book covers knots, splices and whippings.

RYA Sea Survival Handbook - Official text for the RYA Basic Sea Survival Course and the RYA/ISAF Offshore Safety Course and supports ISAF-approved Offshore Personal Survival courses.

Reeds Ocean Handbook - Handy pocket-sized handbook, an ideal revision aid on shore and the perfect quick reference guide on the boat for long-distance sailing.

The Complete Ocean Skipper - Covers all aspects of planning and preparing for a long-distance cruise.

The Atlantic Crossing Guide - well established as the standard reference for anyone planning an Atlantic voyage. Packed with advice on preparation and passage planning for ocean passages.

The Pacific Crossing Guide - well established as the standard reference for anyone planning a Pacific voyage. Packed with advice on preparation and passage planning for ocean passages.

The Voyager's Handbook - Inspirational and comprehensive handbook that leads step by step through choosing, planning and following the voyager’s life. In parts, it is outdated now but still provides invaluable knowledge for those planning life on board.

Heavy Weather Sailing - For 50 years Heavy Weather Sailing has been regarded as the ultimate international authority on surviving storms at sea aboard sailing and motor vessels. The book is not easy to read as it is very technical, but it contains a collection of relevant stories that the reader can learn from.

Storm Tactics - One of very few classic heavy weather tactics books for small boats.

Celestial Navigation - With the Sight Reduction Tables with Pub. No 249 - This book gives the clearest explanation of how celestial navigation works and how to use it without bogging down in theory.

The Barefoot Navigator: Wayfinding with the Skills of the Ancients - Introduction to the skills of the ancients and technology-free techniques. You can learn how to navigate using the sun, sea, wind and stars, and even the flight patterns of ocean birds.

Seamanship 2.0 - Practical handbook covering essential seamanship skills to avoid or deal with emergencies that every skipper should know.

Ocean Sailor Magazine - A free magazine and podcasts for ocean sailors.

RYA Diesel Engine Handobook - Basic book on how diesel works and its maintenance.

Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems - Bible for do-it-yourself boatowners.

Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair - One of the best books on marine diesels.

RYA VHF Handbook - It details everything that sailors need to know about using VHF radios including how they work, the rules and regulations which govern it and the procedures that must be followed.

RYA Introduction to Radar - This book is suitable for anyone requiring a working knowledge of radar. It provides a very easy-read introduction to radar on small boats and the text and accompanying illustrations are clear and unambiguous.

GMDSS: A User's Handbook - Explains the operation of the GMDSS system and clearly outlines the procedures required to get help quickly, as well as covering the syllabus of the General Operator’s Certificate (GOC), the Long Range Certificate (LRC) and the Restricted Operator’s Certificate (ROC).

RYA First Aid Manual - Easy to follow and understand with lots of pictures and diagrams for common incidents. Provided as part of RYA First Aid courses.

The Ship Captain's Medical Guide - Intended primarily for use on vessels where there is no medical professional, such as a doctor, on board. It provides assistance and direction for crew members when it becomes necessary for them to assess and treat trauma and medical illness.

Where There Is No Doctor (pdf) - The most widely-used health care manual for health workers, educators, and others involved in primary health care and health promotion around the world.

Mariner's Weather Handbook - Of all the things required to get ready to cruise, nothing is more important than understanding the weather and the tactics required to make it work for you. This book provides a complete and exhaustive guide to every aspect of weather you are likely to meet when cruising.

Modern Marine Weather - A comprehensive book on how to take weather into account for the planning and navigation of voyages, local or global, using the latest technologies as well as the time-honoured skills of maritime tradition.

Reading the clouds - Practical book full of photographs. With this book, you can “read” the sky and better predict what the weather will do.

Reeds Weather Handbook: For Sail and Power - Pocket-sized guide with all the necessary tools to predict and deal with local and distant weather conditions, whether on a day trip or a longer cruise, along the coast or further offshore.

Heavy Weather Avoidance and Route Design of 500 mb Charts - The 500Mb chart is the key that unlocks the three-dimensional nature of the atmosphere and helps answer the mariner’s two most important weather questions: will the system intensify, and where is it headed?

Met Office Articles About Weather and Climate - Introductory materials on how weather works.

Meteorology Lectures From the University of Arizona - Well-prepared learning materials on the Meteorology subject at the University of Arizona.

Meteorology Lectures From the University of California - Slide-based learning materials to weather and the climate.

Meteorology Lectures From the University of Colorado - Slide-based learning materials to weather and the Atmosphere.

Mariner's Guide For Hurricane Awareness In The North Atlantic Basin - One of the best publications about Hurricanes available online and published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Mariner's Guide to the 500 – Millibar Chart - Excellent NOAA article about 500mb charts which can be used to make better educated and more self-reliant decisions concerning upcoming weather.

Mariners Met Pack (pdf) - Printed notes about weather in the Southern Hemisphere

Aerographer's Mate Module 5—Basic Meteorology - excellent US Navy training manual

World Cruising Routes - Long established as the bible for long-distance cruisers and a bestseller for more than 25 years. It is a great planning guide to nearly 1000 sailing routes covering all the oceans of the world. It is a good alternative to the “Ocean Passages for the World” which was written with the merchant navy in mind.

Yachting pilot guides and cruising companions - Huge amount of pilot guides and cruising handbooks to cover almost every corner of the world. It gives a much better feeling for a place and useful information for recreational sailors than Admiralty guides. The Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation (RCC) pilot books published by Imray are excellent, but there are many others.

Reeds Nautical Almanac - Indispensable trusted annual compendium of navigational data including tide tables for yachtsmen and motorboaters, and provides all the information required to navigate European waters. It is quite a bulky position, so we usually cut out only the relevant pages for a trip.

Symbols and Abbreviations Used on Admiralty Charts (NP5011) - Gives details on symbols and abbreviations used on the worldwide range of ADMIRALTY charts, and international Chart Series Paper Charts.

Routing/Pilot Charts - Very useful charts for passage planning for long-distance voyages. It includes routes and distances between major ports, ocean currents, ice limits, load lines and wind roses, and expected meteorological and oceanographic conditions for each month of the year.

Cornell's Ocean Atlass - Pilot charts of all oceans for the world showing wind speed and direction, current speed and direction, approximate extent of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the most common tracks of tropical storms, and the mean location of high pressure cells for each hemisphere.

US Coast Pilots (pdf) - series of nine navigation reference books maintained by NOAA that cover pilotage information of U.S. coastal and intercoastal waters. There are free PDF versions of each volume. These books are also the best sources of climatic marine weather data for all U.S. waters.

Sailing Directions Enroute - detailed pilotage books covering waters outside U.S. Include detailed coastal and port approach information. The books are available online as free downloads.

Sailing Directions (Planning Guides) - include relevant physical, political, industrial, navigational and regulatory information about the countries adjacent to oceans.

Nautical Almanac and Sigh Reduction Tables - You need them if you intend to take sights on the passage.

Noonsite - Ultimate Cruisers Planning Tool - Free internet site for cruisers either preparing for a voyage or already underway, where they can get comprehensive up-to-the global information on everything from weather to visa requirements to marine services in every country.

Admiralty publications

Reeds Almanac digests a lot of publications and reproduces them in a single and concise volume. But once you are beyond the limits of Reeds you might need to replace it with separate publications:

Ocean Passages for the Worlds - Bible for ocean sailing that supports the planning of ocean voyages on most major routes, with details of weather, currents, ice hazards, distances between major ports and a lot more. Its downside is that it is written with the merchant navy and professional seafarers in mind, so it is a bit overwhelming for ordinary sailors.

Mariner's Handbook - Contains a lot of reference information regarding maritime navigation, sea and ice conditions, meteorology and regulations.

Admirality Sailing Directions - Pilotage books that provide essential information to support port entry and coastal navigation. Among other things like weather conditions and visibility for each place, it contains valuable aerial photographs which are essential once you are off the beaten track where cruising guides do not exist.

Admirality Mariners' Routeing Guides - provide essential routeing information to help navigate safely through some of the world’s busiest and most complex shipping routes.

Admirality Tide Tables - Tide tables for the world. It works similarly to Reeds Almanac but covers the whole world instead of just Europe. There are fewer standard ports, so you will need to do more secondary port calculations.

Admirality List of Lights and Fog Signals - Provides a list of every single navigational mark and light characteristic within a given area, coverage of structures including lighthouses, lightships, lit floating marks and fog signals. It can be used to cross-check against charts.

Admirality List of Radio Signals - Provides information on all aspects of Maritime Radio Communications. There are 6 volumes but only volumes 3 (Maritime Safety Information Services) and 5 (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System) are relevant for yachts. Volume 1 (Maritime Radio Stations) would be useful if you use HF radio (eg. to receive weather radio faximiles or getting in contact with a Coast Station).

COLREGs - The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

USCG's Navigation Rules and Regulations Handbook - it contains the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (72 COLREGS) and the U.S. Inland Navigation Rules (33 CFR 83), and provides a side-by-side textual and graphical presentation of each Rule.

Learn the Nautical Rules of the Road - This is the ideal book to improve your understanding of International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) whether you need to pass an exam or require an onboard reference.

MGN 280 (M) Small Commercial Vessel and Pilot Boat Code - A code of practice for the construction, machinery, equipment, stability, operation, manning, examination, certification and maintenance of UK vessels up to 24 metres load line length which is in commercial use for sport or pleasure, as a workboat or pilot boat.

MSN 1905 (M+F) Application of the ships’ medical stores regulations 1995 - Details items commercial vessels such carry-on ocean and offshore passages.

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition - This is one of the most wonderful tales of adventure and hardship among many during the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. We are fascinated by this expedition and the way Shackleton kept his crew motivated and psychologically healthy through an astonishingly harrowing time of privation and doubt.

Sailing Alone Around the World (online) - A classic tale of the world’s first solo circumnavigation. Must-read for all wanderers, sailors, and lovers of adventure.

The Voyage of the Liberdade (online) - Captain Joshua Slocum was the first to sail around the world alone without any stopover. The Voyage with Liberdade was a sensation when first published in 1890. Still one of the best books about bluewater sailing.

Storm Passage: Alone Around Cape Horn (online) - Personal account of Webb Chiles’ formidable voyage around the world by way of Cape Horn.

Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor (online) - An account of an around-the-world solo sail in a 31-foot boat. Charming, honest, insightful, and a fine story.

Cockpit cards - Cards that can be kept in the cockpit for quick reference of basic information like navigation lights.

Flip cards - A pack of cards (sometimes pictorial) on one side and the answers on the other. A great way to learn learn lights and shapes, and rule of road.

MAIB Reports - The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigates marine accidents involving UK vessels worldwide and all vessels in the UK territorial waters and publishes reports. It is a perfect way to learn from other’s mistakes.

Crash Test Boat - Yachting Monthly’s video series of crash tests (Fire, Hole, Jury Rig, Dismasting etc.).