This book is one that came up in my recommendations on Scribd - it turns out to be a selection of Cunliffe's advice articles written for Yachting Monthly, giving his views on a variety of practical questions, some of which you might never have dared to ask - how to sail as a couple without putting your relationship in danger; some of which you might hope never to need to ask - what to do in case a casualty has to be airlifted off your boat; and most of which you have certainly faced many times and got as many different answers to - how to get that extra quarter-knot of speed out of your sails, how best to manage mooring lines, how to avoid looking like an idiot in a lock...

The advice, as you might expect, is bluff and straightforward, and as far as I could judge it all looks sensible and practical. The writing is a bit less attractive than the content - there's a bit too much old-fashioned journalistic quaintness ("it behoves...", "what betides", etc.) and a lot too much tedious hearty male yacht-clubbishness and old-sea-doggery (stopping the crew's rum rations, going off to the pub for a few pints, etc. ). But that's forgivable - I've yet to encounter anyone who has worked for any length of time as a trainer who doesn't have a supply of tedious stock witticisms, myself included.

Probably a bit too miscellaneous to be a really useful reference book, but I should think it's a book most sailors will learn at least one or two useful things from. ( )