The Complete Day Skipper, 7th Edition
By Tom Cunliffe
Adlard Coles, Bloomsbury Publishing, Hardcover, 199 pages
First published in 2002, The Complete Day Skipper has been updated over the years, and can now give a novice sailor the skills to leave the dock for a week, instead of untying the dock lines for a day sail. British-based author Tom Cunliffe is a long-time contributor to various sailing publications, is an RYA Yachtmaster instructor examiner who has sailed in most places of the world on his 44-foot cutter along with his wife and daughter. He uses the RYA syllabus used to educate U.K. sailors as a basis for his book to the benefit of both the novice and more advanced seaman, looking for a refresher. The first chapter is basic knowledge about a sailboat, but the author gets the novice off the dock quickly, motor sailing and docking. Later chapters are for more advanced sailing in fog, using a chartplotter, learning about man-overboard procedures, anchoring and mooring.