Books, Charts, Flags and Chart Table Equipment

• Almanac, Navigation and Seamanship Books

  With a compass, a watch, a nautical almanac and appropriate charts a competant sailor can navigate their boat safely even in the worst of weathers and in the middle of the night. Even if you are only popping across the Solent for lunch, an up to date almanac should be on your check list, right next to your wallet or mobile phone. 

• Pilot Books

  A good pilot book, contains a whole wealth of knowledge and information about the ports, harbours and coastlines in a particular area. Where an almanac or a chart gives you the basic facts, a pilot book fills in the blanks with first hand knowledge and useful advise written by navigators and cruising folk with years of collective experience. 

• Technical, Maintenance and First Aid Books

  Keeping a vessel in good working order is an unending job. With equipment and systems becoming more and more sophisticated, practical advice and simple explanations can turn a mind boggling problem into an interesting excercise. A few basic technical manuals can prove an invaluable addition to your bunkside reading, and a useful distraction the next time the wife starts talking about changing the cushions or choosing some new curtains! 

• Imray Charts

  An up to date nautical chart should be the first thing you get out when you step aboard the boat, and the last thing you put away after shes tied up alongside again. Even if you are only hopping across the Solent from Calshot to Cowes, the information that chart can tell you about an apparently featureless stretch of water is astounding. 

• Flags and Chart Table Equipment

  With a few simple instruments, a nautical almanac and a few paper charts, you can quite litterally find your way across seemingly endless oceans. The expensive electronic gadgetry found at most chart tables nowadays does nothing more than speed up that age old process. The major difference of course, is that you can't accidently turn-off a paper chart, short circuit an almanac or run out of batteries for your dividers!