Are the current generation of ' cruising guides' worth buying

[chrisb]

There was a time when cruising guides or pilots as they were then called were based on years of painstaking research on behalf of the author. I think particularly of the Robin Brandon pilots to Biscay etc . It seems to me that despite the advantages provided by information technology the current crop are encumbered by errors and obsolete upon publication

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

Tom Bennett’s "Sea Guide to Pembrokeshire"
ISBN-10: 0852889909
ISBN-13: 978-0852889909

I think this book is very useful, and I am local to the area. The tides around the islands and headlands of Pembrokeshire must be treated with respect. His book was published a few years ago, but it is still worth the money if you intend sailing around here.

 

[Sandy]

There was a time when cruising guides or pilots as they were then called were based on years of painstaking research on behalf of the author. I think particularly of the Robin Brandon pilots to Biscay etc . It seems to me that despite the advantages provided by information technology the current crop are encumbered by errors and obsolete upon publication

With the advent of the Internet things move much faster these days.

 

[johnalison]

Modern guides seem to be designed to look smart in the shop, with a glossy coloured cover and loads of pretty photos inside. Take a look at a proper old-fashioned pilot and you will see what a yachtsman really needs.
Harbour charts
Passage information
Something about places worth seeing - we are on holiday after all.
Harbour information and a bit about shopping
Enough visual information to make entry and passage safe, line drawings are perfectly adequate.

I don't want to know what a place looks like. I will enjoy finding this out for myself when I get there. This is why much of my cruising is done with no more than something like Reeds for a guide.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Fishwick's guide to the South West has been in print for years. It's regularly updated and certainly fits the description of "painstakingly researched"'

 

[Eyore]

Same applies to the Irish Cruising Club . south and west coast pilot and east and north coast pilot. They have been on the go for many, many decades and are regularly updated and modernised with colour charts, aerial photos etc. Excellent publications.

 

[typhooncaro]

We used all the Irish and Scottish cruising guides in conjunction with charts, where available, on our trip around the South, West and Northern Ireland, and the outside of Scotland last year during our trip around the British Isles. They were all excellent.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Same applies to the Irish Cruising Club . south and west coast pilot and east and north coast pilot. They have been on the go for many, many decades and are regularly updated and modernised with colour charts, aerial photos etc. Excellent publications.

Same with the CCC guides. I mainly use a 1936 edition on the boat, but I have a current version too and a remarkably large proportion of the words is them.

The worst cruising guide I've ever seen was the current Imray Irish Sea one, which is badly edited, bizarrely organised and extremely patchy, with rock-by-rock coverage of Pembrokeshire and the very sparsest of details for Cumbria, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I think Imray have been unreasonable and penny-pinching in expecting one author to be able to cover such a very large amount of coastline.

 

[Cantata]

.............. I think Imray have been unreasonable and penny-pinching in expecting one author to be able to cover such a very large amount of coastline.

Makes no difference how many authors are involved, the royalty on each copy remains the same and has to be divvied up.
And usually these days someone approaches a publisher with a proposal for a book that they will write, and the publisher takes them up on it. Or not.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Makes no difference how many authors are involved, the royalty on each copy remains the same and has to be divvied up.

I believe that publishers have the capacity to set the "price" of a book to reflect the "cost" of producing it.

And usually these days someone approaches a publisher with a proposal for a book that they will write, and the publisher takes them up on it. Or not.

Which is fine, but in this case Imray should have said "OK, you do the south half and we'll get someone else to do the rest". At the very least they should have realised when the copy came in that the northern bit was terrible.

 

[capnsensible]

It is entirely possible to write your own pilot, print it and distribute it.

Guess how I know.....

 

[dunedin]

The new series of combined Imray / Clyde Cruising Club guides for Scottish waters are certainly worth buying - a great read for planning / dreaming ashore and indispensable afloat

 

[Twister_Ken]

There was a time when cruising guides or pilots as they were then called were based on years of painstaking research on behalf of the author. I think particularly of the Robin Brandon pilots to Biscay etc . It seems to me that despite the advantages provided by information technology the current crop are encumbered by errors and obsolete upon publication

That's always been the case. The length of time between final sign-off and the first (not to mention the last) copies hitting the bookshelves is unconscionably long. In the case of the Cruising Association Almanac, the first set of corrections is already on the website when it is published. Any decent publisher in the internet age should be doing the same, making corrections or updates available on the web. Worth a quick look to see what I'm referring to…

http://www.cruising.org.uk/almanac/corrections

…five sets of corrections and the season has hardly started for most of us.

 

[Poignard]

I have several cruising guides on board for the French coast and Biscay. The photos of the approaches to ports are sometimes useful but apart from that, I don't find they give much more useful information than you can find in Reed's or Bloc Marine.

 

[macd]

The worst cruising guide I've ever seen was the current Imray Irish Sea one...I think Imray have been unreasonable and penny-pinching in expecting one author to be able to cover such a very large amount of coastline.

They'd best get Heikell some extra help then, since his pilots cover much of the Med.

 

[Cantata]

I believe that publishers have the capacity to set the "price" of a book to reflect the "cost" of producing it.......

You may be right, I can only speak as co-author of an Imray pilot book, which incidentally has updates online on a website we manage ourselves.
If you have constructive comments about the Irish pilot, why not write to the author? I am sure that, as is the case with us, he would be interested and would respond.

 

[chrisb]

One set of guides that I would recommend are Chris Doyle's caribbean series. Well written and updated on a 2 yearly cycle.
At the beginning of our circumnavigation we waited for the publication of the new cruising guide to Brasil by Michelle Ballette published by Imrie.
We found that the 'new guide' was infact a translation of the old French edition . Numerous errors regarding way points which could have been dangerous if we had used them but most disconcerting was the inclusion of a harbour which had been infilled at least 8 years before publication .This being the only shelter from a prevailing northeasterly for 400nm.
The new edition of the recent edition of 'Pacific Crossing Guide' (again Imrie) is another out of date recent publication which can only really be regarded as a coffee table book: best borrowed from a public library and read once

 

[chinita]

It is entirely possible to write your own pilot, print it and distribute it.

Guess how I know.....

I think I have a copy somewhere.

'Gib is a rock. It has two marinas, there used to be three. One has a grumpy lady running it. Don't anchor or you will be incinerated by Guardia Civil Fighter Ground Attack aircraft. Across the water is Ceuta which has cheap fuel and expensive taxis to nowhere. Spain can be nice and I think the receptionist at Duquesa fancies me. Gibraltar is famous for it's cuisine, cocktails and tolerant attitude towards its neighbours.'


Is that the one?

 

[Eyore]

I think I have a copy somewhere.

'Gib is a rock. It has two marinas, there used to be three. One has a grumpy lady running it. Don't anchor or you will be incinerated by Guardia Civil Fighter Ground Attack aircraft. Across the water is Ceuta which has cheap fuel and expensive taxis to nowhere. Spain can be nice and I think the receptionist at Duquesa fancies me. Gibraltar is famous for it's cuisine, cocktails and tolerant attitude towards its neighbours.'


Is that the one?

Bit like the Admiralty pilots then.?

 

[capnsensible]

I think I have a copy somewhere.

'Gib is a rock. It has two marinas, there used to be three. One has a grumpy lady running it. Don't anchor or you will be incinerated by Guardia Civil Fighter Ground Attack aircraft. Across the water is Ceuta which has cheap fuel and expensive taxis to nowhere. Spain can be nice and I think the receptionist at Duquesa fancies me. Gibraltar is famous for it's cuisine, cocktails and tolerant attitude towards its neighbours.'


Is that the one?

Ahh, I see you got it but didn't read it then........