South & West Coasts of Ireland

Price: £37.50

Why has it taken four years for this book to reach a CA reviewer?  It was, however, well worth the wait. To answer the required question which is often the end of a review: would I buy this book and keep it on board? If you are intending to cruise these coasts or even if you are only thinking of doing so, the answer is an emphatic yes, it is essential.  There is no alternative and there is no need for one.  As ‘Sailing Directions’ it is well nigh perfect and a whole league up on the previous edition - 1993 amended to 1996..
This time the chartlets, and there is one for almost every usable hole in the coast, are in chart colours and are properly drawn, not sketched.  The aerial photos are nearly all navigationally meaningful, not merely scenic, and there is an excellent see-at-a-glance tidal stream atlas. There are small charts for each set of passage notes to identify the features mentioned.  A spot check on the Ilen River north of Baltimore Harbour has half a page in this edition compared with a short paragraph previously. Glandore Harbour has an extra aerial photo this time and the lat and long is given for every harbour.  What has been left out?  From the preface: “Many details which were often valid for only a short time, such as restaurant recommendations, have been omitted.”  So, you may starve as you navigate these beautiful coasts, harbours and anchorages, but, armed with this book, you will always know where to go!  For your money you get three hundred A4 pages in hard covers and it costs less than £2 more than the same title ten years ago. Go for the book, go to Ireland!

R H R