Shell Channel Pilot, The

Publisher: Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson, 5th ed, £29.95
Publication Date: 2006

It was a considerable pleasure for me to review this classic title and to realise how it has matured yet retained its relevance. I well remember careful reading of an earlier, ‘dumpy’ edition when I began Channel sailing in the early 1960s. Today this A4-sized 5th edition robustly binds clear text on good quality paper on which introductory pages of tidal stream atlases, navigation vectors, passage notes and wildlife lead into pen-pictures of almost every Channel safe haven. Ramsgate to Scilly, the Channel Islands and then Dunkerque to Ile d’Ouessant all feature, but curiously, and despite the inclusion of places as small as Polperro and Omanville-la-Rogue, Sark’s two refuges do not. Fully-up-to-date colour photographs, harbour plans and other illustrations appear at every page opening and I particularly admired the very clear aerial views. Not only will these show what to expect around the next pier end, but they may also provoke happy hours of winter reminiscence as we relive our adventures.

In keeping with tradition, the informal style of Shell Pilot narrative is preserved, thus making for both informative and enjoyable reading during which Cunliffe’s inimitable turn of phrase often provokes amusing speculation on syllabus possibilities to the shore-based theory course. In one example he suggests that quieter times might exist in a rugby scrum than at a certain harbour launderette. It could be argued that such unabashed irreverence detracts from the serious purpose of such a book, but I found it better for this personalisation. – EC