Sailing Today Almanac 1998

Boatswain Press 1997, 416 pp, Illus., 1-873432-78-X,£8.95,

Practical Sailing's entry into the yacht magazine market marked a welcome challenge to the existing publications, positioned between PBO and Yachting Monthly. It is clear at whom this almanac is aimed. Certainly it is a much more managable size but for this you pay a price. Tidal data is only given for relatively few ports and from there you must extrapolate. So in the Southwest, you get Plymouth and St Mary's, Scillies. There are no chartlets, which to this reviewer is one of the main uses of an almanac. The more comprehensive volumes, such as McMillans, has the merit of letting you have a better feel of a sailing area. Yachtsmen are fairly conservative characters and may take a long time to change. It will always be a matter of individual choice, and we are now faced with greater variety, which must be a good thing. MPB