Essential Boat Radar

Publisher: Wiley Nautical, £14.99
Publication Date: 2009

The title should be Essential Boat Radar Knowledge because that would explain exactly what this book provides. It’s a paperback of 108 pages in a sensible 17 x 21cms format containing all that a yachtsman new to radar needs to know and, sensibly, not more. But read the maker’s manual and familiarise yourself with the controls first.

As the author says in his introduction “Most people [new to radar] would think ‘I need to understand what is going on here’ and it is for them that this book is written.” This brief is well fulfilled with plenty of emphasis on radar’s limitations. My only criticism is that Mr Johnson uses five and a half pages to describe how to make a paper plot from the radar though he does just mention that you can do it with a wipe-off marker pen on the screen. Easy, quick and effective, while for paper plotting “...it helps if two people can work on the radar plotting while a third person helms the boat and keeps a look-out.” Not so great for a two person crew with one of them off watch!

The sketches and screen-shots are good and a very useful feature is a summary box at the end of each of the main chapters. And there’s a really good combined glossary and index. Would I buy this book? Yes if I was about to use radar for the first time. Would I keep it on board? Yes, on the right of the maker’s manual. - RR