The Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation publishes pilotage information through books and a range of media acessible through its own website www.rccpf.org.uk.
Reviews of the most recent RCCPF Publications and other books written by RCC members are shown below.
Mark Fishwick compiled his first West Country Cruising in 1988, and the publication of a Tenth Edition by Fernhurst Books is a testament to its continuing popularity.
Cruising Guide to the Netherlands and Belgium is a new first edition from the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation.
Skip Novak on Sailing: Words of Wisdom from 50 Years Afloat is a fascinating collection of articles contributed to Yachting World between 2014 and 2023.
A Cruising Adventure and How-To Guide by Nicholas Coghlan
Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation Balearic Islands 12th Edition, David and Susie Baggaley
Andrew Wilkes reviews Marek Jurczynski's publication
Skipper Lynam developed his love of the sea and sailing as a schoolboy at King William’s College on the Isle of Man becoming, in time, a successful canoe sailor.
Review of Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation publication ‘Norway, Mainland coast, fjord and islands, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen’ 4th Edition
Bermuda, Azores, Madeira Group, Canary Islands and Cape Verdes:
Editor: Jane Russell, RCC, RCCPF Publisher: Royal Institution of Navigation, 2020. Available as a free download
Nigel Wollen reviews Mark Fishwick's West Country Cruising Companion
An excellent pilot by Madeleine and Stephan Strobel updated May 2020.
4th Edition. By Rod and Lucinda Heikell. A Review of this welcome update by Will Pedder
This practical guide deserves a place of honour on the chart table of any sailing yacht venturing to the Chilean channels or, as Bill Tillman referred to them, ‘the magical place of the unknown’.
"The book is a triumph, and represents a significant raising of the bar. Jo is to be congratulated, and I do hope readers will be enthused sufficiently to cruise the South China Sea."
This book is a very practical guide to long distance ocean sailing, compiled by a very accomplished and experienced practitioner and aimed at the would-be ocean sailor.
This meticulously updated 8th edition invites the cruising sailor to safely explore numerous exquisite locations, reassured by the author's wealth of experience.
Our review of September 2019 updated to include CCA review as a download. This book is not a “how to do it” manual, more a compendium of the most important issues.....
"I commend Christopher and the RCCPF team on producing an excellent book that will be an invaluable resource to anyone making this trip (Trinidad to Tobago) for the first time"
Reviewed by Peter Bruce who says: "This Second Edition is thoroughly comprehensive and gives those with it a huge advantage over those without."
Reviewer Jay Devonshire writes: "An up to date Pilot Book is an essential, and this latest publication is to to be recommended."
For many a sailor, crossing the Atlantic Ocean is their holy grail, the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest for a climber. Both are immense challenges and preparation is key.
The RCC Pilotage Foundation has recently brought out a fourth edition, published by Imray, of their extensive guide to The Baltic Sea and its Approaches.
‘Gibraltar and the five Mediterranean costas of Spain form the subject matter of this pilot.’
Paul Heiney's lavishly illustrated book warrants a well-deserved place in the chart table and has plenty of general interest for those seeking inspiration for their next cruise.
This is a beautifully produced and extremely well structured guide to this very long and diverse cruising ground. Reviewed by Katharine Ingram
The Canary Islands Guide is very much a guide for tourists rather than a pilot book, but as such it has the information for a touring yachtsman to enjoy these islands.
For such a small country The Netherlands has an amazing 6,000km of navigable waterways and there is something there for everyone.
The revised edition of the Arctic and Northern Waters Pilot is a compelling volume that takes the reader into waters that few will travel, for those who go there it is essential reading.
Reviewers Katharine & Peter Ingram write: "This RCC Pilotage Foundation book is a beautifully produced and extremely well structured guide to the vast cruising area that is the Pacific Ocean."
The 3rd Edition of this very useable cruising companion is brought right up to date (2016) by Derek Aslett. Published by Fernhurst Books and available through Imray and many local chandleries.
The newly published third edition of the RCC Pilotage Foundation Norway pilot book by Judy Lomax is reviewed below by Madeleine Strobel
A Sixth Edition of the RCCPF Atlantic Islands Pilot has just been published by Imray. It is reviewed by Alan Spriggs (RCC) below.
This is the 7th edition of this well-known and popular book. There is much that is new in this edition, all beautifully explored and explained.
Fifty years ago, Rozelle Raynes, a Life member of the RCC, sailed her much-loved Folkboat, Martha McGilda from Walton-on-the-Naze, to the London marina in North Greenwich. Her husband Dick (RCC) the Deputy Medical Officer of Newham had persuaded the Heads of Social Services to allow Rozelle to offer young boys in longterm "care" the chance to learn about seamanship and navigation.
The book tells of her highs and lows as she sought to change the life chances of a core of eight boys, over a fifteen year period.
Whilst the accounts of the Tuesday afternoons sailing on Galleons Reach, and in the marina in poor weather are often repetitive, the reader is drawn into her mission to help these boys, the products of dysfunctional and chaotic parenting and neglect.
So many Youth Sailing Charities boast of how they change young people's lives, often without long term empirical evidence. This story shows just how hard it is to make those changes, despite the fact that she worked with these boys, week in and week out for eight months per year for well over ten years, not only on the boat, but in getting them to pass their Certificates of Seamanship, calling in favours from her well heeled and well connected friends and acquaintances, maritime locals in the Limehouse area and East Coast sailing charities.
She recounts incidents with humour, insight and irony. The risks she took, and her eccentric behaviours, combined with her descriptions of the "village" communities and people of East London, make one realise how much things have changed in the last fifty years.
Whilst the sailing will be of interest to members, it is her commitment to supporting these boys through thick and thin, as they became young men, the way they confided in her, her sensitivity to their circumstances, yet her determination to help them that is remarkable, and which leaves a lasting impression.
The original book published in 1991, has been updated with accounts of how the boys, now aged in their sixties progressed through life, their memories of their time with Rozelle, and their gratitude. Most attended her funeral in 2015.
For those who support sail training charities, there is much in this book to enjoy. As Libby Purves said of the 1991 edition "A book to raise the sails and raise the spirits. Marvellous".
Reviewed by William Garnett
