When you learn how to skipper a yacht the practical courses cover a whole range of activities, from passage planning to pilotage and berthing. The way you learn about these elements on a course is usually like this:

• the briefing, where the instructor prepares you for the exercise. He should explain what we're trying to achieve, how it's going to work, and what the skipper and crew need to do
• the practical activity
• you all have a go
• the debriefing afterwards, where you discuss what happened and how it went, and take notes of what to remember.

At the end of the course, you will have had a go at all the important stuff you have to do in the course of sailing the yacht, but you'll probably struggle to remember all the essential bits: the all-important briefing, and the sequence of things you have to remember.

This book is the answer. Containing all the author's own briefing notes and concise explanations, it covers every activity a skipper will need to carry out. Using bullet points, handy checklists and simple diagrams, this book is a unique resource for all skippers – reassurance for new skippers that they haven't forgotten something vital, and a reminder for the more experienced.

These are the notes you wish you'd written when you attended your sailing course, and had to hand when revising for your exam or refreshing your knowledge later.