
The Skipper's Pocketbook
A Pocket Database for the Busy Skipper
Fernhurst Books Limited (Publisher)
4th Edition
Published on 4. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
96 pages
978-1-917801-02-7 (ISBN)
Description
A pocket database containing everything a busy skipper or their crew needs to know but might find hard to remember.
It is easy to take for granted how much a skipper needs to know: Navigation, how to pilot the boat into a new harbour, using the radio, checking the engine, keeping an eye out for things that need repair, monitoring the weather, feeding the crew and much, much more!
This pocketbook is designed as an aide-memoire with checklists to make life easier for busy skippers and a must-have reference for first-time skippers. It should also prove an invaluable reference book for the RYA Yachtmaster and other RYA course syllabi.
The book has been helping skippers for over 25 years and has been edited and thoroughly updated by Yachtmaster Instructor and Examiner, Sara Hopkinson. It has been streamlined to focus on the key things a skipper needs to know, making it quicker to find what you need and all for less than GBP10. (RYA and Yachtmaster are registered trademarks of the Royal Yachting Association.)
It is easy to take for granted how much a skipper needs to know: Navigation, how to pilot the boat into a new harbour, using the radio, checking the engine, keeping an eye out for things that need repair, monitoring the weather, feeding the crew and much, much more!
This pocketbook is designed as an aide-memoire with checklists to make life easier for busy skippers and a must-have reference for first-time skippers. It should also prove an invaluable reference book for the RYA Yachtmaster and other RYA course syllabi.
The book has been helping skippers for over 25 years and has been edited and thoroughly updated by Yachtmaster Instructor and Examiner, Sara Hopkinson. It has been streamlined to focus on the key things a skipper needs to know, making it quicker to find what you need and all for less than GBP10. (RYA and Yachtmaster are registered trademarks of the Royal Yachting Association.)
More details
Series
Edition
4th New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Leamington Spa
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
210 Diagrams; 40 Halftones, color
Dimensions
Height: 209 mm
Width: 101 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
130 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-917801-02-7 (9781917801027)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2025
Fernhurst Books Limited
€9.59
Available for download
Previous edition

Book
01/2018
3rd Edition
Fernhurst Books Limited
€34.87
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Sara Hopkinson is an experienced sailor, a Yachtmaster Instructor and Examiner and lives at Pin Mill in Suffolk where she runs an RYA Training Centre which specialises in navigation, radio, radar and first aid courses. She was a Coastguard Rescue Officer for many years and Station Officer of HM Coastguard, Holbrook. She has written books for the RYA and Fernhurst Books. Basil Mosenthal sailed extensively in all the oceans of the world. After leaving the Royal Navy he was a partner in one of the first yacht delivery firms. He has written many books about sailing, including Fernhurst Books' best-selling Cockpit Companion and popular New Crew's Companion.
Content
Introduction. 1 Preparing for sea. 2 Safety equipment & procedures. 3 Navigation & pilotage. 4 Collision regulations. 5 Meteorology. 6 Flags. 7 Seamanship. 8 Maintenance & troubleshooting. 9 Skippering. Index.