Sailing the Shallows: The lost art of cruising the coast in a small boat

A beautifully written and illustrated manifesto for a simpler style of sailing, exploring the coastline in a small boat. Filled with useful advice and techniques, but above all an inspiring and captivating read.

Sail just a couple of miles away from the coast and the shoreline begins to drop below the horizon. Soon you are alone on the same wild seas the Vikings crossed, where Drake repulsed the Spanish Armada, and where the clippers once raced home with cargoes of tea. The modern world may have changed radically, but the sea remains as feral and free as it always was. There are opportunities for adventure all around us, if we wish to take advantage of them.

Dinghy cruising is accessible, affordable adventure, available to anyone. It requires little other than self-reliance and self-confidence, as well as a respect for the subtleties of the local climate and topography. Out at sea in a small boat, nature is not something to be observed disinterestedly: it batters and drenches you, refreshes and enlivens you. In Sailing the Shallows Roger Barnes combines lyrical writing and beautifully drawn illustrations with simple and practical wisdom on sailing a small boat – a combination that has been much admired in his first book, The Dinghy Cruising Companion. Where the first book got readers set up and ready to go, Sailing the Shallows sees us underway and exploring.

Roger describes a series of sea passages in small boats in UK, French and Italian waters, with each chapter highlighting a particular technique of coastal sailing or wilderness camping. Roger weaves practical instruction seamlessly into the narrative, and accompanies his tales with a series of exquisite hand-drawn illustrations of the places visited, events described or details of his beloved boat Avel Dro.

This book is a manifesto for a different attitude to sailing; an antidote to the complexity and ostentation of contemporary yachting. It is also arguing for a different attitude to living – plain, direct and at one with nature – a reassessment of our priorities that is long overdue.