Adlard Coles Yachtmaster for Sail and Power: A Manual for the RYA Yachtmaster® Certificates of Competence

Great manual...

I have this book and the day skipper one and I have recommended them to friends. Both are well written. There is a fair amount of repetition in this one over the dayskipper, but it gently eases you into the new info you need.Pleasant read and you learn more than you initially think.

I had high hopes for this manual, which I bought to assist with my Coastal Skipper theory course. Unfortunately I've been disappointed. Mine is the latest 5th edition and it still contains errors! The explanation of variation as stated for the chart compass rose (bottom of page 18) is completely wrong. The question papers give too much weight to acronyms and being able to decode them - for example 4 of the 9 questions in paper 3 are about these (and one: TTG is not even explained in the previous chapter!). This is a missed opportunity for some better questions in my opinion. The weird descriptions and analogies given in the weather section, such as 'weather pudding mixing bowls' marked the point at which I finally gave up reading. It's not all bad, but overall you could do better for the money.