A beautifully written and illustrated manifesto for the simple joys of sailing a small boat, filled with useful advice and techniques.

Sailing a dinghy is your gateway to adventure. It requires little of you 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. Sailing the Shallows is a manifesto for a different attitude to sailing; an antidote to the complexity and ostentation of contemporary yachting.

In Sailing the Shallows Roger Barnes combines lyrical writing and beautifully drawn illustrations with simple and practical wisdom on sailing a small boat. We accompany him on his early days afloat in the Lake District, paddling Hildegard the communist canoe in France and more extreme passages in his beloved Avel Dro, and along the way he weaves in advice on skills, techniques and lessons learned.

Sailing the Shallows describes a lifetime's journey towards the recognition that cruising in a dinghy is not an imperfect and provisional way to get afloat, something that you compromise on simply because you lack the opportunity to do it any other way. It is the purest and most perfect way to go sailing.