• The 1981 edition of Reed's Nautical Almanac (Thomas Reed Publications, £7.95) marks the golden jubilee of this popular publication. There cannot be many lifeboats which do not have a copy of Reed's on the chart table and the RNLI gratefully adds its congratulations to those of the Duke of Edinburgh and distinguished mariners and yachtsmen who have written tributes which are reproduced in the preface to this edition.

The contents are much as before; innovations include additions to tidal information in the North Sea and Solent and some minor items such as plates on recognition of lights and shapes and flags of all nations; these latter in colour. In recent years colour has gradually been creeping in to Reed's and we look forward to the day when it reaches the cloud illustrations in the otherwise admirable Chapter XXI on weather forecasting.

Each year Reed's gets bigger; over a hundred pages have been added since 1977 when there were 1,196 pages; in the latest edition there are 1,298 and one wonders how soon the publishers will separate out the unchanging features in a separate volume, published as a companion to the almanac every second or third year. This might enable the price to be reduced.—K.M.

• At first sight The Macmillan and Silk Cut Nautical Almanac (Macmillan Press, £8.95) seems a big book for a small boat but on inspection with all the pilotage information included you have two books in one. It is a very comprehensive almanac, produced by a distinguished group of editors, for yachtsmen and generally for British and adjacent Continental coastal use. It is well laid out and easy to refer to. It has an astro navigation section and a very good colour section which includes cloud formations and most navigation lights as required by the International Regulations. Another feature is that times and heights of high and low water are given for all the standard ports, which should make life easier.

An aspiring yachtmaster will find this almanac a very satisfactory reference book providing good winter reading and, suitably covered with plastic, it should 'survive' the coming season afloat. Each copy sold produces a proportionate donation to the RNLI.—E.J.

• Having first read Heavy Weather Sailing by K. Adlard Coles (Adlard Coles, £12.50) while crossing the Atlantic in 1968 I realised then the value of the advice, experience and philosophy behind it. This revised third edition of Adlard Coles's classic remains as much a 'must' as it always has been. The book incorporates the 1979 Fastnet Gale analysis which is very relevant to the topic. The photography is superb and just a glance through the selection of pictures portraying the sea at its most awesome emphasises the wisdom of learning from the experience of others. One of the pictures is of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, lifeboat at sea during the Fastnet rescues.—E.J.

• A comprehensive history of the Moelfre lifeboats, Rescue, has been written by Aled Eames, who is a member of the British Committee of the International Commission for Maritime History and has recently been appointed Caird Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The book spans the years between 1830 and 1980, and describes some of the many rescues carried out by the station's lifeboats and their crews. Rescue is available from Moelfre station honorary secretary: Griffith E. Owens, Kings Head, Llanerchymedd, Anglesey, price £1.30 plus 25p postage and packing.—S.J.G.

• Ocean Sailing by Rob James (Nautical Publishing, £10.50) is an excellent book to fire a dream or to help a dream come true and must be of assistance to all sailors because the advice and tips given have resulted from the author's quite considerable experience in one of the hardest schools—the oceans of the world. More and more folks go ocean sailing and whether you are cruising or racing this readable, well illustrated book is recommended for the preparation stage.—E.J.

• Helicopter Rescue by John Chartres (Ian Allan, £9.95) tells the story of the helicopter from its early beginnings, with particular emphasis on its lifesaving role. It is a book for the general public rather than the expert and in his foreword Marshall of the Royal Air Force Sir Neil Cameron writes: '/ hope this book will be widely read not just by those who are interested anyway but by those who go collecting seagull eggs on dangerous cliffs, those who take to the sea with insufficient experience or briefing or those who try to climb mountains without either the right equipment or training.' Splendid action photographs, generous in size and often breathtaking in content, illustrate almost every page, and a number of the pictures show helicopters working with lifeboats.

In his concluding chapter, the author rejects the theory sometimes put forward by people without direct experience of search and rescue that the helicopter has made the lifeboat redundant and he emphasises the point by quoting the number of lives rescued by lifeboat in 1979. He recalls the many occasions when helicopter and lifeboat work together, achieving more than perhaps either could do alone, and reminds his readers that there are occasions when the lifeboat can cope with circumstances beyond the power of the helicopter: his examples is the rescue by Aberdeen lifeboat in 1974 of the crew of the trawler Netta Croan from which flames were leaping as she steamed in a circle at about 9 knots. For this rescue Coxswain Albert Bird and Motor Mechanic Ian Jack were awarded the silver medal for gallantry.

Helicopter Rescue deserves a place on the bookshelves of everyone interested in life saving.—J.D..