• WHEN TIM BATSTONE confronted the RNLI with the news that he intended to circumnavigate Great Britain on a sail board and raise money for the Institution, the reaction was decidedly mixed.

Should an organisation so concerned with safety at sea, put its name to a scheme which would rely entirely upon the survival of a young Oxford graduate and his frail windsurfer in some of the most treacherous waters in the world? Closer examination revealed, however, that the expedition was well planned, incorporating as many safety precautions as possible, and also that there were sufficient funds behind it, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Charles Heidsieck, the champagne company. In Round Britain Windsurf (David and Charles, £9.95) Tim Batstone quotes the RNLI's director, Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, who, in agreeing to become involved, said: 'windsurfing is obviously here to stay and we might as well learn to live with it'.

The book of the adventure is an excellent read and can be appreciated on at least three different levels. The day to day challenges faced by Tim Batstone as a windsurfer, both technical and physical, the agony and ecstasy of conquering the fickle moods of Great Britain's coastal waters aboard a thin sliver of fibreglass, will fascinate lovers of the sport. But there is no need ever to have set foot aboard this questionable means of transport to appreciate the book as a travelogue, depicting our beautiful coastline from a unique standpoint.

Finally, the adventure itself and the interaction between its participating characters (not least the colourful and supportive lifeboatmen encountered at every turn) often gives the reader more stamina to press on than even the lone windsurfer himself.

The book begins with a hair-raising account of a near disastrous windsurfing trial round the Isles of Scilly, made soon after Tim Batstone had started preparing for his round Britain trip. In a conversation about the book with the editor of THE LIFEBOAT, he imparts some of the lessons he has learned.

'My trip around the Isles of Scilly could have gone horribly wrong, it was rash really and it's slightly worrying because there are probably quite a lot of people who might have done something like that.

I hope that those who read what happened to me will be a lot warier about setting out on that sort of expedition.' Safety first Learning from his mistakes, safety became one of Tim Batstone's main concerns on his round Britain trip and it is something he urges all windsurfers to pay great attention to. He thinks however that the 'irresponsible' tag given by some to windsurfers is unfair:'Windsurfers generally do wear buoyancy aids. It may not be a full lifejacket, but it's certainly buoyancy; it's the cardinal rule of windsurfing. I don't think I've ever gone offshore without wearing a buoyancy aid. I'd point out that a lot of people on sailing boats go to sea without lifejackets and if you fall off a yacht it's a shock isn't it? The yacht's high up there, steaming off into the distance and straight away you're in trouble, only wearing a pair of jeans and T-shirt. At least on a windsurfer you expect to end up in the water because it happens all the time.

7 think people who are windsurfing offshore should take a simple pack of flares with them. They are not very expensive and there can be no question, once someone has sent up a red flare, that they are in trouble.

'The problem is that if a lot of beginners thought they had to take flares out with them, they wouldn't even dream of getting on the board. And a lot of people who get into trouble are beginners slightly overstretching what little they know. They may not have reached the stage of thinking "I'd better take flares with me".

'There are various signals you can use like waving your hands above your head, but in big seas you can't really be seen doing that. Even flares can fail; the important thing is to tell somebodv vou are going out, however integral or selfreliant you think vou are as a unit.

'An experienced observer can see, for instance, when a windsurfer is being blown further and further down wind and out to sea, a sure indication that the guy is sooner or later going to get exhausted and out of control—unless it's clear that he is sailing down wind deliberately.' Tim Batstone's marathon experience taught him to heed the signs that he was reaching the limit of his own endurance.

How should windsurfers recognise them? ' you spend more time in the water than on your board it's a fairly sure indication that you are not entirely happy.

It can happen to anybody; it's such a strenuous sport that it only requires being thrown in a few times violently by the wind to begin to knacker your muscles. Then if the wind gets up as well you may not be able to cope with the increase.

'If you are stupid enough to go out with the tide and wind against you then you are in trouble unless you are very good.

'There are so many factors to consider when you do coastal windsurfing. How rough the sea is, for one thing. It is actually hard when there's a swell and it's choppy. So, obviously, if you are a beginner, there's no point in going out if there's a rough sea. On the coast of Britain where there's hypothermia to think about and generally a tide, it's always a little bit dodgy.

'You probably would want to start children off in a lake or have them on a rope or attached to a buoy. That's a good way of starting because vou can't really get into too much trouble.' £40,000 raised Tim feels his trip has been of benefit both to windsurfing and the RNLI.

'It has proved you can safely do 2,000 miles on a windsurfer next to a rocky and difficult coastline. It has proved a windsurfer is quite a fast long-distance vehicle; I was averaging 5 knots which is a pretty respectable average speed over 2'/2 months. Putting together an expedition of that size also shows that windsurfers can be resourceful people.

'To have raised £40,000 for the RNLI to pav for a new lifeboat is a nice thing to have done. I hope I have helped to cement a good relationship between lifeboats and windsurfers and to make windsurfers aware of the RNLI.' As a further gesture Tim Batstone is giving the RNLI 20 per cent of his royalties for Round Britain Windsurf.

The book can be ordered (£9.95 plus £1.20 postage and packing) from RNLI Trading Ltd, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ.—E.W-W.• Lick your lips after dipping into Boatopia (Robert Royce, £10.95) and you will taste the salt on them. The book is a homage to the sea and seafaring and one which John Masefield would surely have kept beside his bed as an antidote to sea fever. And, naturally, included among Godfrey Howard's compilation of texts nautical is Masefield's famous poem, its first immortal verse seeming to be the inspiration of Franchise Legrand's meticulous black and white photographs, the book's raison d'etre.

For these are photographs with a difference; sharp, sharp focus on rivets in the hull of a Mediterranean merchantman; scrutiny of the forward fairlead of an east coast lifeboat with observance paid to every fixing screw; and everywhere a near obsession with rigging and cable. Be it mooring line, halyard or mainstay, every fibre and sinew is captured by Miss Legrand's camera. The effect is to bring the smell of hemp, of fish, of tar out of the page and give to the reader a distinct sense of: 'the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking and a gray mist on the sea's face and a gray dawn breaking.' There has been generous waiving of copyright rules by publishers of numerous maritime works which has allowed Godfrey Howard to reproduce a rich collection of extracts to enhance Boatopia 's salty flavour. Lifeboat literature is not ignored and amongst other passages, a part of the famous and moving speech by Winston Churchill at the RNLI's 100th anniversary dinner is included. To show their support for the work of lifeboatmen, the authors of the book are donating 55% of their royalties to the RNLI.—E.W-W.

• Two welcome additions to the growing library of lifeboat station histories are Anstruther Lifeboat Station: 1865-1985 by Michael Welsh and The Bridlington Lifeboats by Ralph S. Fawscett.

Both are attractively presented, with colour covers and fine selections of black and white photographs inside.Anstruther Lifeboat Station records that the station was founded at a public meeting whose hour would be intimated "by tuck of drum". Six coxswains and four crews were formed from the community of fishermen, to ensure the lifeboat could always be manned. In the summer, when the fishermen were away in the herring fleets, a crew was formed of carpenters and blacksmiths. They started an unbroken record of lifesaving though not a completely smooth one. In 1903 a meeting was convened to complain about the lifeboat. Fishing boats and freighters were the main casualties then and still cause many lifeboat calls at Anstruther. The book describes the station's boats, crews and some of its most difficult rescues. It is available at £2.70, inclusive of post and packing from Michael Welsh, Dean Bank, Kilrenny, Anstruther, Fife.

Bridlington, too, has a long lifeboat history, having first had a lifeboat built by Henry Greathead in 1806. It was not until 1853 that the RNLI took over the station. Again, there were troubles as an RNLI lifeboat was not popular with the fishermen, who operated their own lifeboat. In the great gale of 1871, over 30 ships foundered in Bridlington Bay and both boats were used, the fishermens's lifeboat putting out time and again until she was capsized and six of her crew were lost. Following the gale, she was repaired, the RNLI sent a new lifeboat and another private lifeboat was bought. Bridlington now had 3 lifeboats! As well as a proud medal record, The Bridlington Lifeboats lists a number of tragedies suffered at the station. It can be obtained from A. Edwards, 7 St Martins Drive, Bridlington, Humberside for £1.25 plus 40p post and packing.

—R.K.

• Wayland Publishers' latest book in their 999 series, The Sea Rescue Services by Fiona Corbridge (£3.95), is perhaps badly titled as half the book deals with coastguards, leaving little space fully to explain lifeboats and helicopters - the main rescue vehicles. However, the book, aimed at schools and children, is well written and illustrated with descriptive photographs, both colour and black and white. As befits a school book, there is a useful glossary, a list of books for further reading and addresses where further information may be sought.—R.K.

• The RNLI will receive 20p for every copy sold of a booklet by H.

Chetwynd-Chatwin, CE FI Mech E entitled Yacht Buyers/Owners Guide to Osmosis in GRP Yachts. Copies are available at £1.99 from the author at Trecarrel, Penpol, Truro, Cornwall.

• Cyril Jolly's biography of the legendary coxswain, Henry Blogg of Cromer, first published in 1958 is now available in paperback at £5.50 plus 50p post and packing from the author at Teazel Patch, Gressenhall, Dereham, Norfolk.NEW FILM LIFEBOATS TO THE RESCUE JS a HCW film made for schools but suitable for audiences of any age. It takes a lively look at the RNLI, the lifeboats and the lifeboatmen with television and radio personality Ray Moore as narrator.

The film starts with historic footage including shots of rowing and sailing lifeboats. A party of young people are shown over the Swanage Rother class lifeboat which then launches on exercise for a man overboard drill, rocket line practice and launch of a small inflatable.

Co-operation with a coastguard cliff rescue team is shown when an injured child at the bottom of steep cliffs is placed in a stretcher and taken to safety in an Atlantic 21 lifeboat.

Then Weymouth lifeboat, seen earlier in the film when a school party is enrolled into Storm Force (the RNLI's junior membership scheme), launches to rescue a windsurfer. The boy had set out in relatively calm conditions but met rough water, fell off his board and became exhausted. The lifeboat plucks him from a choppy sea, he is given a drink of warm soup and a moving final sequence sees the lifeboat and the boy returning to Weymouth harbour.

Lifeboats to the Rescue was produced by Trevor Evans and directed by Martin Carter. They, and the film crews, narrator Ray Moore, musicians Kid Creole, Gerry Rafferty and Andreas Vollenweider, and almost everybody else involved in the film gave their services free. Nonetheless, there were certain unavoidable expenses which were met by sponsors, Batchelors Cup-a-Soup, who donate Cup-a-Soup to the RNLI for use on lifeboats.

Lifeboats to the Rescue is available on free loan on 16mm film, VHS and Beta video cassettes from: VISCOM, Parkhall Road Trading Estate, London SE21.—R.K..