By Derek Aslett
This very successful book has now been re-issued in its third edition, and is bang up to date – for instance it includes a photo of the spinnaker tower in Portsmouth with its awful blue and gold paints, and also includes a photo of the new breakwater just off Cowes.
But the key question is, how useful is it? Well, for those who have only a passing acquaintance with the Solent, I would say “very”. It goes methodically through all the harbours in the Solent which one could possibly enter, and its factual information on the facilities in each harbour is second to none.
A weakness? It does not make any mention of the hazards to be found there, and they are numerous – the submarine barrier, Ryde sands, the Shingles Bank, to name but three – and the Bramble Bank only gets a passing mention as the venue for a few people to throw a cricket ball at each other at low water Springs.
But this is a good buy, despite its hefty price tag of £34.99. JC
fernhurstbooks.com
