An excellent book for learning about sailboats and sailing in short order. The book is well laid-out and has lots of excellent high quality photos from various perspectives to illustrate equipment, setup and techniques. This is the best book I have found for getting informed about sailing basics in a hurry. Well worth the price even if you just want to learn about sailboats and not even sail.

It would be hard to imagine a more complete, user-friendly, and enjoyable text on beginner sailing will exist for many years to come. This book is one of those lush photo-illustrated productions that Dorling Kindersley and other British publishers are famous for: the future of the book in the age of computer and television will be assured if this type of publishing becomes widespread.
That said, there are a couple of caveats for the self-learner and beginner. The first is that the author does not clearly point out the distinction between sailing dinghies, that is, small racers or day-sailors without weighted keels or cabins, and keelboats, which are not covered. Many of the techniques and warnings found in the text do not apply to keelboats, such as pulling up your centerboard on different points of sail. Also, capsize on a keelboat is uncommon and the techniques for righting dinghies will simply not work if the boat hasn't already righted itself. And there is the usual problem of a British book using British terminology: in America the "kicking strap" is the "boom vang". The book is written from the point of view of a British instructor teaching "by the book" to a British audience preparing for formal dinghy racing, which means there is some emphasis on issues such as specialized clothing, but it's good to see the whole technique laid out this way--few other books have done it.

The book is an easy read with the most appropriate of illustrations. This is the best manual for beginners I have ever seen. Though designed as a self-teach manual for beginners the book is best used as a manual by both instructor and student as training boats vary everywhere and not all readers may have access to the same dinghy design as the Laser 2 used in the book. The instructor would benefit from the well laid out schedule of activities that a trainee interested in basic sailing skills should undergo. An interested student on the other hand would be more comfortable with the daunting sailing terms they usually encounter in training classes as the book explains them well and the manual organizes training activities such that they are easy to follow.