Covering the topics of safety, seamanship, sail trim, equipment, maintenance, engines, Colregs and cruising, the PBO Skipper’s Handbook is a handy guide for all sailors.

Features include check lists, helpful tips and advice for keeping crew safe, a section on foriegn affairs and how to avoid being caught out by differing rules and regulations when you sail across the Channel and beyond.

Other topics include ‘Colregs made simple’ with guidance on how to avoid fast-approaching ships, radar collision avoidance and right of way, engine advice such as ‘How to bleed a diesel engine’, and sail trimming tips from PBO boat tester David Harding.

Plus equipment essentials, advice on anchoring , ‘pointers to bad weather’ and what to do in fog, fire safety and life-saving signals.

More than a decade’s knowledge

PBO Skipper’s Handbook Editor Ben Meakins said: ‘Based on the series of Skipper’s Check Cards published in PBO over the past 12 years, we’ve updated and collected together the best and most useful tips and aides-memoire into this quick-reference booklet that you can keep somewhere handy on board your boat.

‘Can you identify the cloud formations that precede an approaching cold front? Do you know the sequence in which to string your signal flags when dressing overall? Or do you know what a Seeschifffahrtsstraßen-Ordnung is… and whether you’ll need one when cruising in Germany?

‘The Skipper’s Handbook has 64 pages of expert advice on this and much more. Its aim is to help keep you and your boat in top working order and safe at sea.’

• Please note: The print version of the guide has sold out since it went on sale, 22 April 2014.

Digital issues are still available on all devices via the Zinio app, and on Apple devices via the Practical Boat Owner app, where it can be downloaded as an in-app purchase.