Wherever the authors of this book voyaged the Atlantic Caribbean or Pacific they made a habit of noting down the little bits and large chunks of emergency experience they encountered Some of these problems and solutions were their own and some came to them from other yachtsmen gamming on the dock in bars and in the cockpits of each other s boats rolling gently in foreign harbors Most of these tips short cuts makeshift procedures alternative rigs and the like came from firsthand experience There were solutions that had to be found ingenuity sparked by the implacable urgency of crisis Some other material has been collected from secondary sources mostly tables and reference materials that an experienced sailor can also find in various other publications but may not be able to locate quickly in a crisis situation That is the reason the publishers went to extra expense to bind the hard covers of this book in a luminous material that glowsin the dark Take off the dust jacket and test it in a dark place say in your boat s bilges at 0300 hours with the floorboards floating This book is organized so the information in it can be found and taken in quickly It is alphabetical by topic and thoroughly cross referenced to related topics or alternative terminology All the crucial procedures and rigs are illustrated with clear diagrams that use color to show the essential points quickly In truth of course this is a book to browse through when you are safely in harbor at home or lazing along on a broad reach before the crisis arises The more you know about emergency seamanship the more you will appreciate the depth of experience here and very possibly will be tempted tow rite to the authors suggesting even better rigs you invented or heard about than some they chose to include