IN TIDAL WATERS by Francis B. Cooke Another collection of cruising yarns by one of our favourite cruisers. From the Preface: "Those whose ideas of yachting have been derived from lounging on the deck of a large steamyacht at Cowes during the Regatta Week, with an obsequious steward in attendance, will probably find little to interest them in these pages, as the cruises described were for the most part carried out in what the East Coast waterman usually terms “little old tore-outs.” The boats were certainly inexpensive, and in some cases not even seaworthy; but in the golden days of youth all our geese are swans, and I spent in them some of the happiest days of my life. It is not by any means the man with the longest purse who gets the most fun out of yachting, and no youngster with a fancy for the sea need be deterred from taking up the sport by any mistaken ideas as to its cost. The expense will be just what he likes to make it, for it is merely a question of cutting the coat according to the cloth. Many of these little sailing sketches and reminiscences originally appeared in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, The Yachting World, and The Yachtsman. The events recorded being mainly based upon fact, or at any rate having a strong substratum of truth, I have thought it desirable for obvious reasons to change in some instances the names of yachts, persons, and places.--F.B.C." HOME PAGE