 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| | |||||||
| ||||||||
New Editions for 2009Click on the covers below to find out more about the areas covered in each edition:
Over 45,000 updates and changes in the 2009 editions! Tides chapter has been moved next to the navigation chapter for more convenient passage planning, and the layout improved. Collision Regulations: for completeness all rules are listed, most with explanations. New section on AIS (Automatic Identification System) and an explanation of its role in collision avoidance. New service: Navtex now reports Actual weather at coastal stations in the southern UK using Niton.
Recommended safety equipment updated in accordance with latest MCA/RYA advice.
SOLAS V requirements for leisure craft updated.
Many sections revised to reflect current First Aid training and practice ( with advice from Coastguard paramedic ).
Dental section fully revised ( with advice from dental practitioner ).
Passage information — a vital planning tool — is now threaded into the relevant places within the individual harbours, marinas and anchorages sections. It will make the navigator's task easier with this information readily to hand.
Ferry table updated and incorporated into the harbour entries for ease of reference.
Tidal Stream thumbnails are now referred to the same Standard Port as on the relevant Admiralty Charts. ( Where a thumbnail covers a wider area, it is referred to Dover. ) All clearances under bridges, cables etc. are now shown above HAT ( instead of MHWS ).
Lights, Buoys, and Waypoints section trimmed to show only major lights and marks, including leading lights, to make the section less cluttered and to make more space available for Passage Information.
All harbour ratings ( which rank ease of access, facilities and attractiveness ) have been reviewed.
In SE England, passage information expanded to show the Voluntary Separation Scheme used by ferries in the Dover Strait.
In E England, area map updated to show the new Sunk Precautionary Areas.
Many changes in layout for NW Scotland and Submarine operation areas brought up to date.
Information about the movements and behaviour of supertankers and other leviathans, in order to help small craft operators keep out of their way.
Improved coverage of the IJesselmeer with a new chartlet of Medemblik.
The southern boundary of N Brittany has been extended from Douarnenez to the Pointe de Penmarc'h, enabling readers to make passage from L'Aberwrac'h to Audierne without having to change to another Area in the Almanac. S Brittany section now starts at Loctudy and continues to St Nazaire.
Details of new or extended small craft facilities or marinas at Falmouth, Torquay, Portland, Lowestoft, Loch Fyne, Holy Loch, Hook of Holland, Ouistreham, Brest, St Nayaire, Les Sables d'Olonne, Rio del Orio, Santana, Lar Coruna, and Ponta Delgada.
Details of the drastically altered entrance to Oostende, Port Medoc, Gijon and land reclamation at Gibraltar ( resulting in reduced space for small craft ).
In addition we have continued to improve the design and appearance of the Almanacs to make them look fresher, more appealing, more modern and, most important of all, easier for the seafarer to find their way to the information they need.
All the Reeds Alamanc series come with a free Reeds Marina Guide containing detailed marina plans for the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands, plus a comprehensive directory of marine services and suppliers. In 2007 we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first publication in 1932 of Reeds Nautical Almanac, now universally known as plain Reeds. The first compiler, editor and the moving light behind this venture was Captain O M Watts, one of the youngest Merchant Navy officers ever to hold a Master's certificate, aged 23. Oswald M Watts (Ossie to his friends) left the sea in 1927 and for a time delivered yachts and taught navigation. The publisher, Harold Brunton-Reed, and editor shook hands - as Watts described it, 'the only agreement we ever made'. The first edition was published on 1 January 1932 and cost 2/6 (two shillings and six pence, or 12·5 pence in today's money). Reeds finest hour came in 1944, when the government ordered 3000 extra copies of the Almanac for use in vessels involved in the D-Day Normandy landings. After the war, O M Watts continued to edit Reeds until his retirement in 1981, and thereafter as consultant editor until his death in 1985. In the late 1980s Reeds was sold by the Brunton-Reed family to a new publisher, Thomas Reed Publications, with a new editorial team. Coincidentally in 1981 Macmillan Publishers launched the first edition of the then Macmillan & Silk Cut Nautical Almanac. 2006 is also the 25th anniversary of the Macmillan Nautical Almanac, which owes much of its success to the same clear-headed skills of its founding editors as O M Watts brought to the task half a century earlier. Within 10 years this new Almanac had overhauled Reeds, which in 1993 foundered over a copyright infringement and ceased publication in 1994. In 1999 Nautical Data Ltd acquired the Almanac from Macmillan and re-named it Reeds Nautical Almanac. The well-liked Macmillan style and clear-cut layout was retained and still forms the basis of all subsequent editions. Since December 2003 Reeds has been owned by Adlard Coles Nautical, under whose famous name we are confident that the Almanac will go from strength to strength. 'Reeds was so important to us that when we had our gaff cutter, Grace O'Malley, built in 1987, we asked the builder to construct a special rack to hold it in place near the chart table. Alas, on the day of launching, we found that it had been built slightly too small and Reeds would not fit. The boatbuilder came up with the perfect solution - he took hold of Reeds, put it in a vice, and took a plane to it and shaved it sufficiently to fit perfectly. We have a picture of him doing it.' 'At the age of 10 I was planning imaginary voyages using my fathers Reeds. Over the 50 years since, I have trusted Reeds for many factual ocean and coastal voyages.' Bryan Willis (Chairman, Americas Cup Jury) 'In 1932 I was only 7 and the sea was just something for swimming in. Immediately post-war as a Subby on minesweepers in the Indian Ocean I had a "professional" interest in navigation having to wrestle with sun-run-mer.alt. etc. In the ensuing years, with the small-mariner's interest in navigation, Reeds has proved to be an indispensible aid even acting as a reference for those, like me, writing specifically on weather. Long may it continue.' Alan Watts (Author and journalist) 'All beginnings are difficult, therefore remember
.. A little knowledge is dangerous, but no knowledge is even worse. To this end the almanac over the years as become not only a great guide but a necessity! Vision - When it is dark enough we can see the stars.' Stokey Woodall (ocean sailor, author, teacher in celestial navigation and company director of Britain's premier ocean sailing school International Ocean Services) 'When it was hardback and about 4in thick it was just Reeds, no other description was necessary. Good to see it has survived the changes and competition, but it needs a padded cover — still damages your foot if it slides off the chart table.' Colin Jarman (Sailing writer and photographer) 'One aged memory of Reeds is that, having bought the new edition, one had to get rid of the old one. It could not be kept on board otherwise you might look up tide tables for the wrong year. But it somehow looked too good to throw away and so you took it home and added it to a dust attracting and rarely looked at collection.' Basil Mosenthal (Author) 'I don't quite remember buying the first edition of Reeds. Certainly from 1952 for me the prime reason to go to the London Boat Show was to obtain next years edition of Reeds so planning the summer cruises could begin in earnest. From 1976, when Pat Price and I started evening classes in navigation in Central London, it was necessary to draw on Reeds frequently for extracts of tidal information and details of entry into UK ports. In 1980 Jeremy Howard-Williams latched on to what we were doing and commanded us to put it all in book form. 'Members of the RNSA have used Reeds since its inception and it remains one of the most reliable publications of its type. I am sure that the Flag Officers and members of the Central Committee join me in wishing Reeds a Happy Birthday and many more years of successful publication.' Tim Norman-Walker (General Secretary, Royal Naval Sailing Association) 'From its inception an important part of the almanac was a comprehensive section on astro-navigation, contributed by the famous Captain O.M. Watts. His well-considered system enabled small-boat navigators to handle astro without the need to carry bulky sets of tables. Times changed, and in the early nineties the astro section was removed. Not unexpectedly there was a chorus of complaint from faithful users; so in 1997 it was decided to publish the astro information in a separate volume, originally called The Heavenly Bodies. Nowadays, under the Adlard Coles imprint, this continues, in a modernised form, as Reeds Astro Navigation Tables for Yachtsmen, and is appreciated by mariners world-wide who wish to practise the art of sextant navigation and to back up their electronic equipment.' Harry Baker (Editor, Reeds Astro Navigation Tables for Yachtsmen) |
