The FirstShift book: Volumes 1 and 2 are here, and paid subscribers, of course, get them free

Since April the FirstShift essays have run to well over 150,000 words. In an archive they sit in the order I wrote them, which is rarely the order a crew needs them in. So I have rebuilt them as books.

The first two volumes are finished.

Volume 1, The Fast Boat, is about speed you can find without buying a new boat! Sailing the sea state rather than the number on the mast. Making the instruments tell the truth. Building a polar for the boat you actually sail. Then the sails, rig and rope that turn wind into corrected time. 244 pages.

Volume 2, The Right Water, is about where the boat goes and why. GRIBs and routing software, the two winds, GPS spoofing and AIS, then seven race guides, from the Round the Island to the Rolex Sydney Hobart. 308 pages.

Every chapter has been revised for the page and checked again, not simply lifted from the newsletter. Each volume has a clickable contents page, coloured part tabs so you can find your place, a subject index, and an At the chart table box at the end of most chapters for the night before a race. Each race guide opens with an at a glance page.

This one is for you.

Paid subscribers get both volumes free, today, and each new edition as I revise them. The downloads are below. Volume 1 also carries the password for the polar toolkit, so the workbook and the converter come with it.

If you are reading this as a free subscriber, the simplest way to have them is to subscribe. Otherwise, both volumes will be available at firstshiftsailing.com, as a one-off digital download or as a printed book on demand at a one off price in the next few months.

Volume 3, The Strong Crew, and Volume 4, The Sport, will follow.