Paul Heiney is a well-known writer and broadcaster whose ocean sailing started with a voyage to the Azores which led to his participation in the OSTAR, the singlehanded transatlantic race, in a particularly gruelling year. More recently, he has completed a cruise from the UK to Cape Horn and back - a round trip of 18,000 miles of which he sailed 11,000 miles alone. His account of this trip was published in his much-acclaimed book One Wild Song (Adlard Coles). He is a member of the Ocean Cruising Club and currently Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club.

This is the reassuring voice of the ocean sailing community. Your big adventure starts here.

For many sailors, an ocean passage is the big dream. But many will worry that they don't have the right experience, that their boat isn't strong enough, or that it will be prohibitively expensive and difficult.

Ocean Sailing will prepare you for an ocean passage by painting a picture of what ocean sailing is really like, through the experiences of others who have gone before. Topics covered range from safety to boat kit and preparations, budgeting to staying in touch with home, equipment breakdowns to health and weather.

Members of three great cruising clubs - the Royal Cruising Club, Ocean Cruising Club, and the Cruising Club of America - share their vast wealth of experience, and by focusing on the practicalities of ocean sailing, allay the anxieties and doubts of prospective ocean cruisers to ensure a deeply satisfying ocean voyage.

Well-written, well-illustrated and beautifully presented... an A-Z of ocean sailing... It clearly comes with the benefit of huge experience and a great deal of careful thought, as you would expect from a Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club. The third-party accounts are interesting and enjoyable, as well as being instructive and very humbling.

The book I had been looking for... you feel as though you are sitting in a cockpit sharing a sundowner with friends, exchanging ideas and experiences. If you take a little from each story, you will find yourself well-armed with ideas and that much closer to your dream of crossing oceans.

Ocean Sailing will prepare you for an ocean passage by painting a picture of what ocean sailing is really like, through the experiences of others who have gone before.