23 APRIL 1948, Page 28

A Capful of Wind. By Aubrey de Selincourt. Illustrated by

Guy de Selincourt. (Methuen. 12s. 6d.) WHAT Cardus has done for cricket, and Arnold Lunn for ski-ing, Mr. de Selincourt, assisted by delightful illustrations, does for the amateur yachtsman " and others who care for the creeks, harbours and waterways of England." His style is as easy and intimate as that of Robert Louis Stevenson. Even when he is scrubbing and reconditioning a yacht's bottom he keeps something of the poet in his composition. " But the paint—the anti-fouling composition— smells delicious. There may be two or three other smells which come near it ; tarred rope, for instance, roasting coffee beans, or a hot June hayfield. But they don't beat it." His senses are always alert ; his eye is always keen. Wherever he chooses to rake us we seem to go.. " I like the Lymington river. It is best, I think, to find a mooring if you can just inside the entrance. Moored there, you are almoSt at sea, yet sheltered." This book should be read not only by yachtsmen but all who are interested in that elusive art—sometimes it seems a lost art—of being happy.