Yachting Monthly’s deputy editor Miles Kendall is well known in the office for his very British sense of humour and caustic wit.

Now his irony and scathing observation is about to become better known via the pages of The Sailing Companion, with more than 2,000 miscellaneous facts and yachtsman’s yarns.

It’s guaranteed to liven up debate among weather-bound crew gathered around the cabin table.

Did you know it takes 12 parts of tar to one part of rubber and 20 parts of insect resin to make glue for deck seams? That more than 57,000 pints of Guinness are downed during the London Boat Show and that Ellen MacArthur slept 891 times during her non-stop Vendée Globe circumnavigation – her average time asleep being just 36 minutes?

The Sailing Companion, edited by Miles Kendall, published by Robson Books at £9.99

As a special offer, YM readers can buy The Sailing Companion for £8.99 plus free P&P (UK only) by calling 0870 787 1613 and quoting ref CH307.