The DCA Lending Library


​​The first reference to the DCA Library was in 1955 when the Journal mentioned that one Admiralty chart of the Isle of Wight was available for borrowing. Postage was 6d each way, paid by the borrower. For two decades there were no more than 19 books in the library, all but two were pilot books and tidal stream atlases. In the next two decades the library increased, reaching 425 books by 1991, including 92 pilot books. A decade later in 2000, library usage was first quantified. By then the books had reached 600. Borrowing peaked with 300+ items borrowed per year; 6 items per week.  About half of these were back copies of the Journal but now that back copies are available on CD, this no longer occurs.
In 2017/18 many of the older books were returned to members or disposed of in other ways as it was clear they would not be read again. So the current library has just 150 books on the shelf. Members may borrow these postage free and they can also request the Librarian to obtain any book they require and he will endeavour to obtain it through the secondhand book market. That gives members access to an online stock of some 10,000 sailing related books!  The early enthusiasm for charts and pilot books seems to have been replaced by a desire for journey / adventure / struggle against adversity books. So why not dip into the DCA Library and see what you can find?
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The DCA Library
The DCA Library Catalogue groups books into the following sections and gives publication dates and some idea of content:
  • Dinghy Cruising, Camping and Living Aboard, Cooking
  • Dinghy Sailing, Racing, Rigs, Sails and Techniques
  • Seamanship, Boat Handling, Navigation, Safety, Tides and Meteorology
  • Boat Types / Classes, Equipment, Trailers, Engines and Electrics
  • Boat Building and Design, Plans, Modifications, Repair and Maintenance
  • Canoeing, Inflatables and "Underwater"
  • Lakes, Rivers and Inland Waterways
  • Pilots, Guides, Cruising Areas, Charts and Launching Sites
  • Voyages, Cruises, Travels and Biographical
  • Maritime History, Shipbuilding and the Fishing Industry
  • Sailing and Cruising - General, and Miscellaneous Articles and Magazine Extracts
  • Magazines, Leaflets, Plans, DVDs and CD-ROMS

How to borrow a book

To borrow something from the Library,   send the title and author of the book you have selected to the    DCA LIbrarian ,   Matthew Sullivan,  together with your name, address, membership number and email address. 

Postage is free both ways. The books will be posted with a return, postage-paid  envelope included. The books may be retained nominally for a month but in practice until someone else wants them.

Back copies of the Journal

The Library has a two full sets of DCA Bulletins and Journals, so you can borrow a back copy if you wish. However you can purchase a CD-ROM   for £10 from the   DCA Shop   which   contains copies of the Journal from No 1 to 234. That is from the first one in 1955 to summer 2017. There is also a combined index of all articles, grouped roughly by subject. Each index entry contains a direct link to the relevant Journal. Searching by author or title is easy. Each Journal can also be searched using a relevant word.   The  use of CDs is being phased out, so  you can now buy as an alternative a  USB stick with  copies of the Journal from 1 to 248, i.e. to the end of 2020.

Interesting and useful recent additions to the DCA Library

  1. Beachcruising and Coastal Camping, by Ida Little and Michael Walsh
  2. The Practical Encyclopedia of Sailing, by Jeremy Evans
  3. The Coastal Cruising Handbook, by Joseph Harand
  4. The Complete Day Skipper, by Steve Reeve
  5. Knots in Use: Knots, Bends, Hitches, Whippings and Splices, by Colin Jarman
  6. The RYA Navigation Handbook, by Tim Bartlett
  7. The Essential Boat Maintenance Manual, by Jeff Toghill
  8. The Run of the Tide: Forty Years of Coastal and Channel Cruising in Wooden Boats,
    ​by CWR Winter
  9. Curlew Coast: Diversions on Maritime Suffolk, by Judith Ellis