The first edition of the English Channel Passage Planning Guide was published in February 1981, over a year ahead of the July 1982 routing changes, to familiarize navigators with this new type of publication and to gain experience from users. Edition 2 was published on 2 April 1982 to give advance warning of the full details of the new routing measures; it includes many suggestions from those who answered the questionnaire printed at intervals in Admiralty Notices to Mariners. Even before publication of Edition 1 we had had much useful advice from various professional bodies and, throughout, we have tried to meet the known wishes of those who would be using the Guide.

Format is not the most important feature but it is one on which strong views were expressed. Edition 1 was plainly over-large and unwieldy. We have now reduced the width to standard chart size and completely redesigned the panels to permit folding to a size of about 10 × 14 inches. This compromise between chart and booklet should combine the virtues of a chart (quick correction and filing with other charts where its existence will not be overlooked) and some of the virtues of a booklet (folded, it will not cover the whole of a standard chart which may be in use at the same time).