"Coot Club" by Arthur Ransome

The Ds (Dick and Dorothea Callum) whom we first met in Winter Holiday skating on the Lake with the Swallows and the Amazons, are in the Norfolk Broads, hoping to learn to sail. They meet the members of the Coot Club: Tom Dudgeon the doctor's son, the twins Port and Starboard, and the 'Death and Glory' pirates Joe, Bill and Pete, Tom casts adrift a motor cruiser full of noisy tourists (the 'Hullabaloos') because they are moored across a coot's nest and then has to flee from their revenge, taking refuge with the Ds. The Hullabaloos then hunt Tom through the Broads as he and the twins teach the Ds to sail. 

Lots and lots of yachtsmanship, therefore. The usual meticulous detail. And some wonderful Norfolk characters. But the excitement in this book comes principally from the boats: tidal rivers present dangers and challenges the Lake never did, such as lowering the mast to get under a bridge, hitting the bank or running aground, fog, or being caught by the tide and being swept into an obstacle and wrecked.

Some great moments:

• "Takes all sorts to make a world, but fare to me as we could do without some of 'em." (Ch 8)
• "When the 'Come Along' says "Come Along," they got to come along." (Ch 28)

May 2021; 346 pages

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

The Swallows and Amazon series contained twelve books:

• Swallows and Amazons: Children camping on an island in a lake have sailing based adventures
• Swallowdale: More sailing adventures are threatened when the Swallow sinks
• Peter Duck: The Swallows and Amazons and Captain Flint sail on a big yacht into the Caribbean in search of pirate treasure; pirates pursue
• Winter Holiday: the lake freezes allowing a sledge-based expedition to the 'north pole'; the 'D's are introduced
• Coot Club: The Ds join the Death and Glory kids in the Norfolk Broads but the excitement is just as great when birds have to be protected from rowdies.
• We Didn't Mean to go to Sea: The Swallows accidentally find themselves at sea in a yacht they scarcely know: for my money this is the most dramatic and exciting book of the series.
• Secret Water: The Swallows are joined by the Amazons in an expedition to map some tidal mud-flats
• The Big Six: The Death and Glory kids have to be cleared of accusations of crime; the Ds help.
• Missee Lee: The Swallows and Amazons and Captain Flint are shipwrecked near China and captured by a lady Chinese pirate with a taste for Latin.
• Pigeon Post: The Swallows and Amazons and Ds search for gold in the hills above the Lake; one of my favourites
• The Picts and the Martyrs: The Ds have to hide in the hills when the Great Aunt comes to stay with the Amazons
• Great Northern: The Swallows and Amazons and Ds and Captain Flint are protecting birds in the far north of Scotland