FALMOUTH has long been home, albeit temporarily at times, to some of the world's most beautiful yachts.

The Pendennis Shipyard has cared for many of them while across the water at Olga Polizzi's Tresanton Hotel in St Mawes, the magnificent yacht Pinuccia can often be seen on her moorings.

Yachts like her, and the many which Pendennis have restored over the years, simply ooze affluence - and it's yachting magnets like their owners who are likely to have on their coffee tables, the superb limited edition, four-colour deluxe book which provides an insight into the lives, designs and passions of one of the most prolific and successful line of yacht designers - all named Germn Frers.

Barry Pickthall's well-researched tome is for the dedicated; the price tag of £65.00 sees to that.

But it is a book to delight all Frers yacht owners; those who have crewed on them, and all students of yacht design... a combination which inevitable brings us back to the waters of the River Fal.

Germn Frers - A Passion for Design - published by South Atlantic Publishing - traces the work of the top names within an elite group of international yacht designers.

The lavish 207-page book also charts the story of the Frers Argentine design dynasty, and was written unash-amedly to fuel one's desire to own a beautiful boat.

The Frers name was synonymous with grace, artistry and speed - a design heritage spanning three generations that to date, has been responsible for the launching of more than 10,000 boats from dinghies to day keelboats, distinctive cruisers to successful racers, powerboats and superyachts.

For further details, contact Fernhurst Books, of Duke's Path, High Street, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 9AJ, or South Atlantic Publishing, a division of PPL Ltd, at Booker's Yard, The Street, Walberton, Sussex, BN18 0PF.

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Dateline: Thursday, May 1, 2003