Sailor's Book of the Weather, The

Publisher: Wiley Nautical, £14.99
Publication Date: 2008

Most of us who teach RYA courses agree that weather, in particular the physics of the atmosphere with its three dimensional nature and complex interdependency of temperature, density, pressure and humidity, is the most difficult part of the syllabus to deal with. Also, in my experience, many texts on meteorology fail in dealing with this aspect of the subject. This then is where a weather book should be judged - can it deliver an understanding of how weather works? The present volume doesn't baulk at dealing with the difficult stuff which is presented in a light and readable style that may ease the pain, though serious application is still required. Other elements of sailors’ weather: depressions, fronts, cloud types, sea breezes, radiation and advection fog, isobaric charts, sources of forecast (good section on the internet), and so on, are dealt with in a clear and straightforward style, some perhaps in greater detail than is really necessary for the reader who does not have a specific interest in meteorology - few yachtsmen nowadays will want to plot their own weather charts. Perhaps the writer is more of a meteorologist than a sailor; nearly all the photographs feature inland locations and some aspects of what is normally considered the marine side of meteorology like sea state, wave characteristics and the Beaufort Scale, are not included. On the whole, though, this book, produced in an attractive high quality paperback format, can be recommended as providing a well illustrated and lucid exposition of its subject. - BMF