What this site is all about

There are many textbooks on meteorology aimed at the sailing public. Some, to my mind, concentrate too much on the science and not enough on the understanding and use of forecasts. Notable exceptions are

• Alan Watts' first book, Wind and Sailing Boats (probably out of print, but worth borrowing from a library). This has some good descriptions of coastal and orographic effects. Despite some weakness in the theory, it is a very practical work based on experience sailing dinghies

in Chichester harbour and as a forecaster at Thorney Island. The book deals,  largely,  with relatively small scale effects.

• The RYA books aimed specifically at the RYA Yachtmaster and Coastal Skipper syllabus. These have some weaknesses regarding the theory but, like Wind and Sailing Boats, have some good practical information.

• Macmillan Reed's Yachtsman's Handbook, this most complete and useful reference book for all matters concerned with sailing is a must on board all yachts. There is a comprehensive section on the weather written initially by Keith Best and revised by myself for the 2001 edition.

This site also contains bits and pieces of weather information not all of which can be found in the text books.

My Background - why I feel qualified to run this site

My wife and I sailed racing dinghies (mainly Fireflies) for many years. As our knees began to wear out, we migrated to cruising. We did much bare boat chartering including the Caribbean (10 trips and about 2500 miles) and one brief week in Turkey. Having had enough of spending the first day or two finding where everything was kept and how everything worked (or did not), we bought, first, a Jeanneau Sunlight 31, a very good boat indeed. We migrated to a Hallberg Rassy 34. In our own yachts we have now sailed nearly 31,000 miles (out of a total of over 37,000).  

I am a RYA Yachtmaster (Offshore) and sit on a MCA Marine Safety Information Group by invitation of the CYCC.

Until 1999 our cruising area was mainly the Channel, Biscay and the Atlantic coasts of Iberia. During 2000 we sailed from Dartmouth round Spain and Portugal as far as Barcelona. In 2001 we cruised Mediterranean France, Corsica, Sardinia and a little of N Italy.  In 2002 it was the Baléares.  2003 saw us back in Sardinia via the Gulf of Genoa. In 2004 we finished up in Malta via a rather circuitous route. In 2005 we sailed the length of the Adriatic and had the joy of sailing our own boat into Venice. After that it was down the Adriatic to Preveza in the Ionians. Then, in 2007, the Ionians, Gulfs of Patras and Corinth before getting to the Tiber for the Winter.

 Anyone sufficiently interested in these cruises is invited to see our Dartmouth to Barcelona, 2000,   Barcelona to Corsica and Sardinia via the South of France and Italy 2001, The Baléares, 2002, Barcelona to Alghero, 2003,  Alghero to Malta via France and Italy 2004,  Malta to Venice 2005, Aprilia Marittima to the Ionians 2006 and Preveza to Rome via the Gulf of Corinth 2007 logs.

Safety at sea is what using weather forecasts is primarily about. I am, therefore, disappointed that the Royal National Lifeboat Institution has removed its

Although I run this site on a non-commercial basis, there are some marine commercial links listed above.  As far as I am aware, most of them offer good services to sailors and  recognise this site.

In addition, as a Dartmouth based sailor, (at least when in UK waters) I am very pleased to give a link to our old friends at Darthaven Marina.

 Blue Water Sailors

A nice combination of HF/SSB and the web can be found at Pangolin  

For those who are HAM radio operators then Winlink2000 provides a most valuable service. See my Western Med page for a brief description. Through Winlink2000 or through SailMail it is possible to get quick downloads via email of very compressed data in GRIB Code format.