Mariner's Weather Handbook [Hardcover]

Steve Dashew (Author), Linda Dashew (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998

The most complete guide to marine weather analysis, tactics, and storm avoidance. Teaches traditional forecasting based on current observed conditions, as well as the latest tools including facsimile charts and the Internet. An easy-to-use tool for sailors, power boaters, professional seamen, and anyone interested in the weather.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mariner's Weather Handbook ...provides a complete and exhaustive guide to the basics of every aspect of weather you are likely to meet when cruising far and wide. It should be aboard every boat-sail or power-and should be read thoroughly by every skipper. -- George Day, Publisher and Editor, Bluewater Sailing

Mariner's Weather Handbook is head and shoulders above anything else I have read on the subject. ...do not leave the dock without it. -- Lee Chesneau, Senior Forecaster, National Weather Service Marine Prediction Center

Just once through will suggest a new way of looking at weather. Repeated return visits as puzzling or threatening weather is observed will confirm and amplify its value. -- Knowles Pittman, Circumnavigator and Founder of One Design Yachtsman

The Dashews have again provided a book that could be considered the definiitive volume ont he subject. -- Twain Braden, Ocean Navigator

This big, fully illustrated volume is well written, clear and concise, and eminently informative. -- Herb McCormick, Executive Editor, Cruising World

This is not just another book on meteorology. This is a book about sailing, risk analysis and weather tactics..(and) how a sailor can translate this knowledge on board and act accordingly. -- Ruud Kattenberg, Editor, Zeilen

This terrific new book includes modern and traditional techniques to help the average sailor predict weather and assess potential weather-related risks. -- John Rousmaniere, author of The Annapolis Book of Seamanship and Fastnet: Force 10

From the Publisher

There's nothing that can make your time on the water more enjoyable or more painful than weather. This is just as true for day sailing as it is on long passages. Yet ever since the beginning of time understanding weather has been looked upon as a black art, too difficult for the average person to understand. We are here to tell you it isn't that hard-if you understand the basics of weather forecasting and tactics. That's where Mariner's Weather Handbook comes in. It provides you with the knowledge necessary to take advantage of weather rather than being at its mercy.

After more than 200,000 miles of sailing in the past 50 years, the authors, Steve and Linda Dashew , have learned that nothing is more important to safe, comfortable sailing than understanding weather-this is the best insurance for your time on the water.

In Mariner's Weather Handbook the Dashews de-mystify the science and magic of weather. Distilled down to a user-friendly 594-page handbook covering every aspect of marine meteorology, Mariner's Weather Handbook is engineered to be used as a learning tool ashore and a quick reference guide at sea-so you can make weather work for you, not just avoid bad conditions.

Filled with easy-to-use check lists, executive summaries, and more than 530 illustrations, Mariner's Weather Handbook will teach you to analyze present conditions and forecast the future for your patch of ocean. You then follow step-by -step instructions to develop the tactics for tropical and high-latitude weather systems( in both hemispheres).

Mariner's Weather Handbook stresses the importance of risk analysis -helping you to understand the unspoken hazards inherent in many government forecasts -and to identify and track developing weather before it becomes a problem . If you are concerned with the current rash of severe weather affecting racing and cruising yachts, this book will explain what is happening and how to take early action to avoid unnecessary weather risks.

Professional Secrets

Mariner's Weather Handbook brings together for the first time elements of forecasting and tactics employed by professional routers, forecasters, and the most successful ocean racing navigators. You will learn how to use a frontal passage to your advantage, while minimizing discomfort. Closely guarded secrets of upper atmosphere fax charts are revealed in detail.

You will learn how the Dashews' make their own forecasts using just the sky, sea, wind, and barometer as well as how they make the best use of facsimile charts and the Internet.

Learn Before You Leave

Of all the factors which go into successful cruising nothing is more important than understanding weather. This applies to day sails and ocean passages. When conditions are less than ideal, if you know the cause and the time frame in which weather is likely to improve, you can plan accordingly. With this data you will make faster, more comfortable and safer passages and your crew will feel more secure.

The time to learn is now, before you set sail. Use Mariner's Weather Handbook today to plot a clear course through your learning process .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 594 pages
• Publisher: Beowulf, Inc.; 1st edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965802825
• ISBN-13: 978-0965802826
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Sailing > Instructional

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At Last!, April 28, 2000

By 

Eric Grove (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mariner's Weather Handbook (Hardcover)

Mariner's weather Handbook is the first book about marine weather I've found (in more than 20 years of reading about and struggling with the subject) that has actually allowed me to (finally!) understand the constantly changing three-dimensional relationships between differing air masses and their fronts. Steve Dashew explains the world's weather in a systematic and logical progression that kept me firmly on a heretofore slippery learning curve.

With quotes and examples from leading meteorologists as well as his own experiences (over 100,000 miles under sail), Mr. Dashew explains the mechanics of the weather and the tools available to forcast it. More importantly for mariners, he details what the real concerns are during voyage planning and 'at sea'.

The book also focuses on the rules-of-thumb, routines and on-board equipment that enables one to sail prudently and safely - if warily - across the world's oceans. He details several of his own voyages, with copious log excerpts, available weatherfax charts and satellite images to cover the developing situation day by day.

The only reason for not giving the book the highest marks is the poor editing and occasional indifferent and innacurate illustrations. It's possible that the occasional misstatements and errors in the text and my subsequent backpedeling and rechecking to identify the descrepencies and 'gett it straight in my head again' are actually resposible for my finally 'getting' the weather. In that case, I owe the editor - or lack thereof - some serious gratitude. In any case, the book made me feel that I could understand it and - by golly! - I finally did! The plentiful weather charts, photographs and diagrams more than make up for the few confusing illustrations.

The book finishes with valuable internet addresses that enable one to begin to gather current and historic weather data, charts and satellite images on the internet. Personally, I'm buying a barometer and hope to begin what will be a life long understanding, study and forcast of the weather, possibly in preperation for my own ocean crossings - thanks to Steve Dashew's very good book.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Horrendous amount of errors, July 15, 2003

By 

Captain Mike (Hillsborough, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mariner's Weather Handbook (Book/CD-Rom set) (Hardcover)

I purchased this book several years ago and atempted to read it. There were so many spelling errors that in many cases I couldn't figure out what the author(s) were trying to say. After straining my brain for about 75 pages I gave up the effort. It was the first edition and I hope they've put some effort into corrections.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Errors, November 4, 2010

By 

Skipper Stew - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mariner's Weather Handbook (Hardcover)

When I read the caption to the diagram on page 59, I found myself wondering whether the author actually understood what he or she was writing about, since I felt that the explanation in question seemed "woolly" and seemed to me to contradict long-established meteorological knowledge. When I came to the caption to the diagram on page 123, which described the opposite of what the diagram showed, and also contradicted text elsewhere in the book, I'm afraid I became rather irritated with it. I found the section on higher-altitude meteorology (with a lengthy discussion of 500mb charts) interesting enough, and I've given it a second star only because that section motivated me towards further research, but I personally felt that - for me anyway - it didn't tell enough of the story. I have since found a lot of good (and very well-presented) information on the subject at no cost on the internet. My opinion is that the Dashews should withdraw this first edition from sale, go through it with a fine-tooth comb and proof-read it very carefully before issuing a corrected new edition, which should be half the price.