Reviewed in Sailing, Jan 2007, Pg 6. Well it’s here at last - and way, way overdue too! The Southern Hemisphere edition of the RYA’s complete guide to weather at sea will demystify the weather, and avoid any confusion in previous weather books which were always written for the northern hemisphere. Now us southern hemisphere residents and sailors no longer have to convert everything. So, one can now safely discard all those ‘northern hemisphere’, weather books in favour of this comprehensive Southern hemisphere edition. In a book of this nature it’s always useful to get a handle on the author, and in this case Chris Tibbs has a sailing career that has covered 250 000 nautical miles at sea, including three round-the-world races. He is an RYA Ocean yachtmaster. But more importantly, he has a Master’s degree in Meteorology. After training as a forecaster with the UK Met Office, he now runs his own company advising and forecasting for the sailing fraternity. The foreword by James Stevens who is the RYA Training Manager and Chief Examiner, opens by saying “Good skippers study the weather and plan their trips to take maximum advantage of present and forecast conditions”. That’s what all good skippers should do - and it’s solid advice that should be taken cognisance of. This is a comprehensive book which is liberally illustrated with full colour diagrams and photographs. Many of the pages have highlighted text which explain specific and important terminology to the subject in simple terms. 15 chapters cover this fascinating and complex subject, but the way Tibbs has approached it, most should be able to begin to demystify the vagaries of the wind and improve their knowledge. It also covers the knowledge required by skippers up to Yachtmaster Ocean standard and provides important background information on the RYA practical and shorebased courses. It’s certainly a book I am going to enjoy studying.

Price:   - available on request -

Book ID (for ordering):   2300