Heavy Weather Avoidance and Route Design

Book excerpt: In Heavy Weather Avoidance, Chen and Chesneau merge the seamanship of a master mariner and the forecast expertise of a senior meteorologist, providing readers with double-barrel exposure to what actually goes on in the atmosphere and on the sea's surface. Mariners and recreational sailors are more concerned about the implications of volatile weather rather than its fluid dynamics. From start to finish the authors have cut to the chase, creating a readable text brimming with useful graphics. It's focused on the root cause of how and why bad weather develops and where it's likely to go. There's enough theory provided for a reader to get a feel for how air mass energy transfer works, but just as the theoretical aspect takes on a mission of its own, there's a shift to more practical self-forecasting and storm avoidance wisdom. Captain Ma-Li Chen shares his well-tested routing strategy and describes how it factors in the use of the 500 Mb chart.