Many Pacific Ocean cruisers will already have heard of Bob McDavitt. For years he has been giving weather advice and routing information to cruisers and racers from his offices near Westhaven marina in Auckland New Zealand. Bob is a top notch professional meteorological officer for the New Zealand government and a specialist in maritime weather. He provides generalized routing and planning information for cruising sailors at www.weathergram.blogspot.com and we checked his site as we were deciding when to leave from Tonga to head south toward New Zealand. I was amazed at how accurate his summary of the weather was, and told him so when we happened to meet at local Boat Books, the marine book store that hosted the launch of my latest book, Bull Canyon, A Boatbuilder, a Writer and Other Wildlife, here in New Zealand a few weeks back. We then got into a discussion of different weather phenomenon we have encountered in places as diverse as Finland and Tierra del Fuego. Knowing that Larry and I do most of our own weather planning since we carry only a handheld VHF and shortwave radio receiver, Bob commented that he is concerned that many folks are depending too heavily on outside information for their weather based decisions. I was delighted at his suggestion to remedy this.
"Sailors don’t have to spend a lot of money taking courses. What they should do instead is buy a barometer plus a simple book called, Instant Weather Forecasting by Alan Watts – only costs a few bucks ($8.95 from Paradise Cay Publications www.paracay.com). Then they should get up each morning from the day they begin thinking of sailing and study the clouds, watch the barometer and make notes about what happens – mental or on paper. Then look at the weather maps online or on TV and they’ll soon get a sense of weather patterns and feel less dependent on weather routers."
The reason his answer delighted me is I have carried Alan Watts book on board and usually give a copy as a gift to friends who are getting ready to head off to sea. (No, I do not get any commission for recommending this book.)