By Jimmy and Ivan Cornell
Published by and available from Cornell Sailing Ltd
Available in English, German, French, Italian.
ISBN: 978-0-9556396-5-4

This amazingly impressive atlas shows the mean wind speed and direction for every month of the year in each of the world’s oceans. Using a sophisticated computer program, the Cornells have collated the incredible amount of data collected from the network of meteorological satellites which surround the globe and produced a wind rose for each 5 to 10 degrees square of longitude and latitude.

Historically, this data was collected from sailing ships on the common trading routes but was often based on relatively few observations. Daily satellite observations over a period of 25 years give much greater accuracy. The atlas also includes a great deal of information about the weather patterns in the various regions including the general path of tropical storms as well as ocean currents. However, as Jimmy Cornell himself points out, these are only statistics and ocean voyagers should always be prepared for more severe weather than expected.

For anyone planning even a short open water voyage, this information will be an invaluable tool for passage planning, showing whether a proposed route at the proposed time is feasible, or even possible! This atlas definitely fills a gap in the nautical book market.

Jimmy Cornell probably needs no introduction being the author of several worldwide sailing reference books based on his years of sailing all over the world. Ivan, his son, who has sailed with his family since he was a young child, has built a boat of his own and was the original programmer behind this website, www.noonsite.com, another of Jimmy’s many projects.