World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell

[vmarq]

I bought this book because everyone raves about it. I hate to admit that I don’t know how to use the information. Can you experienced navigators please enlighten me? I know it gives the coordinates but how do you go about planning your route? I would appreciate any insight. Thank you.

[laika]

The book gives a great macro view--great for planning out the general route--but you will still need at a minimum sufficient charts to get you from a to b. The book is not a source for navigation!

[hellosailor]

Well, if yours looks like mine (old) the inside covers show how to get from A to B. And the text material details how and when to make the trip, i.e. "Don't go here in December, it will be upwind all the way and plagued by ice dragons."

It is telling you, route by route, destination by destination, how to get from A to B and when the most auspicious times to make that trip are. It is NOT meant to be a road map and it is not a navigation tool. It is up to you to decide if you want to undertake any particular leg given the conditions that you will probably experience on it.

[ShellBack89]

I thought the same thing when I first bought it but as I read through the into he talks about how it's meant to be a companion book to his other cruising books; World Voyage Planner and World Cruising Destinations. But as the others have said you still need charts to cover a - b.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by vmarq

I bought this book because everyone raves about it. I hate to admit that I don’t know how to use the information. Can you experienced navigators please enlighten me? I know it gives the coordinates but how do you go about planning your route? I would appreciate any insight. Thank you.

The book summarizes the Pilot charts - you would have to go thru the charts for every month to determine the best time to go from A to B to C. It’s actually not only a summary; it has several other factors to take into consideration.

As per title, these are routes – meaning where and when - it’s up to you to carry on with the planning using navigational charts.

[Sea Venture]

We currently in Brazil and his books "which are not cheap" are not very helpful.

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by vmarq

I bought this book because everyone raves about it. I hate to admit that I don’t know how to use the information. Can you experienced navigators please enlighten me? I know it gives the coordinates but how do you go about planning your route? I would appreciate any insight. Thank you.

===

I find myself using the web site more than the book, although the book is certainly a good addition to your library. The web site is particularly useful for listing ports of entry, i.e., location of customs and immigration.

https://www.noonsite.com/

[nhschneider]

My wife and I are big fans of Jimmy Cornell and we especially enjoyed meeting him at the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show last year where he autographed a copy of his newest book, 200,000 Miles. However, we find that World Cruising Routes is a helpful guideline but not much more. There are far too many variables to take everything he writes as gospel but, nonetheless, it is well worth referring to. In fact, we have found some glaring errors. For example, he writes that when rounding the north end of Madagascar, a west-bound vessel should clear the tip by about 20 miles, which we did, despite the fact that our weather router plotted us as rounding the tip with 'one foot on the beach'. The currents off the north end of Madagascar can be vicious and it could have been dangerous - lucky for us it was merely uncomfortable. We advised other boats following us to consider rounding the tip using the advise from our weather router and those boats had it easy.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Sea Venture]

Originally Posted by nhschneider

My wife and I are big fans of Jimmy Cornell and we especially enjoyed meeting him at the Annapolis Boat Show last year where he autographed a copy of his newest book, 200,000 Miles. However, we find that World Cruising Routes is a helpful guideline but not much more. There are far too many variables to take everything he writes as gospel but, nonetheless, it is well worth referring to. In fact, we have found some glaring errors. For example, he writes that when rounding the north end of Madagascar, a west-bound vessel should clear the tip by about 20 miles, which we did, despite the fact that our weather router plotted us as rounding the tip with 'one foot on the beach'. The currents off the north end of Madagascar can be vicious and it could have been dangerous - lucky for us it was merely uncomfortable. We advised other boats following us to consider rounding the tip using the advise from our weather router and those boats had it easy.

Fair winds and calm seas.

We are from Cape Town, South Africa and I don't think he did that area at all as the info on South Africa is pretty dismal

[fatherchronica]

I have used it to choose routes mostly by time of year information a whether to stay inside or go outside along coasts on long legs. As a reference it can save you a lot of time researching a less desirable route.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Sea Venture

We currently in Brazil and his books "which are not cheap" are not very helpful.

...and your opinion is based on what?
Cornell is a master marketer, and he and his team have useful information to share if you want to pay the price. I find this book excellent for planning.

Originally Posted by nhschneider

... In fact, we have found some glaring errors. For example, he writes that when rounding the north end of Madagascar, a west-bound vessel should clear the tip by about 20 miles, which we did, despite the fact that our weather router plotted us as rounding the tip with 'one foot on the beach'....

Again, this is a planning tool, if you are using the book for navigation, I believe there will be substantial issues... it is not intended for this purpose as everyone knows - also, always use more than one resource, there are plenty of errors out there.
The alternative as I said above is to use the Pilot charts. Is there anything else out there for route planning in hard copy that I don't know?

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by Sea Venture

We currently in Brazil and his books "which are not cheap" are not very helpful.

If you look at the complete cost of your cruising program the cost of each book is insignificant.
Less than the cost of an oil and filter change or a posh meal at a Taverna in the Med.
To me Cornell’s books are not only fascinating but are an unparalleled planning tools.
I’ll be honest and say I have treated them as a bible over more than a decade of cruising and ocean crossings.
When I move into a retirement home I will want them with me.
The man is a legend.

[philiosophy]

World Cruising routes is a book of great value and will be very clear as to how to use itas you use it. It is a compendum of information using Admiralty records from the last few hundred years. If you think the book is expensive try buying the individual Pilot Charts (USA produced and there is a English version put out by the Admiralty) which show the same information by the three month period in each section of the world.
I will say it is very interesting how people will open their pocket book wide at West Marine defender, or where ever and then moan about the cost of a book so full of valuable information. Lee Cheasneau has written some valuable books and gives seminars on weather which is also valuable to navigating the oceans safely which is well referred to as Saftey at Sea.

[hamburking]

Imagine you are planning a passage, for example you want to sail from the Med to the Caribbean. Look up that passage, and you will quickly find valuable information on prevailing winds, recommended times of year to go, and other pertinent info. In the example above, you need to find the trade winds, so you head for 20 north, 30 west (or is it 30 north, 20 west?). All this is contained in just a couple paragraphs, since the book covers the entire world. However, its really all you need to know. I did that trip, and the info was exactly correct.

I was in charge of navigation, and I spent most of the trip trying to explain to the owner (captain) why we don't just go a straight line from the Canaries.

As others have said, it is a planning book, not a chart book.

It is a book of dreams.

[nhschneider]

Originally Posted by SVTatia

Again, this is a planning tool, if you are using the book for navigation, I believe there will be substantial issues... it is not intended for this purpose as everyone knows - also, always use more than one resource, there are plenty of errors out there.

I appreciate your suggestion. As my wife and I are nearing the completion of our circumnavigation, we realize that we still have a lot to learn. However, if you read that you should clear a specific point of land by 20 miles and you do so, only to find that it wasn't good advice, I believe that qualifies as an error.

When we met Jimmy Cornell, I mentioned this error to him and his comment was that several yachts have been lost in that area but that he would revise his recommendation to reflect my input in a future edition of World Cruising Routes.

Fair winds and calm seas.