Global Map of How Difficult to Sail?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by jaybo_nomad

Another source of windrose data: DeepZoom Global Ocean Winds

In the past, I've always referred questions like this to COGOW at

Climatology of Global Ocean Winds - COGOW

Not any more!

That's a much more user friendly interface to the same COGOW data.


I've just replace my old COGOW bookmark with this one. Thank you!

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by Paul L

The Cornel pilot book charts gives you much of the weather and seasonal info you need. It will take some time to go through and decide what areas fit your criteria. No one can do that for you.
https://cornellsailing.com/publicati...s-ocean-atlas/

Saved

[Breaking Waves]

The UK Admiralty "Ocean Passages For The World, Second Edition (1923) is a very interesting volume along the lines of this thread. It contained combined/consolidated sailing masters wisdom of sailing conditions around the world. Later editions mostly shifted focus to power and washed out the sailing insights. Prior to cornel's book, this was carried by most ocean cruising sailors; and it is sort of the origin of Cornel's book, which is a 'cookie-cutter - for dummies' version of the Admiralty one.

It had a number of fold-out charts, one of which was truly fabulous showing the most used routes and the conditions to be expected on all the oceans in a very nice way. I believe editions up to 1973 retained these folds out charts even when the sailing info was washed out of the text.

[mglonnro]

Oh, how interesting links!

Combining the DeepZoom sourced data with Cornell-style routes, would be cool. The machine could calculate wind profiles for any route A -> B and sort out the most exciting ones.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

The UK Admiralty "Ocean Passages For The World, Second Edition (1923) is a very interesting volume along the lines of this thread. It contained combined/consolidated sailing masters wisdom of sailing conditions around the world. Later editions mostly shifted focus to power and washed out the sailing insights. Prior to cornel's book, this was carried by most ocean cruising sailors; and it is sort of the origin of Cornel's book, which is a 'cookie-cutter - for dummies' version of the Admiralty one.

It had a number of fold-out charts, one of which was truly fabulous showing the most used routes and the conditions to be expected on all the oceans in a very nice way. I believe editions up to 1973 retained these folds out charts even when the sailing info was washed out of the text.

You are confusing the Cornell books. The Admirality Ocean Passages is certainly the predecessor to the Cornell World Cruising Routes. The Cornell Ocean Atlas is an updated version of the Pilot Charts. These are updated with the years of satellite data now available.

Why you would describe the World Cruising Routes as a cookie cutter for dummies is beyond me. It is the book that the majority of actual long distance cruisers go to for a first cut for passage planning. It covers far more passages than the Admiralty book, is focused on smaller vessels on passages during the cruising seasons - not year round commercial traffic.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Paul L

You are confusing the Cornell books. The Admirality Ocean Passages is certainly the predecessor to the Cornell World Cruising Routes. The Cornell Ocean Atlas is an updated version of the Pilot Charts. These are updated with the years of satellite data now available.

yes, certainly agreed, although the Admiralty book also had pilot chart data in it. Not sure why you think I am 'confused'. I own and have used copies of all these books.

Why you would describe the World Cruising Routes as a cookie cutter for dummies is beyond me. It is the book that the majority of actual long distance cruisers go to for a first cut for passage planning. It covers far more passages than the Admiralty book, is focused on smaller vessels on passages during the cruising seasons - not year round commercial traffic.

Well, let me ask you - have you actually ever seen/read a copy of the 1923 edition?

My perspective is that the cornell book is more designed with the intent to hand an amateur sailor 'pre-cut' routes while the Admiralty book was designed to give skilled skipper useful information to make his own decision. That is not a criticism of either book - they simply have different objectives and target audiences. Cornells book has become significantly more 'complete' as the editions have evolved.

your post seems a bit hostile - not sure why - I was simply suggesting another interesting/useful source of information from 'the age of sail' which I suspect some people might not be aware of.

.......

[Paul L]

No I don't have the 1923 addition. I do have multiple old editions of the Admiralty book. It is fun and interesting reading. As I said, it is focused on commercial sailing ship traffic and covers far fewer passages than the World Cruising Routes. The WCR is the book primarily used by the dummies you refer to as the first cut passage planning in practice.

For transoceanic passages I like to read the Admirality description along with lots of other info.

[conachair]

Some handy links...

David Burch Navigation Blog: Navigator's Library for Extended Ocean Voyaging