This pocket-sized guide will equip sailors with the knowledge to read and predict the weather.Weather determines when we sail, where we sail to and whether we arrive safely. This essential pocket-sized guide equips the reader with all the necessary tools to predict and deal with local and distant weather conditions, whether on a day trip or a longer cruise, along the coast or further offshore.Each topic is broken down into digestible chapters, explaining the origins and effects of the full spectrum of weather conditions, including:- using and evaluating weather forecasts- depressions, fronts, isobars and other coastal effects- waves and swell- weather lore and sky watching. Meteorology is still advancing and sources of forecasts are changingThis new edition keeps the handbook up-to-date, with a particular focus on the increasing use of GRIB files, computer weather modelling and sources of forecasts, especially with the proliferation of computer forecasts becoming available free of char