Simple weather forecasting

Yesterday I was pawing over an old meteorology book handed on to me by my father-in-law, Peter. As I was reading it I noticed some dog eared bits of paper protruding from the pages towards the back of the book.

I pulled them out for closer inspection. They were a series of hand written notes, 6 pages in all entitled “Simple weather forecasting in non-tropical areas”  and “Hurricanes”.  They were an interesting read. Then I noticed that they had been written for a chap called Ian Woodforth and were signed off by a man called Bernard Moitessier….surly not the Bernard Moitessier?

Heather called up Peter, her dad, my dad-in-law….and, long story short, it turns out that they were indeed written by Bernard.   Ian was an anaesthetist who worked with Peter. He had been planning  some ocean sailing and knew Moitessier, who had given him the notes. The notes had been passed on to Peter, by Ian, when  he was preparing to circumnavigate Australia in their steel hulled cutter called Byamee.

Now the notes have found their way into my hands and I am sharing them with you in the hope that the sailors out there will enjoy this little piece of maritime history courtesy of one of the masters of ocean sailing. Follow the link below for the notes:

Moitessier – simple weather forecasting and hurricanes

Moitessier, for those land lubbers who’ve never heard of him!

In 1968 Moitessier participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first round the world yacht race. With the fastest circumnavigation time, Moitessier was the likely winner but he elected to continue onto Tahiti again and not return to the start line in England, rejecting the idea of the commercialisation of long distance sailing.