Heavy Weather

A near-future eco-thriller from the bestselling author of Schismatrix Plus and The Difference Engine. The Storm Troupers are a group of weather hackers who roam the plains of Texas and Oklahoma, hopped up on adrenaline and technology. Utilizing virtual reality, flying robots, and all-terrain vehicles, they collect data on the extreme storms ravaging an America decimated by climate change. But even their visionary leader can’t predict the danger on the horizon when a volatile new member joins their ranks and faces a trial by fire: a massive tornado unlike any the world has seen before. “A remarkable and individual sharpness of vision . . . Sterling hacks the future, and an elegant hack it is.” —Locus “Lucid and tremendously entertaining. Sterling shows once more his skills in storytelling and technospeak. A cyberpunk winner.” —Kirkus Reviews “So believable are the speculations that . . . one becomes convinced that the world must and will develop into what Sterling has predicted.” —Science Fiction Age “A very exciting coming-of-age story in a wild future America . . . What’s it got? Cyberpunk attitude, genuine humor, nanotechnology, minimal sex but some cool medications and very big weather systems.” —SFReviews.net “Brilliant . . . Fascinating . . . Exciting . . . A full complement of thrills.” —The New York Review of Science Fiction

In Heavy Weather Avoidance, Chen and Chesneau merge the seamanship of a master mariner and the forecast expertise of a senior meteorologist, providing readers with double-barrel exposure to what actually goes on in the atmosphere and on the sea's surface. Mariners and recreational sailors are more concerned about the implications of volatile weather rather than its fluid dynamics. From start to finish the authors have cut to the chase, creating a readable text brimming with useful graphics. It's focused on the root cause of how and why bad weather develops and where it's likely to go. There's enough theory provided for a reader to get a feel for how air mass energy transfer works, but just as the theoretical aspect takes on a mission of its own, there's a shift to more practical self-forecasting and storm avoidance wisdom. Captain Ma-Li Chen shares his well-tested routing strategy and describes how it factors in the use of the 500 Mb chart.

Whether you are a weekend sailor, an experienced yachtsman, or a professional mariner, you will find this book to be an indispensable guide to coping with storms at sea.

Since Odysseus' curious crew first unleashed the bag of winds gifted him by Aeolus, the God of Winds, literature has been awash with tales of bad or strange weather. From the flood myths of Babylon, the Mahabharata and the Bible, to 20th century psychological storms, this foray into troubled waters, heat waves, severe winters, hurricanes, and hailstones, offers the perfect read on a rainy day--or night. Featuring a selection of some of the finest writers in the English language--Algernon Blackwood, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, and more--this collection of weird tales will delight and disturb.

For 50 years Heavy Weather Sailing has been regarded as the ultimate international authority on surviving storms at sea aboard sailing and motor vessels. The first edition was compiled by Kaines Adlard Coles himself in 1967. Since then technology may have improved, but the weather certainly hasn't. This is the seventh updated edition, edited by racing yachtsman Peter Bruce, ensuring that in its 50th year the book remains as relevant and as essential as it has been for the previous five decades. The book brings together a wealth of expert advice from many of the great sailors of the present, including fresh accounts of yachts overtaken by extreme weather, from Ewan Southby-Tailyour, Alex Whitworth and Peter Cook to Larry and Lin Pardey. It also includes a new Foreword by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Britain's most high profile yachtsman of the past 50 years. The expert advice section has been updated in line with current thinking, and there has been a major update to the chapter focusing on the use of storm sails as well as to the use of drag devices. The technique of taking refuge has been reviewed and updated, and the chapters dealing with preparations for heavy weather and its effect on yacht design have been overhauled. These revisions ensure that Heavy Weather Sailing is as relevant, useful and instructive for today's sailor venturing offshore as it ever was – perhaps more so in the light of tragic disasters like the loss of the Cheeky Raffiki mid-Atlantic on a delivery trip after her season racing in the Caribbean. This is the definitive book for crews of any size contemplating voyages out of sight of land anywhere in the world, whether racing or cruising. It gives a clear message regarding the preparations required, and the tactics to consider when it comes on to blow.

This book is the powerboating equivalent to Heavy Weather Sailing - the classic and bestselling sailing reference on the Adlard Coles list. Like Heavy Weather Sailing, it carries chapters on the theory of operating powerboats in rough seas as well as invaluable heavy weather experiences, and the lessons learned. Edited by Hugo Montgomery-Swan (Editor of RIB International) contributors include leading powerboating names, from record-breakers to endurance achievers to instructors and trainers, and RNLI coxwains - an A-list line-up. Topics include: - Offshore endurance and record breaking - Ocean voyaging - Small boat adventuring - Navigating tidal waters in bad weather - Speed at sea - Surf helming tactics - Safety and recovery in rough seas - Effects on the human body - Advanced helming techniques

For over 50 years Heavy Weather Sailing has been regarded as the ultimate international authority on surviving storms at sea aboard sailing and motor vessels. In this book, former Commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club Martin Thomas brings together a wealth of expert advice from many of the great sailors of the present, including fresh accounts of yachts overtaken by extreme weather, from Ewan Southby-Tailyour, Alex Whitworth and Dag Pike to Larry and Lin Pardey, Matt Sheahan and Andrew Claughton. The expert advice section has been updated in line with current thinking, with major new additions tackling preventing or coping with lightning strikes, navigating in heavy weather with both paper and electronic charts, the choice and use of tenders in severe weather, and special problems faced by the new generation of foiled cruising boats. For the first time the book also covers the unique challenges presented by weather in high latitudes, with more yachts crossing the Drake Passage and attempting the North West Passage. These revisions ensure that Heavy Weather Sailing is as relevant, useful and instructive for today's sailor venturing offshore as it ever was. This is the definitive book for crews of any size contemplating voyages out of sight of land anywhere in the world, whether racing or cruising. It gives a clear message regarding the preparations required, and the tactics to consider when it comes on to blow.