A quest to understand the winds, waves, and weather of the Georgia Basin

The Wind Came All Ways
by Owen S. Lange

This book is inexpensive and readily available used from many online booksellers.

122 pages, paperback, many illustrations.

$   ...item# 1818



The Wind Came All Ways
The Georgia Basin comprises those US and Canadian waters surrounding the SE corner of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, namely the Strait of Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands, Gulf Islands, and Strait of Georgia. The chart we use for the Home Study Course on Inland and Coastal Navigation lies within this region. This is also the region of the most well known of the Pacific Northwest yacht races, Swiftsure Lightship Classic and the Southern Strait of Georgia, as well as the US Protection Island Race and the Smith Island Race and numerous Canadian races. The island groups covered are also the most popular cruising grounds in the Pacific Northwest.

We refer to this book as a "real" weather book because of its original motivation. The author is a professional meteorologist working for Environment Canada, publishers of the book, who has studied this region for many years. An original challenge of the research was to predict the conditions that would allow a log boom to be towed across the strait before the winds build to some dangerous level. In short, it was a real working need to know this and the consequences were grave if done wrong. It is an especially tough challenge because the area is complex with wind-channeling valleys and mountains on all sides.

The presentation is much like what might be done by someone preparing the tactics for an America's Cup Race. You are given the various pressure gradient patterns (weather maps) that typically overlay the area and for each of these the resulting winds and sea states are discussed. But beyond these very specific results, there is extensive discussion of wind and terrain in general. Without doubt, anyone wishing to learn about wind forecasting in any waters near land (ie the combination of sea breeze and gradient wind) would benifit from this wonderful research and presentation. If your sailing takes you specifically into these waters, this book would be invaluable.

As an additional bonus, the book is illustrated with art work and quotes from the much revered Canadian artist and author Emily Carr.

Please see the Contents and Reviews links above for more details about this product.

A CD ROM with some of the information in this book is now available here.

3/10/16 

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