The Storm Tactics Handbook: Essential Strategies for Surviving Extreme Conditions

RIMAS MELESHYUS: Great book in details and great pictures and so clear to read.

United States on Aug 06, 2023

William C.: When you want to know the basics and then some! I would suggest required reading for anyone on a sailboat on the lake or the ocean!

Canada on Aug 01, 2023

Dirk S: I expected more form this book. As a former ocean-racer, I found their information based on relatively older type of boats versus more modern light displacement, also storm tactics very much the same, repetitive over the book with several encounters.
I would have liked to have seen an updated version describing tactics for lighter, short keel version, faster boats and larger yachts (up to 60ft). The tactics being similar, I miss the reference to modern materials, newer types of equipment etc. There are many older images dating back 30+ years - hence overall disappointing. There are better books out there that deal with managing storms and high wind/wave scenario's.

United States on Mar 17, 2023

Trent M. Tidmore: Highly recommend this book for any sailor who is going offshore.

United States on Oct 14, 2022

SeaDoggy: Very interesting book, easy to follow with many examples in many situations. It leaves you with a comfortable feeling of knowing what to do in extreme seas . A very good read , so much experience . you can't go wrong .

Canada on Apr 10, 2022

Graham Cownie: The Pardeys undoubtedly know their stuff because they’ve actually experienced and survived the sort of storms that only appear in my nightmares. But the whole book basically boils down to one thing: heave-to when the going gets tough and when it gets really tough use a para anchor.

There are lots of anecdotal, but nonetheless persuasive, stories about why heaving-to is a good idea. Unfortunately the one-paragraph dismissal of the Jordan series drogue make their analysis look a bit off hand.

What this book really lacks is diagrams and photos. There are almost no close up pictures of the para anchor set up. No explanation or diagrams showing you how to make a pennant and no explanation of what a ‘pennant block’ is or does or how it is attached to the rode. Nor are their any close up photos of how the anchor rode should be led out of the locker and through the blocks they recommend.

These are inexcusable omissions hence only 3 stars in what otherwise would have been a five star recommendation.

United Kingdom on Oct 09, 2021

avid reader: This is a very easy to read book written by a couple who really know what they are on about. So many sailing 'instruction' books fall down on being overly jargonistic and fairly rigid in their adhesion to popular protocols leaving you feeling like you need to find the one or two pearls of (useful to you) wisdom within the pages of familiar stuff you already know.

This book takes a far more humanistic approach and is packed with explanations that are entertainingly exampled by recounting real life situations. This makes you feel much more like you are reading a book rather than a set of IKEA instructions. thank heavens! Lots of good information that makes you actually WANT to get out there and practise.

United Kingdom on Jul 25, 2016

ctjuggler: This book is well written and I found it easy to understand. The storm tactics discussed in most sailing books and courses won't work in certain situations. For example running with a storm won't work when you are near a lee shore. The primary storm tactic this book promotes is heaving too. It provides many useful strategies on how to heave to in extreme conditions and how to adjust the angle the boat heaves too in different conditions and with different hull & rig types. The authors are experienced sailors who have tested these tactics in real storm conditions over many years. Quite a bit of the book is devoted to dealing with cyclonic storms (i.e. hurricanes & typhoons) but learning these skills will be useful even if you are in smaller storms. I read the book 5 years ago and it gave confidence when facing storms and I found that the techniques I learned it this book have worked well for me in the last 5 years. Highly recommend this book to any skipper.

Canada on Oct 14, 2015

Curtis: I've been intending to read this for years. Finally did, thanks to it being on Kindle.

I've heard and read many discussions of their techniques, but reading it first hand made their techniques much more clear to me. Heaving-to and lying-to on a sea anchor are often thought of as different techniques, but their preferred technique, of heaving-to and using a sea anchor to reduce drift rate and fore-reaching, combines the two methods. And, their thousands of sea miles are a testament to its practical effectiveness.

As a sailing instructor, I also strongly agree with them that heaving-to should be taught as a basic sailing skill. I'm surprised by the number of experienced sailors I meet who do not know how to heave-to. Not only is it convenient for when you just need to stop and have lunch (...or take a nap, or tuck in/shake out a reef, or...), but it could save your life in a storm (I've ridden out a number of full-on storms and many intense squalls hove-to).

While hove-to for lunch, not a storm, on a J-26 recently, I found myself watching the slick and thinking about the Pardey's techniques. The fin keeled J-26 was slowly fore-reaching out of it's turbulence...

United States on Feb 02, 2013

foredeck: I have raced and cruised the lower St-Lawrence and the Great Lakes, but never in REALLY heavy weather. Knowing this WILL happen, I have always felt unprepared (with all due respect to Adelard Cole) and uncertain as to what I would do, beyond shortening sail, and battening things down.

The tactics, equipment, and techniques in this book are clear, easy to understand, and executable by people who have not spent their entire lives on the water circumnavigating, and who do not have a full race crew aboard. A revelation which answered most of my fears and questions about my boat's strengths and weaknesses, what equipment to have, where to get it, how to install/rig it, and when and how to use and adjust it.

It also has great tips about what my crew and I will undergo in terms of fatigue, sleep, food, morale, & watch-keeping, to survive extreme conditions and maybe still love sailing.

This book is well-written, well-illustrated, and easy to read - in my view a must for anyone going beyond day-sailing. Available through AMAZON.com it has given me the confidence to believe I can be a better, safer sailor in any weather.

United States on Dec 03, 2010