The single most important fact of life to the racing yachtsman, cruiser, or merchant seaman is the weather. This book about the weather, written by a master mariner, sets out to fill the gap between "instant knowledge" books which prvide a veneer of jargon, and heavy texts requiring prior knowledge of meteorology. This book presents instead a seamanlike survey of the basics of weather, offering a foundation for practical observation and interpretation as well as a ground-work for advanced study. Basic information on the atmosphere, winds, heat and its consequences, clouds, fogs, fronts, tropical cyclones, ice, instruments and charts is provided here.