Jimmy Cornell's NEW World Cruising Routes-a Review

by Nancy Knudsen on 22 Apr 2008 Affectionately referred to as 'The Bible', Jimmy Cornell's comprehensive book 'World Cruising Routes' has traditonally graced the bookshelves on yachts of most cruising sailors who want to cross an ocean anywhere in the world. Now after six years and yet another circumnavigation, Cornell has published an updated, and brilliantly executed and presented edition with some significant changes.

There is more detail in this edition, and more ports. Cornell has modified the seasons, generally making them shorter, and attributes this to global warming and the growing unreliability of weather patterns. He has also added a more in-depth treatment of circumnavigation route planning for the would-be round world cruiser, and added more routes to the already comprehensive list in earlier editions.

One of the most valuable aspects of this book is the inclusion of accurate waypoints for route planning. Charts and their electronic versions are frequently at odds with the reality of the world, and many a boat has been lost through depending on these. This is due to the inaccuracy of old surveys which are still the basis for many current charts in all parts of the world. Having a reliable set of way points – and in five years of cruising all the world's oceans we have never found a mistake – is an excellent start to planning a journey.

In fact, it is a comprehensive guide to nearly eveywhere you'd ever want to go – an amazing 1,000 sailing routes, and, like the earlier editions, it brings together all the necessary information for planning an extended cruise, the best time of year for each passage, prevailing winds and currents, weather, best routes through tricky waters, and approaches and ports of entry for various landfalls.

This is the sixth edition, and even though it's just on the market, the book is selling so fast that some outlets are already out of stock.

A word of warning, however, this is riveting reading for the serious sailor involved in planning for a real cruise, and no self-respecting sailor should be without an updated copy, but it is not a tale of sailing adventures. For that, you can't go past his also recently released personal narrative about his sailing adventures in that highly readable book A Passion for the Sea.

World Cruising Routes, 6th Edition, is available from any good nautical book store, or you can purchase it on the internet. However, be careful when purchasing that you are buying the 6th Edition, not an earlier version.