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Reeds Superyacht Manual - James Clarke
I recently picked up a copy of this book and have to admit to being very impressed. I was aware that it existed, but was rather put off by the title. However, having spent some time reading through it, I have found it an excellent resource, especially in my teaching of the RYA Yachtmaster and RYA Yachtmaster Ocean syllabus.
Passage Planning
In my experience, people make passage planning far more complicated than it needs to be. Remember, it is just an overall plan of your intended voyage.
You need to work out rough time of departure, distances etc. but the detailed courses to steer, waypoints and bearing should be done once your voyage is underway. There is no point doing a detailed plan to only find that when you depart the wind direction has changed by 180 degrees!
I always think that passage planning need to be broken into 2 main areas;
One element is the general things that need to be done prior to departure, i.e. boat preparation, crew selection etc. The second is the nitty gritty of the navigational plan. The second element is the one that most people associate with passage planning, but for real, the first element is also important for a successful voyage