PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We sat down at the computer intending to write a very simple story, a story that would explain the simple thought process that we use to read the wind. (This became chapter 2.) Then we thought about some of the techniques and tactics that we use to win matches, and decided that the story wouldn’t be complete without them (chapter 3). Since we believe that all these things are learnable, we then wrote about the underlying skills that support the process and the techniques (chapter 4). By then, the story was too long for anything but this book, so we added some of the things we wish we had known before we started—the basics (chapter 1) and words of wisdom from masters all over the world (chapter 5). Finally, we just had to have a conclusion.

Here it is . . . everything we wish we’d known before we started, instead of our having to learn as we went along, in concise, easy-to-read terms, with no mathematical bafflegab (well, not very much of that). Just straightforward guidance on what to do and especially on what to think.

The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters represents the first time shooters from all over the world have contributed to a book on shooting. The first edition included both our “kitchen-table” version and the Paladin-Press version. Both were published with our heartfelt thanks to everyone who made it possible:

Rick Ashton

Serge Bissonnette

Bert Bowden

Don Brook

Jim Bullock

George Chase

Stuart Collings

Keith Cunningham

Clint Dahlstrom

Darren Enslin

Stan Frost

Alain Marion

Arnold Parks

Jim Paton

Sandy Peden

Ed Pocock III

Bill Richards

John Simpson

Pat Vamplew

Mike Wong Shui

Charles F. Young

And the many authors who went before us all

The second edition is published with special thanks to our readers who provided suggestions (such as adding information on reading the wind in Olympic-style 50-meter ranges) and to “The King of 2 Miles” Eduardo Abril de Fontcuberta, who provided Words of Wisdom on extreme long-range wind reading.