Offshore Navigation Weather Forecast Aids

[stormalong]

The satphone is a good idea. I am an old guy - cruising long before Iridium actually worked. If you get your Ham (amateur radio) license you can make use of Winlink - a free service that you can use to get saildocs downloads without charge plus you can send/receive emails from family and friends.

Winlink now has a soundcard interface so the high priced SCS modem can be skipped. Not as fast as satphone or pactor but seems to work well - I have an SCS ptc II P4 modem and have not used the soundcard interface myself. The newest SCS modems are so expensive that a satphone may be less expensive not counting the airtime costs.

There are other advantages to Ham radio. Like keeping in touch with other cruising friends.

For those not wanting to study for their ham license there is Marine SSB and Sailmail. It is a pay for service similar to Winlink.

[philiosophy]

A few words about Predict Wind and Aproaching fronts...Yes that time when you really want and need accurate information is exactly when Predict Wind becomes very inaccurate. “ All bets are off” thats a quote by two different meteorologists I spoke too about all model based weather forcasting systems. After using Predict Wind for the last four years I have concluded I am far better off accessing Weather Faxes which are drawn up twice daily by government Meterologists based on their reading of the weather at that time. NOAA, Met Service in New Zealand etc. Using my Iridium go and accessing Saildocs thru Sailmail is how I get my weather faxes once on a passage. Weather Faxes are not as easy to read as the beautiful graphics offered by these companies like Predict Wind but far more accurate because they are written by an actual meterologist as opposed to a computer model that has no way whatsoever to make note of change until a programer comes in and puts a change in. Something that in my experience isn’t nearly often enough. I also use the weatherfax app on my computer to pick up the faxes directly.

[Falbala60]

Good news ... but
I found no information on weather forecast GRIB reception ....

[macman4190]

Originally Posted by ilenart

In a 700NM crossing of the Timor Sea several years ago (West Australia to Bali) we found Predict Wind via Iridium Go very useful. We were downloading the Grib files onto OpenCPN on a daily basis and found the predictions remarkably accurate.



Note that you need to set up the system / parameters when you still have decent wifi access. Then the grib files can be download fairly easily over the satellite, though it often took 20-40 minutes and a couple of goes to obtain the complete file (access speed was bytes per second, text files only).



Ilenart

I also used Predict Wind with Iridium Go, as recommended by the crew of Sailing Totem. With the newer firmware and satellites, it is now much faster than extremely slow (20-40 minutes), so now it is just very slow (10-15 minutes).

[asikesjr]

I use SiriusXM Marine Weather on my Garmin 7212. I keep it active all the time. It has kept me out of trouble. There is different subscription levels depending on your need.

[ilenart]

Originally Posted by macman4190

I also used Predict Wind with Iridium Go, as recommended by the crew of Sailing Totem. With the newer firmware and satellites, it is now much faster than extremely slow (20-40 minutes), so now it is just very slow (10-15 minutes).

thanks for that, was wondering if it had improved. So probably kilobytes per second rather than bytes per second. (Where my current wifi 30mbits per second connection I am using to type this would complete the download in around 1-2 seconds )

Ilenart

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by alansmith

Not trying to hi jack the thread ... but... if I am in the Sea Of Cortez .. north of La Paz and South of San Carlos can I pick up this weather fax signal on a simple HF radio and let my iPad decipher it like the YouTube presentation did with the link above?

Yes, you can reveive Weather FAX, and audio weather broadcasts, wordwide from various stations around the globe.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by carlo de leo

Spot Just announces these new releases.
Intersting

Still based on an inferior network (Global Star) and at that price point get an InReach, you will be glad you did.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The sky reading is a good start.. then master the art of reading swell size and directions.. this can give you up to 24hrs notice of direction and strength of the approaching storm.
Takes a while for city folk to grasp but easier for country folks who live with weather and its signs.
Sat phones are all well and good for the big picture.. but that rarely shows the micro systems that can spring up within a humungous system..
Have a grand crossing..

And...use your RADAR to enhance observations, especially at night. Learn to use gain/filters to observe and track squalls.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by PappysSailing

While lookin up, dont forget to look down .. Gulf Stream. Down low n prob enough east not to bother, but notice the eddies spinning off towards your line. If you wander east, or it changes much, could be a 2 kt adverse current. Otherwise, your radar will pick up t-storms/squalls n u can hail passing ships w name u pull from AIS n ask about any significant changes in weather forecast. P.s.- I crossed 150 nm of NE Gulf 2 weeks ago n weather forecast was completely worthless... 120 degrees n 15 kts off re wind.
Cheers, Pappy

On the OPs route get most recent data for the Gulf Loop and Yucatan currents (Gulf Stream proper doesnt start till the Florida Current exits the Florida Straits...though "Gulf Stream" gets used a lot to refer to these technically different currents).

Ive been using Windy a lot lately. Its great for visualizing winds and current...and Ive found the ECMWF model they use to be pretty good (at least here in Panama).

There are also weather routing apps which can use downloaded wind/current GRIBs to analyze routes. I use SailGrib WR. OpenCPN also has a routing plug-in.

[belizesailor]

More on Gulf Currents...

Gulf Loop is now E of the rhumb line from Galveston to Isla Mujeres, but that can change quickly and dramatically so keep an eye on that. There are also two gyres (rotating currents) mid gulf now...right on the rhumb line. Looks like you could route between them and get a little favorable push off the southern most one, but again, these currents can and do shift around often so get most recent data.

(based on Copernicus 1/12d GRIB)

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

And...use your RADAR to enhance observations, especially at night. Learn to use gain/filters to observe and track squalls.

Radar... Whats that..???

[bulabro]

Just finished Hawaii to Tahiti and back. Iridium sat phone with PredictWind was very accurate and available the entire trip. I'd use it again.

[KiwiKen]

The weather fax service is a bonus, and yachtsmen 40 years ago had to manage with receiving weather Forecasts on HF, and these forecasts were less detailed and accurate than what is available today.

On an Ocean passage keep a log, ideally make hourly entries, but at least 4 hourly, and when ever there is a change of Course.
Log DR Position 9 or GPS Posn, Course Steered, Distance run since last entry, Wind Direction and Wind strength, Sea State (Use Beaufort Scale if comfortable with it), Atmospheric Pressure and note the trend. Note cloud and other significant met observations.

Why do this - well total reliance on electronic devices for all ones Navigation and Met information, can leave one badly placed if some of the electric string breaks or gives up on you.

You need to keep in mind that Weather Forecasts are made from a varying source of observations reported to the Met Office, that are marked on a weather chart in the form of Station Circles, and the weather map is an inspired interpretation of these scattered observations coupled with historical data and known movements of weather systems to arrive at a met Chart and a best guess forecast that covers a wide area. Local effects and minor local systems not included in the met chart and forecast can affest local weather.

That is why maintaining a weather log, and noting pressure trends and local observations, can assist the sailor in making a judgement on what is happening in ones locality.

The Met Office is far from infallible in their predictions so your local observations will help you make better decisions.

Buy yourself a copy of:
Meteorology for Mariners (Met. O. ; 895)

Available from Amazon for $US 20.60, read it and keep it on board as your weather bible.
An excellent Book that I used for teaching Met, I highly recommend it

[Kokopelli-Haehn]

Great advice, I do keep a log of weather conditions for later studies Andy appreciate your direction on this. I also ordered the book .. thank you