PredictWind? Weatherfax? What weather system do you recommend for crossing oceans?

[RobPatterson]

SSB with Pactor modem, subscription to Sailmail makes getting GRIBS easy. Also makes getting info from pro weather routers easy.

[KarenSJ]

Our friends who sailed from Hawaii to SF before the end of summer were very pleased with their weather router who told them when to leave to escape the hurricane and routed them around some by-product conditions. Otherwise they were happy with the resources accessed via Iridium.

[hamburking]

For my one ocean crossing, I had a handheld Iridium sat phone with some prepaid minutes on it. I had a friend (ex-wife) ashore who would send me a text each day with the weather info I actually needed. Since she was ashore, she had full access to the internet. Mostly she used passageweather.com. And I texted back our position, course, and status (AOK) each day. She would then pass along all the relevant info to the families of the rest of the crew, via email. Not very high tech, but relatively cheap and simple. Entering my message into the phone using only the number pad was painful and time consuming.

[Kit_L]

Joining this thread for its gold.

[StoneCrab]

Pactor modems are mentioned a lot.

I have some questions about these modems, but primarily, I am wondering if they are still required. Wouldn't a computer be able to handle all the data translation if it is wired to the SSB?

This thread talks about Weatherfax reception only needing a cheap receiver since there isn't bi-directional communication. The app is only demodulating the received modem tones for Weatherfax. Isn't there an app for a computer that can send and receive these signals ... emulating a Pactor modem?

My other question relates to speed. Dockside Radio sells several generations of Pactor modems. If you are to gain the speed benefits of the newer models, wouldn't the shore station also need to have the equipment with the newer standards? Is this guaranteed?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Bill was very good and we worked together a number of times. You know he passed?

Folks in light of the information that Bill has passed away, we have changed his membership to Eternal Member in memory of the 13 years he was a member of CF and a regular contributor to all things radio.

Sadly we lost another good guy.

Bill, rest in peace.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...fors-2865.html

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Folks in light of the information that Bill has passed away, we have changed his membership to Eternal Member in memory of the 13 years he was a member of CF and a regular contributor to all things radio.

Sadly we lost another good guy.

Bill, rest in peace.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...fors-2865.html

Nice, that really shows a lot of respect from CF

[Dave_S]

Sorry, I didn't read all the posts.

I find the predictions dodgy, certainly not accurate near coastal areas, no better than the free stuff. I was recommended to a crossing planner by someone I respect as a sailor, especially as I am very amature.

Without question I would pay them to plan and continually update my crossing via sat phone. Probably cheaper for the short time you are crossing oceans. You still need the good communications but I have a cursory respect for the computer generated planners. I am sure they are better miles from land than they are near a coast but it may be cheaper and a great deal safer to pay a human to look after you.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by StoneCrab

Pactor modems are mentioned a lot.

I have some questions about these modems, but primarily, I am wondering if they are still required. Wouldn't a computer be able to handle all the data translation if it is wired to the SSB?

This thread talks about Weatherfax reception only needing a cheap receiver since there isn't bi-directional communication. The app is only demodulating the received modem tones for Weatherfax. Isn't there an app for a computer that can send and receive these signals ... emulating a Pactor modem?

My other question relates to speed. Dockside Radio sells several generations of Pactor modems. If you are to gain the speed benefits of the newer models, wouldn't the shore station also need to have the equipment with the newer standards? Is this guaranteed?

You need dedicated hardware to process the Pactor signals, plus they are proprietary.
You can use a sound card with Winlink stations (ham sites), but they have slower throughput.

Most of the Sailmail land stations have Pactor 4 available. None of the Ham stations do.

If you are buying a pactor modem new, then get a 4. Used, a 3 or anything firmware upgradeable to a 3 is good.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

I am sure they are better miles from land than they are near a coast but it may be cheaper and a great deal safer to pay a human to look after you.

From a long distance cruising perspective I've never quite understood the willingness of so many to hand over passage routing to a stranger ashore, self reliance is so high up the list for a cruising boat, doesn't seem quite right not to get more real world experience of weather and standing your own two feet. GFS gribs and westherfax synoptics are plenty info to go on.

Every offshore boat should have this onboard and should have been read at least twice
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Mari...0355668&sr=8-1

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by conachair

From a long distance cruising perspective I've never quite understood the willingness of so many to hand over passage routing to a stranger ashore, self reliance is so high up the list for a cruising boat, doesn't seem quite right not to get more real world experience of weather and standing your own two feet. GFS gribs and westherfax synoptics are plenty info to go on.

Every offshore boat should have this onboard and should have been read at least twice
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Mari...0355668&sr=8-1

Point taken.

I have read some on weather forecasting based on all comunications lost but would not feel comfortable crossing an ocean that way it would only come into play in an emergency. I do play it out sometimes but with less than good results.

Some of these people come with pretty impressive resumes and for someone who hasn't crossed an ocean I would learn a lot from employing them rather than following BOM or Predictwind.

I will have a look at the book you suggest.

[mikedefieslife]

Predictwind is expensive for what it is. A friend a shore could easily be messaged and tell you the weather or even do a route plan for you, using free services like Fastseas.

If you have an iridium go or other access to email, you can download grib using OpenCPN, you can also download weatherfaxes from nws.ftpmail.ops@noaa.gov via email, and import them into OpenCPN to be used as overlays.

[Marathon1150]

Like many of the others that have responded to your queries we had multiple sources of weather info, all of which were useful when we crossed from Mexico to Tahiti earlier this year. We used:

1. PredictWind and an IridiumGo. The outside antenna is really important. The IG provides access to lots of things other than just weather data via PW, the most important of which is email. We bought a Sailmail subscription and this package worked very well for us.

2. An Icom 802 with Pactor Modem. We used this for Gribs including synoptic charts so we could see what was around us in terms of isobars rather than just the wind vectors that PW provides. This improved our ability to determine which PW model was likely to be the most accurate on any given day. Including for departure and route forecasts. We used this for SailMail as well from time to time but the IG is much better in terms of reliable connections.

3. We used MetBob (Bob McDavitt) as a weather router. He was invaluable and I cannot praise him too much. He told us when to depart Mexico and then later when to best depart Nuku Hiva for Tahiti. We were stuck in Mexico for 9 days waiting for a weather window and Bob updated his forecast pretty much daily. When we left, we encountered pretty much exactly the weather he predicted and it was similar to what one or more of the PW models predicted but not always. Bob was more accurate.

One of our crew and I are planning a trip similar to yours. Vancouver - Hawaii - Vancouver, on his boat. Based on our recent experience he is planning on using the same three sources.

One of our dock neighbours in Mexico went to NZ and back several years ago. He only used a SW receiver and voice broadcasts and felt he was as well informed as he needed to be. He did get into some very nasty weather near Niue but even with multiple weather sources, it might have been unavoidable.

Good luck with the preparations and the voyage.

[Marathon1150]

Originally Posted by conachair

From a long distance cruising perspective I've never quite understood the willingness of so many to hand over passage routing to a stranger ashore, self reliance is so high up the list for a cruising boat, doesn't seem quite right not to get more real world experience of weather and standing your own two feet. GFS gribs and westherfax synoptics are plenty info to go on.

Every offshore boat should have this onboard and should have been read at least twice
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Mari...0355668&sr=8-1

The book noted above is useful and after reasonably extensive study and real life experience will be one more useful guide to interpreting data and developing a weather sense. At the same time, the book is not the most accessible guide to weather. Others include, "Instant Weather Forecasting: You Can Predict the Weather". Alan Watts.

I still believe however that multiple sources of advice are helpful given the complexity of weather phenomena. Normally, a meteorologist has at least a first degree if not an advanced degree in physics and if working for any major national meteorological organization, has access to significant computing power and other experts to consult with. Artificial intelligence is also being used. Even then, they get it wrong often enough that I do not want to rely on my amateur ability and I am happy to accept expert advice.

We used Burch's book to learn about squalls. How to predict the probability of their occurrence, how to see them and what to do about them. At the end of the day, his recommendation that you need to go to "squall school" in order to really learn about them is quite correct. Real world experience will always help a well informed sailor deal with weather.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

The book noted above is useful and after reasonably extensive study and real life experience will be one more useful guide to interpreting data and developing a weather sense. At the same time, the book is not the most accessible guide to weather.

True, then again going into such depth is never going to be simple. The barometer handbook is another must have imho.
A few good resources online as well-
https://www.edx.org/course/backyard-...nce-of-weather