Obtaining Accurate Offshore/Hi-Seas Weather data/forecasts, while at sea

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by Gerrycooper56

John, for the Caribbean with a plethora of land based weather stations covering the coastal weather plus the number of boats cruising around we used the Caribbean weather nets on SSB and in some cases locally with VHF. Once thru Panama to Galapagos we still used SSB but started using Iridium to Maxsea for weather plotting. From Galapagos to Marquesas it was all Iridium/Maxsea as for whatever reason we couldn't always get a clean weather fax from NOAA. The Iridium setup for us was 100% reliable - always had signal and data.
Eventually because of the Iridium/Maxsea info we acted as the weather boat for our group crossing, using the SSB to (try) keep in contact and broadcast the weather for each boats area. We plan on repeating the voyage and I don't think will buy a new SSB - the new boat already has an old Icom installed.

Just to pile on, offshore the Iridium is the way to go. Totally agree on the reliability and signal with the Iridium. Very important when you are trying to sidestep big North Atlantic lows. We tracked four of them on one crossing. Getting clean weather offshore on the SSB was aggravating for a whole list of reasons so consequently, we never turned it on much.

Near land we used WiFi when available for weather.