Bill’s call for help.

[lustyd]

But I won't be sailing 500 miles in a day in my boat.
Can you do that in yours???

No, but I’m certainly more than 500 miles from home so my local knowledge is rather useless to me. Since I’m cruising I don’t have local knowledge of where I am, so have to use forecasts.
When I stayed local I rarely used a forecast, but then I was never in need of one.

 

[webcraft]

Where are you now?

Is there much you can do about an knowing about a forecasted storm mid-Atlantic apart from making sure everything that is not battened down is?

You can, for example, know that when the wind starts rising you should immediately put in two (or three) reefs instead of one.

You can plan which is the favourable initial tack

You can assess if and when running downwind might be advisable, or if heaving to might allow the storm to pass more quickly

Without weathet info you are just reacting. With it some measure of planning is possible.

- W