PredictWind Webinar

[Sandy]

I watched the PredictWind Webinar hoping to learn a bit more about their offshore app and how it links with Iridium Go, sadly it was just a tour of their web site and a commentary about it being really cool.

Does anybody use their offering and is it any good?

 

[claymore]

Hi Sandy
I was watching the webinar as well. I found it interesting and there were a couple of things I learned concerning Grib files. I use Timezero on a laptop for navigation and have had some issues with getting the Predict wind gribs to load into Timezero but I think I've cracked it now.
The webinar looked to be most useful for ocean passage makers really but I thought it set the scene nicely. Looking forward to the next one which I think will be more of practical dabble at routing rather than as you say, a tour of the website.
Don't think I need Iridium of the firth of Lorne!

 

[zoidberg]

There's a name for a boat.... 'Iridium of Lorne'.

I've finally managed to finish Webby's Wee Book.... as long as 'Jason and the Golden Fleece', and some of the places and peoples he meets are just as strange and exotic. I'm wondering how he'd get on wi' an Iridium Go and PredictWind.

 

[Sandy]

Hi Sandy
I was watching the webinar as well. I found it interesting and there were a couple of things I learned concerning Grib files. I use Timezero on a laptop for navigation and have had some issues with getting the Predict wind gribs to load into Timezero but I think I've cracked it now.
The webinar looked to be most useful for ocean passage makers really but I thought it set the scene nicely. Looking forward to the next one which I think will be more of practical dabble at routing rather than as you say, a tour of the website.
Don't think I need Iridium of the firth of Lorne!

I hope to get back home to Corpach next summer, COVID allowing, and hear they are building a new marina for my visit.

My current grib reader is XyGrib and I like it. I am planning some longer voyages, Azores in 2022, and like the concept of the GO, emails, text messages weather and a some calls.

 

[claymore]

Sandy - have you signed up for the one on the 5th?

 

[Sandy]

Sandy - have you signed up for the one on the 5th?

I have indeed. Also dropped their support team with a couple of questions and they have replied.

 

[Sandy]

I lasted about 10 mins on the second webinar. Sadly, the presenter's style was not to my liking - I am sure it was a generational thing. Predictwind responses to my email has been superb and I'll be keeping their product in the list of stuff to get before I set off across the Atlantic.

 

[claymore]

I made it through to the end but agree that the presentation was a tad tedious - although clearly he could dance with the software which I tend to shuffle to!
Very interesting how the ECMW prediction was so different - I wonder if Simon Keeling was watching it?
So - I can still get gribs via PredictWind and they seem to speak to my Timezero so what could possibly go wrong.
Wonder if I need to get the Iridium thingy for the long and challenging passage from Colonsay to Tinkers Hole?

 

[zoidberg]

I'm a tad 'old school'....

I hold a wet finger up to gauge where the wind's coming from, then look in that direction to see what's on the menu for the next hour or two. If there's no wind I go back to bed.

 

[claymore]

I'm a tad 'old school'....

I hold a wet finger up to gauge where the wind's coming from, then look in that direction to see what's on the menu for the next hour or two. If there's no wind I go back to bed.

That's a piece of information I will treasure.....

 

[franksingleton]

Stan Honey of RTW fame said that on those trips, he used onboard routing software, downloaded GRIB data and, every 6 hours selected the course that would put him on track in a week’s time.
He also said that in his own 40 footer, on a long passage, he would wait for a 3 day window to get safely offshore and then take what comes.
in other words, a slow moving yacht will find it difficult to avoid a major storm if it has your name on it.

 

[zoidberg]

The hugely-respected Stan Honey is - of course - a navigator.

In my significantly-smaller boat 'on a long passage', I would have to wait for a 6-day window.... and still have to take what comes. It's worth recalling that, during the last Jester Azores Challenge, the group had 17 gales in 19 days, due to an unreasonable stationary Low sat between here and there.

 

[franksingleton]

The hugely-respected Stan Honey is - of course - a navigator.

In my significantly-smaller boat 'on a long passage', I would have to wait for a 6-day window.... and still have to take what comes. It's worth recalling that, during the last Jester Azores Challenge, the group had 17 gales in 19 days, due to an unreasonable stationary Low sat between here and there.

Quite. Stan was speaking as an informed user, not a theoretician or armchair sailor. Setting out on an ocean passage lasting weeks, there is no way that you can guarantee that you will arrive safely. Clearly, any sensible sailor will be careful to avoid particularly unsettled times of the year. My longest passage was 3 days although we had planned a 4/5 day Biscay crossing. This was just before we could get GRIB data. I had a 5 day forecast that looked good but, near the bottom of the Chenal du Four, I heard the shipping forecast and realised that it was not looking good. I made the best decision of my life and put into Audierne. We were stuck there for 2 weeks. Winds got up to F10, several boats were badly damaged. Such winds are virtually unknown near the end of May.

 

[zoidberg]

I made the best decision of my life and put into Audierne

There are worse places to 'put into'.....

I'm interested in the decision-making, and what I can learn from it. Would you care to share HOW and WHERE the decision was made, and what were the key factors, including growing uncertainties about what was to come - and any specific weather cues you picked up that weighed heavily in your thinking?

 

[franksingleton]

There are worse places to 'put into'.....

I'm interested in the decision-making, and what I can learn from it. Would you care to share HOW and WHERE the decision was made, and what were the key factors, including growing uncertainties about what was to come - and any specific weather cues you picked up that weighed heavily in your thinking?

Background. This was in 2000. I was late 60s, wife and her sister a year or two youngers. We had done much Biscay sailing and been as far south as Viana do Castello. We were on our way to the Med. We had (still have) an HR34. We had left Dartmouth on passage to A Coruna. Planning was based on the then available Met Office telefax 4 day forecast charts and texts

Near the S end of the Chenal du Four, I had to decide whether to go outside the Chaussee de Sein or keep options open and go through the Raz. I heard the BBC shipping forecast or read it on NAVTEX, I forget now. The synopsis was differing a little from expectation. We had had a fairly robust Channel crossing so I decided to go into Ste Evette to have a quiet meal and review the situation. I had a cellphone and knew that I could hear the Met Office recorded 4 day forecasts.

The next forecasts talked about increasing winds so we went up river to Audierne. In the end, we had 2 weeks there before winds both died down and we got a good direction. Gentlemen do not beat.
In Audiene, a delivery boat arrived from A Coruna. They had left with only the BBC shipping forecast and no sight of any charts which we knew were usually on the noticeboard there. A small German boat came in having been sheltering behind Cape Finisterre with northerlies. The wind went to the south so he left with no other information. His only chart of France was a large scale planning chart – he was going to England, why do I need a French detailed chart? He came in, in the dark and nearly had a heart attack when he saw the river at LW/ Both had had F10s. Later, in A Coruna we met boats that had had severe damage.

Of course, nowadays, on a 4/5 day Biscay passage, I would not expect to be caught out by such bad weather. I would not guarantee to avoid strong winds near to Capo Ortegal or Finisterre if going further on.

Perhaps there is some truth in that there are bold sailors, there are old sailors, there are few old bold sailors. I am old. Some might say that I am fairly bold but that depends on your point of view. We do not shirk strong winds but are, increasingly, more careful. Having said that, we can still occasionally get caught out in more wind than our comfort zone. Nothing is ever cut and dried. A couple of years ago we we had a few hours of a fairly localised, unpredicted F9 south of Guernsey on passage Lezardieux to St PP. Very reassuring to be able to call the CG and check they could see us on AIS. The forecast had been F5/6 with a hint of 7 later.