single handed to the Azores

[Bajansailor]

To keep it simple, you're either going to need to rely on a friend sending you texts with weather routing on the sat connection or take your chances.

This is what we did 9 years ago when we sailed on a delivery from here to England, and it was very effective.
David would send us texts each day on the satphone - there is a limit on the number of characters, so it has to be concise, but he was very good at this.
As we were approaching the latitude of the Azores (but still way to the west, to avoid the High) we received a terse text - "Stop! Turn right. Hurricane ahead."
We put on the brakes, hung a right as instructed and continued to have nice weather.
We later met boats in Horta that had got caught on the outskirts of this hurricane, and they had been well pasted.

The Azores are lovely - and we only made a brief pit stop for a couple of days. I would love to go back again one day, for a longer visit.
Steve, you might well find that you want to stay longer. How long are you planning on staying there?

 

[LadyInBed]

I think that your expectation of what the Iridium/InReach are capable of is over optimistic. Neither, and none of the general sat phone based solutions, are going to enable you to look at web pages - mainly because they are a 2400bps modem connection, roughly 30 year old tech compared to land based broadband etc. To keep it simple, you're either going to need to rely on a friend sending you texts with weather routing on the sat connection or take your chances. The other solutions described here all require a bit of learning to make good use of, they would all work so it depends which grabs your attention

You are right, but a GRIB email is well within its capability.

 

[dunedin]

Would you be able to rent a Yellow Brick tracker reasonably cheaply? These are used for ARC etc, so must be a lot of units lying around at other times of the year.
Will send your position when out of shore signal, so family will know where you are. And can send and receive simple text messages - so a friend texting an agreed forecast, or saying “head west sharpish” could be all you need. Believe they don‘t require separate subscription payment.

 

[RobbieW]

You are right, but a GRIB email is well within its capability.

Agreed, even that method requires an understanding to minimise the size of each grib file and the use of a grib viewer. Not hard but practice essential

 

[Koeketiene]

Agreed, even that method requires an understanding to minimise the size of each grib file and the use of a grib viewer. Not hard but practice essential

I find that the PredictWind app on my tablet works quite well with an Iridium Go.
Gives you lots of options to minimize the size of your download (area, detail, interval, ...).
If you can keep the size of your download <100kb, you're doing well.

There are lots of 'how to' tutorials to be found on YouTube.

 

[Roberto]

I’m surprised no ones mentioned a cheap HF receiver and some software to download weather faxes. Free and readily available.

For that route I'd definitely add the RTTY broadcasts from the German DWD, they send 2-4 times a day a sort of poor man's grib with 3 or 5 days forecasts for the spot points circled in red, which cover quite well the whole area.
Weather fax software usually have the option of decoding rtty as well.


The decoded data appears like this

 

[doris]

You are also required to do the sea safety course which provides a bit of food for thought in your preparations.

Anyone who sails offshore should do the sea survival course, it’s fun as well as being HUGELY educational.

 

[Gary Fox]

Anyone who sails offshore should do the sea survival course, it’s fun as well as being HUGELY educational.

Which one, the RYA? Or is there a special shorthanded ocean racing one? If the latter, I would like to do it.

 

[RobbieW]

I find that the PredictWind app on my tablet works quite well with an Iridium Go.
Gives you lots of options to minimize the size of your download (area, detail, interval, ...).
If you can keep the size of your download <100kb, you're doing well.

There are lots of 'how to' tutorials to be found on YouTube.

Ok, hadnt thought of that scenario - useful to know. Kind of similar to an email request and I guess make sure app updates are disabled during the trip

 

[WoodyP]

Which one, the RYA? Or is there a special shorthanded ocean racing one? If the latter, I would like to do it.

Mine was the RYA one, in Leeds, that well known seaside resort ?

 

[Praxinoscope]

I did the RYA sea survival course at Plas Menai, interesting how difficult it is getting into a liferaft from the water when wearing wetties.
Well worth doing this course lots of useful theory and practical aspects.

 

[Koeketiene]

Ok, hadnt thought of that scenario - useful to know. Kind of similar to an email request and I guess make sure app updates are disabled during the trip

These wouldn't even work.
You put your phone/tablet on airplane mode before you connect via wifi to your Iridium Go hotspot.
Only Iridium apps will work (text, Iridium email - you get a free Iridium email address when you activate your sim, weather, and of course phone calls).

 

[steveeasy]

I could get the R4 LW at night in the Azores many years ago on a Lokata receiver. The more modern equivalent is probably one of the Sony multi band receivers. I have a suspicion that the LW transmission is now lower power as I don't find it so easy to get a good signal.
Once you get clear of shipping and settle into a routine you will be fine. Your twister should be more than capable of doing the voyage.

This is what we did 9 years ago when we sailed on a delivery from here to England, and it was very effective.
David would send us texts each day on the satphone - there is a limit on the number of characters, so it has to be concise, but he was very good at this.
As we were approaching the latitude of the Azores (but still way to the west, to avoid the High) we received a terse text - "Stop! Turn right. Hurricane ahead."
We put on the brakes, hung a right as instructed and continued to have nice weather.
We later met boats in Horta that had got caught on the outskirts of this hurricane, and they had been well pasted.

The Azores are lovely - and we only made a brief pit stop for a couple of days. I would love to go back again one day, for a longer visit.
Steve, you might well find that you want to stay longer. How long are you planning on staying there?

I could get the R4 LW at night in the Azores many years ago on a Lokata receiver. The more modern equivalent is probably one of the Sony multi band receivers. I have a suspicion that the LW transmission is now lower power as I don't find it so easy to get a good signal.
Once you get clear of shipping and settle into a routine you will be fine. Your twister should be more than capable of doing the voyage.

Such a shame its all about the voyage and not the destination, which is completely against my normal justification for sailing. Sail 1200 nm and turn round to head home.

 

[jdc]

For where to get weather info you can't beat Frank Singleton (of this parish)'s pages - he's made it his life's work to disseminate weather related info. I use the service described here.

The files are tiny (a couple of kBytes) so arrive in a few tens of seconds even with the 2.4k baud iridium link. Parameters which I find useful are surface wind, sea-level pressure and (sometimes) precipitation or CAPE. Getting them with 12 hr intervals (could ask for 6; it depends how fast the systems are evolving) for the next 96 hrs is my usual 'system'.

 

[steveeasy]

Right ive got some research to do this week regarding gribb files. Ill also explore iridium go hire for a few weeks. found afew places where I could hire from.
Thanks
Steveeasy

 

[steveeasy]

For where to get weather info you can't beat Frank Singleton (of this parish)'s pages - he's made it his life's work to disseminate weather related info. I use the service described here.

The files are tiny (a couple of kBytes) so arrive in a few tens of seconds even with the 2.4k baud iridium link. Parameters which I find useful are surface wind, sea-level pressure and (sometimes) precipitation or CAPE. Getting them with 12 hr intervals (could ask for 6; it depends how fast the systems are evolving) for the next 96 hrs is my usual 'system'.

Thanks
JDC

 

[mattonthesea]

Another vote for a cheap SW receiver. Mine was a Target with a powered aerial clipped on to a stanchion. From Antigua I picked up Boston clearly. and then from the Azores I picked up UK and German not quite so well. Plugged into my laptop I got good pressure charts. I also had the joy of hearing Test Match Special when tuning in ready for the shipping forecast!

 

[Gary Fox]

Right ive got some research to do this week regarding gribb files. Ill also explore iridium go hire for a few weeks. found afew places where I could hire from.
Thanks
Steveeasy

If you find a good hire deal on the Iridium Go, can you let us know? Thanks

 

[michael_w]

There used to be a chap called Herb (callsign Southbound2 possibly ??) who gave a forecast based on your position and route. Has anyone filled his boots?

Herb retired in 2013. He guided me across the Atlantic 4 times. He could be very grumpy if you ignored his advice. I vividly remember telling us to stay hove-to 250 miles west of Ireland as a degree further east it was up to hurricane force.

Chris Parker has taken over the western Atlantic.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Herb retired in 2013. He guided me across the Atlantic 4 times. He could be very grumpy if you ignored his advice. I vividly remember telling us to stay hove-to 250 miles west of Ireland as a degree further east it was up to hurricane force.

Chris Parker has taken over the western Atlantic.

Agreed. He got really grumpy when people didn't call in as scheduled or didn't listen to him. He correctly forecast a hurricane for me when I was still several days out from the Carib and we diverted and survived with boat intact...