Wind Strength Questionnaire

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jim1

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Hello,

I'm doing a project on how mariners measure the wind. I am looking for the views of mariners in both the leisure and professional areas with a focus on those going to sea in sailing vessels.

Please take a moment to follow the link below and complete the short questionnaire.

Wind Strength Questionnaire

Thank you for reading this and please feel free to make any comments or ask any questions raised by this survey.
 
My 50 years of sailing all sorts of craft, both professionally, and for pleasure, are of no interest to you, as I have no paper certificates. Ho Hum.
 
sorry to cast a damp squid on the survey...

Whilst the survey is technically (IT-wise) functionally effective, in terms of finding out whether sailors use speed or force, or both, it has some shortcomings. The words are used without clear definition of the difference in unit measurement (Force / strength / ftpersec, metres-sec, mph, etc).

Perhaps you might be asking why the Beaufort scale (and similar empirical scales) have developed and why they have lasted so long ? IMHO, if there is a technical need for a precise measurement of wind strength (e.g. to calculate load) then use of SI units is preferable. However, the use of Beaufort chops a range of approx 120 units (in mph) into 12 "scales", which is a more practical method of measuring wind speed by correlating effects (smoke rising, tree damage, etc) with an easily memorised scale. There are enough bar room arguments about whether it was F7 or F8 over in the bay yesterday. Trying to define whether the wind speed was 15 m/sec or 16 m/sec would be a particularly useless exercise.

I think you should have defined in some detail the terms you were intending to use at the beginning, before presenting the test.
 
Any of the following except KPH and mps
windchart.jpg
 
I got half way through your survey before I realised that when you said force, you meant Beaufort force (which is just a measurement of speed). The force is the effect on the sails, hull etc, in terms of a, er, force (measured in newtons)!
You reef the sails when the wind speed (measured in m/s, mph, knots or Beaufort scale etc) increases to reduce the force on the sail.

So, I judge whether to go out/reef/heave to etc etc by considering both the speed of the wind and its effect on the boat (its force on the sails and the water, too, of course).

I think your survey is a bit confused - well it confused me!
 
Whilst knowing the wind strength is technically interesting, most of the time accuracy is not particularly useful- eg. if too much sail is being carried you reef etc. If the sea is rough you don waterproofs and a harness. For racers, no doubt, knowing the exact wind speed is more useful.

For the decision to leave port in poor weather there are many factors - how much do you need to leave; who else is on board; what are the sea conditions going to be like etc.etc.

Not sure what is intended from the survey, but any conclusions may ignore a bigger picture.
 
Not sure what's meant by "marine qualification".
Can't have more than one qualification.
Can't sail more than one type of boat
Q10 having ticked "force" for everything realised that was wrong - as Pye_End notes, you reef when you need to, not because it's reached Force X - but couldn't turn off my answer.
 
I've partially completed your survey & have a couple of comments.

The photo was of pretty poor resolution. One of the primary things you look for in determining wind speed is the ripples & wavelets rather than the waves & swell which will have persisted for longer. It is also how the waves break and how frequently they break that is another big factor to take into consideration (of course this changes according to the state of the tide). Anyway, it's not easy to determine that in your photo.

Re Q10. I've no set trigger points in wind speed or Beaufort force. It depends upon the boat, the crew, the direction of the wind (for some questions), tidal effects, local factors that would affect the sea state, or increase likelyhood of much stronger gusts, or factors that would make the voyage more hazardous (such as an unavoidable lee shore, bad harbour entrance) etc. etc.
 
I have just filled in your questionaire. It is superficial in the extreme. I cannot imagine that it forms part of any meaningful research. Many of my GCSE students put together more in depth surveys which show greater understanding of the subject matter as part of both design and stats courses. First understand your subject matter. Then undertake research to find out something meaningful.
 
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Re Q10. I've no set trigger points in wind speed or Beaufort force. It depends upon the boat, the crew, the direction of the wind (for some questions), tidal effects, local factors that would affect the sea state, or increase likelyhood of much stronger gusts, or factors that would make the voyage more hazardous (such as an unavoidable lee shore, bad harbour entrance) etc. etc.

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Very well put. Also ' reef when you first think about it'.

I thought the questions were on the naive side, and would find it hard to define meaningful conclusions.
 
Jim1... all of the above are fair points to raise... I sense (and I may be wrong) that you may not have much experience in either research, sailing and/or wind mechanics... that aside, please take the feedback in a positive way and carry on exploring. Don't be put off coming back here to ask questions or doing further research...
 
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I have just filled in your questionaire. It is superficial in the extreme. I cannot imagine that it forms part of any meaningful research. Many of my GCSE students put together more in depth surveys which show greater understanding of the subject matter as part of both design and stats courses. First understand your subject matter. Then undertake research to find out something meaningful.

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Surely that depends upon exactly what the point of the survey is - he has given us an idea but not the full detail, and without that, I think your comments may be a tad on the harsh side /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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