{"id":42495,"date":"2016-11-02T20:42:54","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T00:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=42495"},"modified":"2023-05-06T17:27:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T21:27:15","slug":"watching-the-weather-with-electronics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/watching-weather-with-electronics\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching the Weather with Electronics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"weather <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The latest weather tracking electronics are making planning and sailing offshore voyages safer and easier.<\/span>\n Mark Pillsbury<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

The first and second times that I tasted coffee happened in much quicker succession than anyone would have liked, thanks to my first dance with mal de mer. The year was 1987, I was 10 years old, and earlier that afternoon, my mother had heeded my unswerving pleas to help deliver Windancer, the family\u2019s C&C 37, from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Long Island Sound. I can still remember how excited I was to stand next to my dad at the helm and wave goodbye to my mom ashore, and how I struggled \u2014 not 12 hours later \u2014 to hold my seasick head perpendicular to my shoulders as lightning flashed staccato fingers across the inky sky and Windancer\u2019s bow slammed into the Gulf of Maine\u2019s confused seas. While I didn\u2019t exactly pass my first offshore test with high marks, I gained early insight into the real-world importance of accurate offshore weather forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Modern-day mariners enjoy far better weather information than the scratchy VHF broadcasts that we listened to on that stormy night on the Gulf of Maine. Thanks to advances in communications and significantly more sophisticated weather-prediction capabilities, today\u2019s weather forecasting and weather-\u00adrouting products give sailors impressive tools to avoid rough weather and take advantage of conditions to reduce passage times. Here\u2019s a look at different options, the technology behind them, and ways you can best leverage all this information while underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Marine-weather tools can be broken into two categories: computer-based weather-\u00adrouting software, and satellite- or Internet-based forecasting, which is integrated with a boat\u2019s \u00adnavigation-instrument displays. While the technologies are different, all of it depends on connectivity, whether it\u2019s by Wi-Fi, cellular hotspot, satellite or single-sideband radio. Once devices are connected, data can be downloaded from a number of sources, including government agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and private sources, such as Ocens and SailGrib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Satellite-based weather services such as SiriusXM Marine deliver reception far outside of Wi-Fi or cellular coverage, but they require a dedicated, networked receiver that ties into your navigation system, as well as a subscription plan. (Receivers, commonly called black boxes, are available from all of the major marine-\u00adelectronics manufacturers; see manufacturers\u2019 websites for pricing information.) SiriusXM Marine users can choose between three different levels of service: Marine Inland, Marine Coastal or Marine Offshore. Bluewater sailors will want the Marine Offshore plan. However, globe-\u00adgirdlers need to understand that SiriusXM Marine\u2019s coverage footprint is not global; it is limited to the continental U.S. and international waters extending \u201chundreds of miles\u201d into the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (see \u00adsiriusxm.com for specific \u00adcoverage details).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

SiriusXM Marine customers pay a flat monthly fee that can range from $13 to $55, irrespective of how frequently they use the service. Depending on the type of subscription, users can access weather information that includes weather-radar overlays, offshore wind and wave forecasts, and marine observations from weather buoys. The information for these forecasts is supplied to SiriusXM Marine by the Weather Company (formerly WSI), and combines data from NOAA with information from other government, research and commercial sources to create proprietary weather forecasts using advanced post-processing and data-\u00adanalysis software. These forecasts are then automatically pushed to subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

For sailors cruising beyond SiriusXM Marine\u2019s coverage map, or for those who want a second opinion, Internet-based service providers such as Theyr deliver detailed weather forecasts. Theyr employs different weather-\u00addata sources in different global regions and runs this data through proprietary forecasting models on a supercomputer, allowing its experts to interpolate additional data to create detailed forecasts. Theyr\u2019s GRIB files play nicely with computer-, phone- and tablet-based routing software available for Linux, Windows and Apple platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"weather <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Some software, like the TimeZero routing program, will allow you to use a weather overlay to find less wind and avoid a major low.<\/span>\n Courtesy of the Manufacturer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Taking things a step further, Raymarine and Theyr recently announced a partnership to deliver forecasts to Raymarine chart plotters through a subscription service that starts at about $15 per month. Users can tap into this content via Wi-Fi, cellular hotspot or satellite, but using this service with a cellular or satellite connection will add to your data usage charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Users can control the amount of data they consume, however, since Theyr Weather uses a \u201cpull\u201d model, wherein users manually select the forecasts they want to download to help contain costs. \u201cUsers can constrain the size of the download,\u201d says Jim McGowan, Americas marketing manager at FLIR Maritime, parent company of Raymarine. He\u2019s seen downloads as small as 25 kilobytes and as big as 15 megabytes. \u201cFor example, a user can download the weather for Puget Sound rather than the entire North Pacific,\u201d he says. These files are saved to the nav system\u2019s internal hard drive or a micro SD card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

While satellite and Internet weather services provide users with a huge amount of information, these forecasts are displayed simply as a graphical layer overlaid on a chart. The chart plotter doesn\u2019t perform the actual weather routing, notes McGowan, but rather shows you the variables. Weather information is not connected to the chart plotter\u2019s routing functions, but the plotter can display the conditions to be expected along a particular route.\nMuch like radar imagery, SiriusXM Marine and Theyr Weather also provide a look at what\u2019s ahead, but users need to know what they are seeing. \u201cIt\u2019s not like getting a forecast on your smartphone,\u201d says McGowan. \u201cThese services visually show you the forecast, but you need to know how to interpret the arrows and barbs.\u201d These are the symbols that show anticipated wind direction and speed. Typically, each full barb represents 10 knots of wind speed; a half-barb depicts 5 knots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

While McGowan suggests that Raymarine chart plotters might eventually tackle weather routing, for the time being, this powerful tool is largely limited to website services, including PredictWind, and computer- and tablet-\u00adbased software, including Adrena at $700, Expedition at $1,295, \u00adand TimeZero (what used to be Nobeltec and MaxSea) at $800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWeather routing today is about speed, safety and comfort,\u201d says Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Algalarrondo, TimeZero\u2019s group sales manager. \u201cThe fastest route isn\u2019t always what a sailor is looking for. They want a safe trip and an optimal time, so we added parameters so that a navigator can select the fastest route and avoid the high winds and waves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Given TimeZero\u2019s well-honed racing pedigree, including numerous wins in the singlehanded, round-the-world Vend\u00e9e Globe race, it\u2019s not surprising that this software uses a boat\u2019s performance-\u00adcharacteristic metrics, called polars, to determine its best route from Point A to Point B in light of the forecast. Polars can be either manually imported or downloaded from TimeZero, which maintains a database for several hundred different vessel designs. If your boat\u2019s polars aren\u2019t available, Algalarrondo advises using the metrics of a similar sailboat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"weather <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n A number of weather sources are available to feed data directly to your chart plotter.<\/span>\n Courtesy of the Manufacturer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Considering Furuno\u2019s interests as a part owner in the former Nobeltec, it\u2019s also not surprising that TimeZero software plays nicely with data from Furuno radars and sounders. While this is good for sailors running Furuno navigation equipment, TimeZero can also read NMEA 0183 data, allowing it to be brand-agnostic with NMEA 0183-compatible electronics such as wind sensors and speedos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

TimeZero\u2019s latest software, called TZ Navigator, is touch-based and intuitive. To use it, a Windows-based PC (see TimeZero\u2019s website for system requirements) must be running TZ Navigator ($500) and the TZ Routing Module (sold separately; $300), polars must be loaded, and the computer must have access to the boat\u2019s GPS data. Algalarrondo says most cruising sailors also integrate AIS and wind-\u00adinstrumentation data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Users then download a current weather forecast from TimeZero\u2019s servers to their PC using available communications. (As with Theyr Weather, Algalarrondo suggests users download judiciously to preserve their data plans.) TimeZero has agreements with different global weather providers, including NOAA for North America, which supplies TimeZero with raw data. This raw data is run through various weather models, and a 16-day forecast is sent to the PC as a GRIB file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Once the file is downloaded, navigators can use the software\u2019s time bar to drag the forecast chronologically forward to peer into the modeled future, or they can select the routing tool and let the software compute the fastest routing. Within auto-routing, users can set custom parameter options \u2014 for example, maximum and minimum acceptable wind speeds and wave heights. Alternatively, cruisers can use the software to plan their optimal departure time based on tides and weather. Users can review their expected sailing angles and name and label their routes, which are detailed in a table that can be copied into Excel for logbook purposes. Once all factors have been considered, the user activates the route, and all germane route information is displayed at the bottom of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

One of TZ Navigator\u2019s newest features is a safety check that helps you avoid buoys and rocks by analyzing your route based on depth and vector charts. This includes a smart cross-track-error feature that determines a route\u2019s safe leeway. On your computer screen, safe routes are green, while routes that are too shallow or otherwise unsafe are colored red. Users can adjust their routing at any point, and TZ Navigator will recalculate its safety check accordingly. Once underway, the software can trigger auditory and visual alarms if a sailboat treads too close to a navigational hazard.\nWhile TimeZero is significantly more sophisticated than the original MaxSea software, TZ Navigator\u2019s creators wisely preserved some of the older features in the latest software. For instance, the software calculates the maximum distance that a boat can sail in 15-minute periods given forecasted conditions; these are marked on the PC\u2019s chart-plotter page with a series of wavy lines, called isochrones. TZ Navigator calculates the fastest course to the next waypoint through the isochrone bands, marking it with a black line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

TZ Navigator was specifically designed to work on older or lower-speed computers or Windows and iOS-compatible tablets (see www.nobletec.com for specifics). \u201cIt\u2019s not much of a system requirement,\u201d says Algalarrondo. \u201cI\u2019ve used it on a $99 Dell tablet and it worked perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Given that many well-equipped cruising boats carry both chart plotters and a computer or two, there\u2019s little reason not to stack the routing odds in your favor and take advantage of satellite weather and computer-based weather-\u00adrouting software. Granted, there are cost considerations, but that\u2019s a fairly low hurdle in light of the added safety and comfort that these technologies afford. After all, if we\u2019d had today\u2019s technology back in 1987, I might still be a coffee drinker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

David Schmidt is CW\u2019s electronics editor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Satellite and online weather services on your chart plotter, along with the latest weather-routing software can help you plan better routes for your voyage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"David Schmidt","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20161102","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"163","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Satellite and online weather services on your chartplotter, along with the latest weather-routing software can help you plan better routes for your voyage.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Watching the Weather with Electronics %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"7LB3CGEA66PPALDJHXH3W47P5E","arc_website_url":"watching-weather-with-electronics\/","custom_permalink":"watching-weather-with-electronics\/","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[725,184,157,677,362,351],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}