Planning a trip
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Mon 27 Aug 2012 20:56
Some wonder how we plan a crossing. We usually follow the weather every day. Then when a forecast start to looks good we close in on more details. Then we start plotting the night before as we have to match currents and winds. We plot hour by hour and use a weather program called Meteoviewer There we can play how a front will move hour by hour, that gives us tactics on how to sail to get best angle. The paper chart is then covered with post it notes along the route and will serve as a reference point. Funny enough it is always fun to beat the schedule when we are sailing. As we sail we follow the weather development by what we see, and the barometer changes, and if we are close to coast there is usually a broadcast from a coast station. We also get Navtex messages. Out at sea away from radio we use our satellite radio to receive wetaher files to the same program, or SSB radio signals with weather faxes. |