North Sails

  • WEATHER FOR SAILORS


    The North U. Weather for Sailors Seminar teaches sailors how to gather and interpret weather information and how to combine that information with their own observations to create a refined forecast; and then how to apply that forecast to their sailing, cruising, and racing.

    Prepared jointly by North U., Bill Biewenga, and Commanders Weather, the Weather for Sailors course is designed to help sailors, cruisers, and racers gather, understand, and interpret weather information. The course includes a broad overview of weather and weather systems, and gradually narrows its focus to the wind and weather conditions you can expect aboard your boat.

    With the course, you receive the Weather for Sailors book and Weather for Sailors seminar on CD.

    Host A Seminar

    Seminars are currently being scheduled through local hosts. Your club or group can host a North U. Cruising & Seamanship Seminar. Click here to download a PDF on how your club or fleet can host a Weather for Sailors.

    WEATHER for SAILORS Seminar Topics include:

    • Global, continental, regional, and local weather
    • Understanding and interpreting weather maps
    • Sources of weather information
    • Interpreting regional and local forecast information to create your own sailing forecast
    • Short term (hours), medium term (overnight), and long term (several days) forecasting
    • Matching the forecast to your observations: Is the forecast playing out as expected?
    • Re-assessing the forecast through you own observations:
    • What to expect when crossing a front, or when a front crosses you.
    • Round the buoys race forecast examples and application
    • Coastal cruising forecast examples and application
    • Coastal racing forecast examples and application
    • Distance racing forecast examples and application
    • Passage making forecast examples and application

    Class Outline(Course runs from 9:00 - 5:00)


    Part I
        1.     Intro
        2.     Global Climatology
        3.     Synoptic Scale Meteorology
        4.     Local Conditions
        5.     Global/ Synoptic/ Local Interaction

    Part II
        6.     Gathering Weather Info
        7.     Evaluating Weather Info
        8.     Planning Based on Vessel and Weather Info
        9.     Acting on the Plan and Re-acting to Reality
       10.    Role of "Routers"
       11.    Routing Software

    Part III - Examples for sailing, racing and cruising
        1.    Here's the info
                 a.  Type of sailing
                       i.  Venue (Newport, Miami, SF, Chicago)
                      ii.  Sail/ Race/ Cruising (delivery, day race, coastal cruise)
                     iii.  Extent - day, coastal, passage (hours, days, weeks)

                 b.  Forecast, weather map, and observations

        2.    What do we expect the weather to do?
                 a.  Use info to create a boat specific forecast

        3.    How to Respond - What is our weather strategy?
                 a.  Use forecast (and boat's capabilities) to plan a strategy

        4.    How are we doing so far?
                 a.  Evaluation test
                       i.  Is it playing out as expected?
                      ii.  Timing - on pace, faster or slower?