The place for posts about meteorology in general, not specifically related to a single race.
For some time I have mulled over the issues of attempting to route through significant areas of doldrums, or indeed any large masses of low wind speed.
In my thinking, the most significant aspect of this circumstance is the nature of the routing algorithm. For the sake of the discussion, let’s use the Melbourne to Osaka race as an example, because it’s a good one. Continue reading Some Murky Thoughts About Sailing Through The Doldrums
I watch every race and see SOLers end up in totally avoidable BBQ situations. So how do you avoid them? Continue reading Reliably Avoiding DC BBQs
The next installment has arrived! A series of significant enhancements including a graphical DC checker. Continue reading DC Checker, Editor, Grib Loader and more. Now with BBQ Rescue.
This is not really a report on my Geraldton-Cape Town race so much as some observations on SOL ocean racing which hopefully might lead to some conversations on the Solfans blog and Sol chat.
I have promised to do a Pilot Charts routing before each race to show what, according to the ‘most likely’ reading of the Pilot Charts for the location and time and year we are racing, would be the ‘most likely’ quickest course.
This is of course not likely to be the course any of us might actually sail because we’ll be racing in ‘real weather’, and not ‘most likely’. However, even from this second race where I have compared the Pilot Charts course with the actual, there are some interesting observations to make. Continue reading Ocean racing along the latitude parallels
Ever sat there waiting for the grib to arrive? Want the grib on your computer ready to use? I’ve written a Java utility that will monitor the SOL server and automatically download the grib file for you when it arrives. It’s been enhanced to include a DC editor and now has a graphical interface. Continue reading Automatic Grib Downloader and DC Editor
At first glance, this race looked to be a simple reach up the coast. At least that is how it would be if the initial winds held.
Yes, there was an island to deal with near the finish. But odds were we would leave the island to starboard — problem solved. This race seemed to be routine.
But as the ‘Mad Russian‘ character from Jack Benny’s radio show would have said, “Silly Boy!” The race was far from routine.
Quality gribs are the lifeblood of weather navigation. And while I’m still exploring the new GFS data, the SailOnline tech team has surprised us by implementing the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) for virtual racing. The first test race is Boston to Newport, on a .05°x.05° grid with 1h timesteps. Let’s see how it looks.