Lisa and I have still not been able to leave Key West. We’ve had an endless series of problems with the boat that have prevented us from crossing over to the Bahamas. On the positive side, it’s allowed us to fix the issues in an place that we know well, have very helpful friends, and can get the stuff we need.
Meanwhile, the delays have also given me time to figure out how to do stuff like get the sort of weather reports we would like when we want to make crossings, etc., without access to a broadband internet connection.
For those of you who don’t remember the days of dial-up internet service, that is pretty much what we have using a Pactor Modem and HF Radio (generously supplied by JCP). Anyway, accessing web pages isn’t an option. We are limited to email, and essentially the amount of data you can fit in an SMS (no pictures!).
Given that limitation, there are a couple of handy sources I’ve come up for getting the weather information I would like help us find weather windows to allow safe travels. Both of these sources are email responders that allow one get specific weather information using pre-formatted email messages. This is very exciting!
The first service is from NOAA, the National Weather Service. You can get information from them from the following URL http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/ftpmail.txt or by sending the following mail message:
Send e-mail to: ftpmail@ftpmail.nws.noaa.gov Subject Line: Put anything you like Body: help These instructions are subject to revision....download frequently.
More interestingly, a similar service is available from www.bouyweather.com, with information that’s easier to consume. One of the key features of buoyweather.com is the ability to set up “virtual buoys” from which to receive weather information. What I have done is predefine a bunch of virtual buoys at strategic locations along the routes that we plan to follow and we can get the forecast we need at will.
All you really need to do to get a 7 day forecast is to send a preformatted message to the buoyweather requesting information for a particular lat/lon and “voila!” you get a 7 day forecast with wave heights and directions, and wind speeds and directions. Following is an excerpt of what you get back.
BUOYWEATHER.COM Virtual Buoy Forecast Location : 24.5N 81.75W Model Cycle: 2014 APR 19 12Z UTC - 4 Hours ------------------------------------------------- WIND SEAS DATE HR dir/deg range(kt) dir/per range(ft) ---- --- ---------------- ------------------- 4/19 08 W 270 9 - 12 ESE 5sec 2 - 3 4/19 14 WNW 305 8 - 11 WSW 3sec 1 - 3 4/19 20 WNW 302 12 - 1 W 3sec 1 - 3 4/20 02 WNW 307 9 - 13 WNW 5sec 1 - 2 4/20 08 WNW 304 10 - 14 WNW 6sec 1 - 2 4/20 14 NW 318 8 - 11 WNW 6sec 1 - 2 4/20 20 NNW 336 7 - 10 WNW 7sec 1 - 2
I think this is slick, and it’s super useful for the way we go about setting up our routes for the Bahamas and Caribbean. Check out http://www.buoyweather.com/buoyweather/userguide.html for details.
Buoyweather also offers similar service for long passages which will give you the weather 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours out along your projected route. We don’t need this yet as we will be making much shorter hops, but it’s useful to know.
I know this is all seems pretty sailing/weather geeky, but we hope this helps any of you who read this and are planning to make voyages of any sort.
If you have weather other sources that you use over an SSB or HAM radio, or that you recommend, we’d love to hear about them.
Wish you luck! Wish I was there to help you y’all out.
Could be worse places to be stuck in! 🙂