Increasingly Powerful...

Routeing software systems are no longer the sole preserve of the ocean racer. David Brayshaw describes how modern routeing applications fulfil their task and how to get the best out of them

An accurate forecast of wind and current can mean vital minutes for a racer, and can also save a cruising sailor days, perhaps weeks, on an ocean passage. But to be successful in either task you need to acquire good data and then use it effectively.

While far from perfect, weather forecasting now has tremendous assistance from satellites and computers, and it has never been easier to obtain this information for private use. Government websites enable free downloads of weather 'grib' files, as do the sites of commercial marine companies such as MaxSea and Raytech. 

Predictions of tidal currents can now be derived from sophisticated computer models, and ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream, can be deduced from satellite data on water temperature and wave heights. 
There is no shortage of information, so the question becomes how best to use it.

For the rest of this article please see the August 2001 edition of Seahorse International Sailing....

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