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Weather Routing Now with Depth Avoidance
In a world first for weather routing, the
PredictWind Weather Router now uses Depth Avoidance, rather than traditional
land avoidance. In order to achieve this, PredictWind acquired
2m/5m/10m/20m/30m depth contours for the entire world. This massive depth
contour dataset resides on the PredictWind servers, so that you can easily weather
route your boat safely around shallow areas, using your selected depth contour.
Why is this
important?
A weather router that goes across the land, or
into shallow water renders the optimal route meaningless. The optimal route
must be a route that your boat can actually follow in real life. For coastal
routing this depth constraint is an essential feature, and often has a
significant effect on the optimal route.
Are there any limitations
of using Depth Avoidance?
The weather route should still be checked against navigational charts for rocks
and other hazards. However, in most cases the weather route will be safe for
navigation.
Additional new features
- Move the start waypoint to your device's GPS position with a
single click
- New user interface for the weather routing map display
- Boat Polars now displayed in polar plot to check your boat
performance curve
- Boat Polars can be setup in the Offshore App
- Boat Polars can be imported/exported in various formats
- User Defined Boundaries now available in the Offshore App
- Port & starboard waypoints now available in the Offshore
App
- Route comparison tool now available in the Offshore App
- Course import/export feature now available on desktop apps.
Simply share the exported GPX file with friends/competitors, so they
can add the same course to their PredictWind account
- All boundaries, saved courses and routing parameters are
synchronised between the Offshore App and Website/PredictWind App
Key
Features of the Weather Router Update
Accurate Weather
Every PredictWind route is calculated using the highest resolution
ECMWF/SPIRE/UKMO/GFS/PWG/PWE forecast data. ECMWF is proven to be the most
accurate global weather model from a National Weather Centre; however the Spire
model actually beats the ECMWF forecast accuracy in offshore passages. The high
resolution PredictWind models that are run at 1km/8km resolution are the
highest resolution models available with proven accuracy in the short term.
Getting 6 forecasts for every route gives you additional confidence in the
forecast.
Speed & Ease
As the PredictWind Weather Router is run on cloud computing off the boat, it is
not essential to download GRIB files to calculate a route, and in some circumstances,
this will save you at least 50 MB of GRIB downloads. The PredictWind Weather
Router has access to the highest resolution GRIB data for wind, wave and
current. To download this data on a mobile or satellite connection is very slow
and expensive. With the click of a button, the forecast information, including
routes for all 6 forecasts are quickly and easily displayed to help make
informed decisions.
Long Range Forecasts
We have added the ECMWF ensemble forecasts with an incredible long-range 4-week
forecast. The ECMWF ensemble is unequivocally the leader in long range forecasting
and will let you plan your trip well in advance, with better accuracy than
traditional climate forecasts.
Reliable
The PredictWind Weather Router simply works. No failed routes, or issues with
the router crossing land or shallow water, so you can concentrate on
sailing the boat, rather than troubleshooting why the router did not work.
Check the technical report for the
reliability of the new PredictWind Weather Router.
Attention Sailing Organizations & PR Agencies:
Add us to your distribution list, contact us today
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