As I live 60klms from my boat, I have to rely on forecasters to tell my if I should make the trip and go sailing. I have been using seebreeze and havent been sailing as much as I'd like, now I have been checking out willy weather and find their wind speeds are considerably more favourable. Has anyone found one more accurate than the other?
You should have a go at downloading GRIB.US to your computer and then have a play around with it to see if you like it and if it is accurate enough. It is a free computerised US government weather reporting and forecasting system which covers the whole world.
I used it when I raced my computer yacht in the last around the world Volvo race (not the 2012 one, the one before). I noticed then that a group of French yachts were doing what I thought were daft things but they were always coming out in front. One of them let it slip in the de-briefing at the end of the leg that he was using GRIB so I googled the word and low and behold I hit the big time.
The system is highly thought off and it gives you wind strengths and directions for up to 6 days ahead.
You can zoom in to your racing area and check out the wind strength and direction on your race day. You can look to see if there is going to be any major wind veering during the time of the race. I think it would be legal to use this system up until the 5 minute gun as this software is freely available for all to use.
