America's Cup- Big breeze predicted for Luna Rossa vs Emirates Team NZ

by Richard Gladwell on 21 Jul 2013
Predictwind indicates that winds will be right on the limit for racing in the Round 3 encounter between Italian Challenger Luna Rossa, and Emirates Team New Zealand when they meet on Sunday July 21, 2013 in San Francisco.

The 40 minute race is due to start at 1215hrs local time.

At that point the Predictwind models are showing an average windstrength of between 17.5 and 20kts. At around 1330hrs local time both are in agreement that the breeze will be averaging 20kts. Wind direction is reasonably constant at around 225-235 degrees.

The wind limit is 20kts before the start for the Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup. the Predictwind model shows only predicted average winds, and not gusts which are, of course several knots above this average strength.

Two sets of graphs are shown with the windspeed shown in a line graph presentation for both strength and direction.

The other three show an hour by hour representation of the building breeze. An interesting point to note later in the daty is the way the breeze increases in strength in the Bay itself before building back out to the Golden Gate Bridge at the top of the course.

The Predictwind model takes various weather feeds and then polishes these, part of this process is factoring in the effect of local topography on the breeze - well demonstrated by the image with the funneling of the breeze.

Developed by former Olympian, Jon Bilger (470, 1992), www.predictwind.com!PredictWind application was used by the Swiss team Alinghi to win the 2003 and 2007 America's Cups, and has become the leading wind system used by racing and recreational sailors around the world. It is available on a subscription basis and also with a free forecast option.

A mobile app for Android and iPhone is available and www.predictwind.com!PredictWind is probably the most used app on the Sail-World iPhone.

Real time local wind observations have been added as further functionality.

You can check the weather anywhere in the world, and get a five day forecast, plus a variety of other features and functions of www.predictwind.com!PredictWind. The app is synchronised with your PC, so that your latest set of locations are always available without resetting each time you change a device.