The first race of the B&G SIMRAD Two Handed Triple Series has 50 has been postponed by race officials due to the weather forecasts, showing that winds of up to 45 knots were predicted to hit the race fleet this afternoon. The forecasts were backed up by America's Cup weather specialist Jon Bilger's new PredictWind.com weather service.
A statement on the Shorthanded Sailing Association website reads 'Unfortunately the weather forecast for this weekend is not suitable for safe racing. Please check this site (www.ssanz.co.nz) on Tuesday to find out if the B&G SIMRAD 50 will be sailed at a later date.
Shown below are the wind and weather predictions with some very interesting data from www.predictwind.com one of Sail-World's latest advertisers.
Predict Wind is the brainchild of Jon Bilger, a top youth sailor who moved across to the America's Cup weather teams and was a key member of the Alinghi weather team in the last America's Cup.
The Predict Wind system is a subscriber system with a variety of subscription levels. It will give you weather predictions on any region in the planet - you specify the place you wish to be tracked.
The output from the system comes in either graphical format or text reports and will cover either a one day period (suitable for round the bouys racing) or a five day period, suitable for making decisions on upcoming events.
There is a free subscription available for new users to try Predict Wind, however, be warned, it is addictive.
Below is the information published on the SSANZ website in regards to today's postponement.
Why the postponement ?
05 Jul 2008
Some weather info...
Issued by MetService at 04:40am 05-Jul-2008
Warning: Gale warning in force for all areas.
Situation: A low tracks slowly northwards along the east coast today, directing gale or storm force southwest winds across much of the country. The southwest flow persists through Monday, then eases from Tuesday as a ridge in the Tasman Sea slowly spreads across New Zealand.
Forecast:
For the Manukau and Waitemata Harbours, the Hauraki Gulf and for Bream Head to Cape Colville:
Today: Westerly 25 knots gusting 35 knots, rising to southwest 35 knots gusting 45 knots this afternoon. Rough sea, becoming very rough this afternoon. Poor visibility in heavy, thundery showers.
Outlook:Sunday:Southwest 35 knots easing to 25 knots by evening.
From www.predictwind.com
PredictWind is the brainchild of Jon Bilger, a top youth and Olympic sailor who moved across to the America's Cup weather teams. PredictWind utilises technology from the America's cup weather models.
Remember the wind strengths on the graph below are AVERAGES and gusts can be around 15-20% higher
by SSANZ and Sail-World
7:44 PM Fri 4 Jul 2008 GMT
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