Predictwind helps you pick the best time to depart

by Richard Gladwell Sail-World.com/nz on 25 Jul 2014

PredictWind Departure Planner PredictWind http://www.predictwind.com

The Departure Planning tool from PredictWind can save huge amounts of time planning and give you more hours sailing.

It does this by looking at four different departure dates that are separated by 24 hours, and assessing the weather to pick the best day to leave for a particular journey.

Simply drag and drop start points and let the tool assist in making an informed decision as to when to set sail. The different routes are plotted on a map for visual comparison and also summarised in a table.

The table is especially helpful as it gives estimates of the different passage durations and important considerations for each departure date. Like Predict Wind’s Weather Routing tool, Departure Planning can be optimised for speed or comfort using your boats polars. The summary table gives estimates of time spent in certain conditions, as well as the duration for the whole trip. At a glance the time spent upwind, downwind and reaching can be compared across the departure dates. The Departure Planner will also forecast the percentage of time spent in certain wind and swell conditions.

The Departure Planner does the hard work for you when planning when to set sail. The simple setup and well presented information makes it easy to decide what is the best day to leave the dock. Sail in the best conditions with the least effort thanks to the Departure Planner from PredictWind.

PredictWind's Departure Planning is the experts' choice when working out the best day to depart on a coastal or offshore passage. By simply placing start and finish points on the map, this tool will calculate the best day to depart on your next offshore or coastal passage.

Your trip will be spanning different weather patterns, and this powerful tool will quickly summarize the wind conditions for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, or Day 4 departure. In seconds, the site will generate what could take hours to work out manually. Watch the video above to see how this incredible tool works, or click the link below to test out a Departure Plan on PredictWind.com right now.

When PredictWind opens click on the Tools function on the left hand toolbar, a new set of Menu functions will open. Click on Departure Planning .

Drag the Orange marker to your Start point, and the Green marker to your destination (or you can enter the Coordinates). Click Set after each is in position.

Then click the Departure Planner Preferences tab and set up the options for your boat and trip. You can either have the option of Optimising the Route for the Fastest Time or Comfort. In both options you will have to select either a Pre-Defined Boat Polar for your boat, or pick a boat that is close and then use the Polar Speed Adjustment factor to get the optimum factor for your boat.

At the top of the panel there are two settings to avoid where possible Wind Speeds greater than a speed you can set. Do the same for Swell heights. Move the cursor out onto a blank section of the panel and left click so that the last box you used is no longer highlighted.

Then click Plan Departure (requires a Pro or regular PredictWind subscription)