Louis Vuitton Cup- Top breeze predicted for first day of Finals
by Richard Gladwell on 18 Aug 2013
San Francisco, 13/07/13
Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 chases Emirates Team NZ - in Round 2 of the Louis Vuitton Cup
Carlo Borlenghi/Luna Rossa
http://www.lunarossachallenge.com
Predictwind indicates that winds will be close to the limit for racing in the first round of the Finals for the louis Vuitton Cup between Italian Challenger Luna Rossa, and Emirates Team New Zealand when they meet on Saturday August 17, 2013 in San Francisco.
The first 25 minute race is due to start at 1310hrs local time, with the second about an hour later.
The top image shows the wind speed and direction at 1400hrs with it building to around 20kts - these are only average speeds and gusts will be higher.
The second shows a graphic representation of the wind build - confirming the numbers for the prognosis.
Two weather feeds are used by Predictwind, the key to the accuracy of the forecast lies with the graphs, as when the two lines for the two feeds are quite close together and following each other in the trend, then the likelihood of the forecast is high. If there is separation to any marked degree, then there still some issues to be resolved but usually 24 hours from the race they are well aligned.
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.
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