VHF Radio from Volunteer Marine Radio Stations (VMR's).Forecasts are usually obtained by the following means: Naturally, a skipper about to cross the Tasman, will be much more interested in the long term forecast than the skipper heading for a destination 50 miles away. It is therefore important to know where and when the latest forecasts, both short term and longer term, can be obtained. The cruising skipper however has the luxury of deciding when to leave port and that decision will nearly always be dependent on the weather forecast. The latter has no choice about when to put to sea – race starts are only rarely delayed for reasons of weather. This article is based on experience gained over a period of more than 30 years of racing and cruising on the east coast, including 8 years spent delivering yachts, and describes the weather conditions likely to be encountered by yachts cruising between southern NSW waters and far north Queensland.Ī cruising skipper looks at weather from a very different viewpoint to a racing skipper. Plus of course there is plenty of information available on the Internet.Ĭertainly the structure of the atmosphere and the movements of global weather systems are extremely complex and even today forecasting remains an inexact science. In addition, most cruising guides (eg Alan Lucas's Cruising the NSW and Coral Coast) have a section on weather, and most yachting magazines from time to time run articles written by eminent meteorologists. The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Marine Weather web site alone has a massive amount of information and relevant links, and well worth studying. This will make a big difference in interpreting weather charts and forecasts and generally understanding the weather patterns. Firstly I am not a meteorologist, and secondly there are very many excellent books available on the subject aimed specifically at mariners, written by Australian meteorologists for Australian conditions.Įvery cruising yacht should have one on board, and every skipper should at least be familiar with the basics. The following is not intended to be a detailed thesis on what causes “weather”, nor on how to forecast it.
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