SailTimer Wind Instrument on the masthead of the lead boat. Click photo for full size.

How to Know What the Wind is Doing Up Ahead

The SailTimer Wind Instrument™ can have an internet connection, which lets it crowdsource to high-resolution wind maps. The Wind Instrument itself only tells you local wind, but it is helpful to know if the wind is more favorable close to shore or in the open water. And what is the wind doing around that next headland?

The marine weather forecast does not have enough resolution to tell you this, but crowdsourced wind maps can. No weather agency has enough weather stations. As shown in the flowchart below, marine weather forecasts therefore come from satellite imaging (not actual wind measurements). Hence the marine weather forecast only has a resolution of typically 1/4 degree (15 x 15 nautical miles) or 1/2 degree (30 x 30 nautical miles). It assumes that the wind is the same everywhere within that giant cell. But everyone knows that is not true.
 

The SailTimer Wind Instrument is a connected sensor that can send data to our online database every second as boats sail along. That gives a resolution of 10 meters, and helps all boaters with resolution that is orders of magnitude better than the marine weather forecast. Plus, we can archive that data, to know how the wind flows in that location even if there is no live data there right now.

The map below is in development, showing high-resolution wind zones that you can zoom in on. The wind zones have more resolution where crowdsourced data is available. For other locations there is grid of low-res wind from the standard marine weather forecast. This is a transformative change to marine navigation for all boaters. If you know of the Waze app for traffic jams, or SonarCharts for sharing bottom depths to improve the resolution of marine charts, the connected Wind Instrument does the same for wind maps.

With crowdsourced wind maps, you can know in advance if the wind is funneling through a channel up ahead and requires a change of tactics. That has never been possible before.
 

If You Want to Be Part of This

Crowdsourcing is fundamentally changing marine weather and navigation. These wind maps are a new platform that we will be rolling out in the coming months. Plan your tacking route based on local Wind Instrument data, and crowdsourced wind zones up ahead. Know what is happening in the open water, or behind that next point. No more driving blind.

You can move to this new standard of high resolution wind zones with your own SailTimer Wind Instrument. At $470, it has biggest features and the smallest price worldwide. Supplies are limited, so order now for fastest delivery.
Order
The Wind Instrument often becomes sold out with spring orders. But we have new spring inventory arriving from the factory in the next few weeks. There is also a new lower installment price of $23.99 per month for 24 months. (Canada here.)
 


Thanks to David Partridge, skipper of s/v Night Hawk, for permission to use the keelboat photo above.

Copyright © 2022 SailTimer Inc. All rights reserved. SailTimer, Air Link, SailTimer Wind Instrument, Wind Instrument RB, Audio Navigation, Speedy Trailer Lights, TTD® and the above tacking logo are trademarks of SailTimer Inc.

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