When I was young, my Dad used to take me sailing. He had grown up on the Magothy River which runs into the Chesapeake Bay, and he had spent summers on the water, sailing wherever the wind took him. So, when we used to visit the old family home in the summer, he would take me out sailing. I loved being out on the water, with the wind blowing in my face. As the cousins grew up, the boats anchored out front grew bigger, better and faster. Naturally, many of the guys competed to see who had the fastest speedboat, but there was one cousin, dear to my heart, who opted for a magnificent sailboat instead.
He used to race, but I was never allowed to go. Still, he took me out, and we had some grand times with the wind at our backs.
I knew that it was important to know the weather conditions before going out, because the last thing you want is to get caught in a squall. But for my cousin, knowing the wind conditions was really important. Fortunately, it has become much easier to predict this, since there are forecasters who use the highest of technology to determine this for us.
One of these id Predict Wind at http://www.predictwind.com. They are amazingly accurate, and you can zoom into your location on Google maps right down to 1 km. They have live wind observations from 1500 stations around the world, but the best thing, I think, is that they have a routing tool (online) that gives you the quickest or safest route for your next trip.
So,if you’re in to sailing, you might want to check these guys out.
