The best way I have found to find good weather for sailing is to go
online to weather.com and get the weather for your location. Not only do
you get the forecast, but you also get the wind direction and speed as
well.
By getting the forecast beforehand especially the wind direction and speed allows me to know if I can successfully sail that particular day on a certain body of water or not. I have quite few lakes around my area and depending on the geographical position of the body of water relative to wind direction will determine whether it will allow me to sail on it successfully on that particular day. Sometimes you just can't get there from here as the old Maine expression goes. Best advice is to choose where you plan to sail that day according to the current wind conditions, the location of the boat ramp, and what your navigational plans are for that particular body of water.
Of course, the weather isn’t always predictable and sometimes you may opt in to go sailing on a less than a perfect day, but hey it’s better than nothing. With that said you’ve got to be prepared for a thunder storm or a squall that can bring intense winds and come out of nowhere. It can become a very dangerous situation very quickly. It’s good advice to keep your eye on the sky at all times and especially on a cloudy day. If you should see dark clouds off in the distance that is heading fast in your direction, usually it’s a good indicator that it’s going to be a thunderstorm and the wind will most likely increase as well. This is especially true if the wind is blowing and then it becomes really calm right out of the blue. No doubt you have heard the expression- “the calm before the storm.” That is just what happened to me when a real nasty squall came up on me just this past summer.
I had just sailed downwind to the end of the lake when the wind died to the point that not even a puff of air could be found anywhere. So I waited patiently as I had this gut feeling the wind would pick up again. I looked up to opposite end of the lake and off in the distance I could see a band of rain clouds moving quickly towards me, but I didn’t realize its intensity until it actually heeled my sail boat over on its side. This was my first encounter with a real bad squall and it took everything I had to keep the boat from capsizing and to tack upwind. The moral of the story here is to first get a good reliable weather forecast before you set sail and be prepared just in case it changes.
For more information on learning how to sail, please navigate on over to Sailing Beginner . You will be glad you did!
By getting the forecast beforehand especially the wind direction and speed allows me to know if I can successfully sail that particular day on a certain body of water or not. I have quite few lakes around my area and depending on the geographical position of the body of water relative to wind direction will determine whether it will allow me to sail on it successfully on that particular day. Sometimes you just can't get there from here as the old Maine expression goes. Best advice is to choose where you plan to sail that day according to the current wind conditions, the location of the boat ramp, and what your navigational plans are for that particular body of water.
Of course, the weather isn’t always predictable and sometimes you may opt in to go sailing on a less than a perfect day, but hey it’s better than nothing. With that said you’ve got to be prepared for a thunder storm or a squall that can bring intense winds and come out of nowhere. It can become a very dangerous situation very quickly. It’s good advice to keep your eye on the sky at all times and especially on a cloudy day. If you should see dark clouds off in the distance that is heading fast in your direction, usually it’s a good indicator that it’s going to be a thunderstorm and the wind will most likely increase as well. This is especially true if the wind is blowing and then it becomes really calm right out of the blue. No doubt you have heard the expression- “the calm before the storm.” That is just what happened to me when a real nasty squall came up on me just this past summer.
I had just sailed downwind to the end of the lake when the wind died to the point that not even a puff of air could be found anywhere. So I waited patiently as I had this gut feeling the wind would pick up again. I looked up to opposite end of the lake and off in the distance I could see a band of rain clouds moving quickly towards me, but I didn’t realize its intensity until it actually heeled my sail boat over on its side. This was my first encounter with a real bad squall and it took everything I had to keep the boat from capsizing and to tack upwind. The moral of the story here is to first get a good reliable weather forecast before you set sail and be prepared just in case it changes.
For more information on learning how to sail, please navigate on over to Sailing Beginner . You will be glad you did!
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