PredictWind join the Global Ocean Race as an official partner
The Global Ocean Race 2011-12 announces a partnership with the Auckland-based, weather prediction company, PredictWind. After 25 years in development, PredictWind provide high resolution, weather prediction technology of exceptional accuracy: a system that was used successfully by the Swiss America’s Cup Defenders, Alinghi, in Auckland and Valencia during the last two cycles of the America’s Cup.
As partners with the Global Ocean Race 2011-12, PredictWind are offering to supply their ‘Professional’ software package to all the event’s competitors free of charge for use in the 33,000 mile circumnavigation. “Knowing what the wind is doing plays a crucial part in any yacht race,” explains Nathan May from PredictWind. “PredictWind provides valuable information allowing navigators to make the best decisions with the information at hand.” The system uses both the American and Canadian forecasting models to provide this information. “PredictWind uses two data sources for the weather model to generate two alternative forecasts for comparison,” continues May. “The closer the wind forecasts, the more confidence you can have in the accuracy.”
By linking the PredictWind weather forecasting data with the tactical and navigation software provided by Expedition and the yacht’s polars, the combined information is a powerful, competitive tool. “Using PredictWind with Expedition allows you to plot the yacht's course relative to the wind forecast,” continues May. “The full version of Expedition allows you to do an optimal route using the yacht's performance curve and the PredictWind GRIB forecast.”
Despite the complex data involved in the program, the PredictWind system is simple to use. “The professional package provides users with access to a revolutionary set of tools that allows you to pre-empt weather conditions,” says May. “The forecast website provides wind maps, graphs and a table format at the highest resolution available.” This high resolution capability is a major bonus. “The model zooms into an incredible one kilometre resolution picking up subtleties created by local topography including sea and land breezes,” he continues, highlighting the invaluable information that will be available at the start and nearing the finish of the five legs in the 2011-12 Global Ocean Race or when the fleet encounters any mid-ocean islands or capes during the circumnavigation.
Once offshore, PredictWind can provide up to a nine day marine forecasts using the PredictWind 60 and 100km world-wide models,” explains May. “These forecasts are available in GRIB format which can be loaded and viewed by most navigational software,” he confirms. “We have worked closely with Expedition to create an easy to use interface and with Expedition installed, you can simply right click on any area of the chart to download a PredictWind GRIB file for that region. We also provide a free version of Expedition which is the best way to download a PredictWind GRIB file if you are wanting to use it with another navigational package.”
Race Director of the Global Ocean Race 2011-12, Josh Hall, is an experienced solo circumnavigator and is very aware that the system provided by PredictWind will provide a yachtsmen with a crucial competitive edge. "Accurate, reliable wind data is essential to all offshore sailors and particularly important in close-racing situations,” says Hall. There is also the enhanced safety supplied by accurate weather information. “In addition, it forms a crucial element of the overall safety of ocean races,” he explains. “In particular ones such as the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 which traverse the Southern Ocean. Therefore, we are extremely happy to announce this partnership with PredictWind whereby our sailors and ourselves as organisers will have access to the very best wind data that is available. We are a competitor driven event and this is the first of many planned partnerships that will directly benefit our entries".
For PredictWind, involvement with the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 is a further development in a successful move into offshore sailing with many navigators in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race using their technology. “PredictWind has been working with some of the top offshore sailors and navigators from around the world,” explains Nathan May. “We have worked extensively with Expedition to come up with an easy-to-use product with offshore racing in mind.”
To find out more about PredictWind’s technology and apply for a free trial click here, or use the partner link on the homepage of the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 website.
As partners with the Global Ocean Race 2011-12, PredictWind are offering to supply their ‘Professional’ software package to all the event’s competitors free of charge for use in the 33,000 mile circumnavigation. “Knowing what the wind is doing plays a crucial part in any yacht race,” explains Nathan May from PredictWind. “PredictWind provides valuable information allowing navigators to make the best decisions with the information at hand.” The system uses both the American and Canadian forecasting models to provide this information. “PredictWind uses two data sources for the weather model to generate two alternative forecasts for comparison,” continues May. “The closer the wind forecasts, the more confidence you can have in the accuracy.”
By linking the PredictWind weather forecasting data with the tactical and navigation software provided by Expedition and the yacht’s polars, the combined information is a powerful, competitive tool. “Using PredictWind with Expedition allows you to plot the yacht's course relative to the wind forecast,” continues May. “The full version of Expedition allows you to do an optimal route using the yacht's performance curve and the PredictWind GRIB forecast.”
Despite the complex data involved in the program, the PredictWind system is simple to use. “The professional package provides users with access to a revolutionary set of tools that allows you to pre-empt weather conditions,” says May. “The forecast website provides wind maps, graphs and a table format at the highest resolution available.” This high resolution capability is a major bonus. “The model zooms into an incredible one kilometre resolution picking up subtleties created by local topography including sea and land breezes,” he continues, highlighting the invaluable information that will be available at the start and nearing the finish of the five legs in the 2011-12 Global Ocean Race or when the fleet encounters any mid-ocean islands or capes during the circumnavigation.
Once offshore, PredictWind can provide up to a nine day marine forecasts using the PredictWind 60 and 100km world-wide models,” explains May. “These forecasts are available in GRIB format which can be loaded and viewed by most navigational software,” he confirms. “We have worked closely with Expedition to create an easy to use interface and with Expedition installed, you can simply right click on any area of the chart to download a PredictWind GRIB file for that region. We also provide a free version of Expedition which is the best way to download a PredictWind GRIB file if you are wanting to use it with another navigational package.”
Race Director of the Global Ocean Race 2011-12, Josh Hall, is an experienced solo circumnavigator and is very aware that the system provided by PredictWind will provide a yachtsmen with a crucial competitive edge. "Accurate, reliable wind data is essential to all offshore sailors and particularly important in close-racing situations,” says Hall. There is also the enhanced safety supplied by accurate weather information. “In addition, it forms a crucial element of the overall safety of ocean races,” he explains. “In particular ones such as the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 which traverse the Southern Ocean. Therefore, we are extremely happy to announce this partnership with PredictWind whereby our sailors and ourselves as organisers will have access to the very best wind data that is available. We are a competitor driven event and this is the first of many planned partnerships that will directly benefit our entries".
For PredictWind, involvement with the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 is a further development in a successful move into offshore sailing with many navigators in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race using their technology. “PredictWind has been working with some of the top offshore sailors and navigators from around the world,” explains Nathan May. “We have worked extensively with Expedition to come up with an easy-to-use product with offshore racing in mind.”
To find out more about PredictWind’s technology and apply for a free trial click here, or use the partner link on the homepage of the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 website.
