Cruisers who have taken the two-day Master Marine Weather class often express an interest in additional hands-on training. The Advanced Weather Forecasting & Routing Workshop devotes a full day to interpreting weather maps, developing marine forecasts, analyzing weather windows, and preparing computer-generated weather routings. (Squid X, a free forecasting and routing software program, will be used during the Workshop.) Hands-on exercises are a great way to build confidence and improve your forecasting skills.
The Workshop is designed for cruisers who have taken a previous weather seminar (see prerequisites) and possess beginning to intermediate forecasting skills . The Workshop will use examples and hands-on exercises to cover the following topics:
- Interpreting and working surface weather maps
- Forecasting the development and movement of low pressure systems
- Forecasting wind, waves, and ocean currents
- Selecting weather windows
- Understanding weather forecast models
- Weather forecasting with grib data
- Weather routing and analysis with grib data
Class Prerequisites
- Completion of the Master Marine Weather class offered at Cruisers University within the past two years (or similar experience).
- A laptop (Windows / Mac) with wi-fi is required for this hands-on class. Those attending with another person may share a laptop. (Note: A tablet will not allow you to complete most of the hands-on forecasting and routing exercises.)
- Students will need to install Squid X Sailing Software (the software is free and available in Windows and Mac versions) on their laptop prior to arriving at the workshop.
- Students will need to create an account with Squid Sailing Software and purchase a subscription for their HiRes North American plan for 1 month (approximately $11.00) prior to arriving at the workshop.
- Completion of pre-workshop materials.
- Attendance at a pre-workshop Zoom meeting.
- Class size is limited to 10 people.
Questions
Do you have questions about the Workshop? If so, don’t hesitate to contact Mark Thornton at Mark@LakeErieWX.com.
