Hi all.
We have today used a new bit of software for the first time actually at sea. It's called Weather4d pro, and is for the iPad.
It's proven to be a remarkable bit of kit. It's essentially a really nice weather forecast viewer, with a simple vector chart for coastlines. The really interesting bit is that it can use ocean tide and current predictions along with the wind to plan optimal routes. I have been using the basic free tide and weather downloads, and it gives me four days ahead for tides, and up to eight for weather. There are also paid options for better weather and tides, but I am sticking to the free option.
We were hoping to use a weather window to get from Chichester to Poole today, taking advantage of an easterly, and the programme predicted an arrival late I the evening, and helped us plan to use the west going Solent tide. In the event the weather was colder and wetter than predicted, so we stopped at Cowes, but got there almost at the time predicted on the original plan. The funny white and blue lines are the predicted routes it uses to come up with the optimal route shown for the green boat. The red boat is following the straight line course tanking in all the waypoints. (I allowed the green boat to miss some waypoints to see how it would cope). When I allowed it to miss all waypoints north of the Isle of Wight, it included routes south of the island as well as routes to the north!
I do not have any links with the producer of the software, just thought you would be interested in seeing how this all works.
Cheers
Scubacat
