PredictWind's AI Departure Planning Briefing provides a detailed, easy-to-understand briefing of your departure options, helping you identify the most favourable departure conditions, potential risks and differences between departure dates/times.
Unlike general-purpose AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, PredictWind's AI Departure Planning Briefing is a trained model built in-house by our own development team, specifically to analyse and interpret PredictWind's Departure Planning results. It is not using a general-purpose chatbot; it is purpose-trained on PredictWind's own departure planning data.
Our team has extensively tested, analysed and refined the technology, with valuable input from professional sailors, experienced delivery captains and routing experts, to ensure the summaries provide practical, relevant insights for mariners.
Built on PredictWind's weather routing technology, developed and refined over the past 16 years, the AI Summary analyses your completed Departure Planning calculations and transforms complex weather and routing data into a clear, easy-to-understand written briefing, helping you understand which departure options may offer the most favourable conditions and why.
How do I view the AI Briefing?
Go to the main menu.
Select Departure Planning
Select Sail Planning.
Enter your Planning Preferences and select the departure dates/times you wish to compare.
Click the blue download arrow to calculate your Departure Plan.
Once the calculation is complete, open the AI Briefing to view the analysis of your departure options.
Note: The AI Briefing may take a short time to generate after the Departure Planning calculation has completed.
What does the AI Departure Planning Briefing tell you?
The AI Briefing analyses your calculated Departure Planning results and compares the different departure options, highlighting the key information to help you choose when to start your passage.
Depending on the length of your passage and the departure options selected, the summary highlights:
The most favourable departure option and why it may be preferable.
Expected wind conditions and potential challenging weather.
Boat comfort, including RMS roll, vertical acceleration and slamming.
Expected sailing conditions, including upwind sailing and motoring.
Rain and potential thunderstorm activity.
Differences in passage duration between departure options.
Forecast uncertainty further into the passage.
The AI Briefing provides an overall assessment of the departure options, helping you understand the advantages and potential risks associated with each departure date.
Where conditions are favourable, the summary may recommend a preferred departure option. It may also advise proceeding with caution or indicate that none of the selected departure dates is suitable.
How are the departure options compared?
In addition to the written briefing, Departure Planning provides comparison scores out of 10 for each departure option, making it easier to identify differences in the expected conditions.
These scores consider factors such as wind speed, boat comfort, upwind sailing, motoring, rainfall, potential thunderstorm activity and passage duration.
A higher score indicates more favourable conditions for that particular factor, while a lower score indicates potentially less favourable conditions.
The scores provide additional information to help you compare departure options alongside the written AI Briefing and detailed Departure Planning results.
Is the AI Summary personalised to my boat?
PredictWind's Departure Planning algorithm uses your selected boat polars and planning preferences to calculate the expected passage conditions for each departure option, based on your boat's individual performance characteristics.
The AI Briefing then analyses these completed calculations, providing insights specific to your boat, your planned passage and the departure dates you are considering, rather than generic weather advice.
This helps you understand how changing your departure date may affect the conditions you encounter and the overall comfort of your passage.
Does the AI Briefing account for forecast uncertainty?
Yes. Weather forecast confidence generally decreases further into the future, particularly for longer passages.
The AI Summary considers this uncertainty and may highlight when a passage extends beyond approximately five days, where forecast confidence is reduced.
This is particularly important when comparing departure dates for longer passages, as conditions later in the voyage may change as updated forecasts become available.
Does the AI Briefing replace the detailed Departure Planning results?
No. The AI Summary complements the existing Departure Planning graphs, comparison scores and data tables.
It provides an overview of the most important information, helping you quickly identify favourable departure options and conditions that may require closer attention.
You can then review the detailed Departure Planning results, including wind, wave and other forecast information, to make your own informed decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What subscription level is required for the AI Departure Planning Briefing?
The AI Departure Planning Briefing is available with both Standard and Professional forecast subscriptions.
With a Professional forecast subscription, the briefing also includes Wave Polar data, providing valuable additional information about boat comfort, including RMS roll, vertical acceleration and slamming.
Can I view the AI Departure Planning Briefing using the Offshore App?
Not yet. The AI Departure Planning Briefing is currently only available in the PredictWind App and on the PredictWind website. We are working on bringing this feature to the Offshore App.
Can I use the AI Departure Planning Briefing for Power Routing?
Not yet. The AI Departure Planning Briefing is currently only available for Sail Routing. A Power Routing Briefing is under development.