What is Passage Guide?
Passage Guide is a PredictWind planning tool designed to help you identify the most favourable time of year to undertake an offshore passage.
Whether you are planning a voyage months or even years in advance, Passage Guide provides valuable insights into historical weather conditions along popular sailing routes around the world.
Using more than 10 years of historical weather data, Passage Guide helps you compare different months and identify periods that have historically offered safer and more comfortable conditions.
It is particularly useful during the early stages of passage planning, before you are ready to calculate a detailed Weather Route or choose a specific departure date.
You can access Passage Guide directly from Climate Data, or through Local Knowledge by first selecting a passage.
What information does Passage Guide provide?
Find the best months for your passage
Each passage is assessed month by month and given one of three ratings:
Good: Historically favourable conditions for undertaking the passage.
Marginal: Conditions may be less favourable and require additional consideration.
Avoid: Historically unfavourable conditions for the passage.
These ratings help you quickly identify the most suitable months to plan your voyage.
An accompanying written summary provides further information about the expected seasonal conditions.
Explore passages around the world
If you already know when you want to travel but have not yet decided on your destination, you can explore different passages around the world.
Passage Guide allows you to compare routes and identify those with historically favourable weather conditions during your preferred travel period.
Understand the historical weather conditions
For each passage, you can explore additional information, including:
Historical wind conditions and trends.
Historical wave conditions.
Temperature trends.
Recommended departure windows.
Passage planning notes.
An explanation of the ratings and limitations of the historical data.
This information helps you understand why certain months may be more suitable than others.
How to use Passage Guide
You can access Passage Guide in two ways:
Option 1: From Climate Data
Open the PredictWind App or Forecast Website.
Navigate to Climate Data > Passages.
Browse the available passages around the world and find one you are interested in.
Click the start or finish flag on the map, then select View Details > Passage Guide to view the passage information.
Review the monthly ratings and historical weather information to identify the most favourable time of year for your passage.
Option 2: From Local Knowledge
Open Local Knowledge in the PredictWind App or Forecast Website.
Find a passage you are interested in and click the start or finish flag on the map to view its details.
Select Passage Guide to view the historical weather information and monthly ratings for that passage.
Both options provide access to the same Passage Guide information, including monthly ratings, historical wind, wave and temperature trends, recommended departure windows and passage planning notes.
You can also use Passage Guide to explore which passages have historically favourable conditions during your preferred travel period.
Important: Historical data is not a weather forecast
Passage Guide uses historical weather information to identify seasonal trends. It does not predict the actual weather conditions you will encounter on a particular departure date.
Even during a month rated Good, unfavourable or severe weather can occur.
As your departure date approaches, we recommend using PredictWind's Weather Routing and Departure Planning features to assess the latest forecast conditions and make informed decisions about your passage.
Passage Guide is intended as a long-term planning tool and should be used alongside current weather forecasts, appropriate passage preparation and your own seamanship.