The Offshore App is designed for boats heading offshore with a need to download forecast GRIB files on an Iridium Go.
To download GRIB files, weather routing etc using a PC / Mac computer you need to use the PredictWind Offshore App which you can download from here
Please see video on how to use the Offshore App.
Downloading with a standard internet connection, or with the Iridium GO is a very similar process. Please see tips below;
Ensure you are connected to your Iridium GO device. Go to wifi settings and select the Iridium-XXXX wifi. Please note it is normal for the Wifi connection to show error symbol with "no internet access". The Offshore App will establish an Internet Connection for the Offshore App, but not for other programs.
On the download page select the 'Iridium GO!' tab at the top, if not already selected.
You will need 5 bars to make a connection to get an acceptable data speed.
The data speed of the Iridium GO! makes it impractical to get the large (above 200KB) GRIB files. We recommend you use the PredictWind Weather Routing to get this detailed information.
If the signal strength is 5 bars, you can expect to download data at the rate of 12-18 Kbytes/min. Although you may have 5 bars of signal strength at the start of the connection (displayed in the Offshore App) this signal strength will drop below 5 bars, if there are any obstructions blocking the sky/horizon as each Iridium satellite passes overhead every 15 minutes. If there are any dropouts in the data connection the data rate will be slower due to the reconnect time.
Any dropouts in the connection are handled by the PredictWind "Smart Connect". So there is no need to manually restart the connection. Just click the "download all" button and wait for all data to be downloaded. Please do not click on any buttons during the auto-reconnect process.
We recommend getting a weather routing & GMDSS text forecast every 12 hours when the forecast updates.
The 50km resolution PWG forecasts are updated at 03:55 UTC and 15:55 UTC
The 50km resolution PWE forecasts are updated at 05:30 UTC and 17:30 UTC
The 50km resolution GFS forecasts are updated at 05:30 UTC and 17:30 UTC
The 50km resolution ECMWF forecasts are updated at 06:30 UTC and 18:30 UTC
For GRIB files we recommend getting the Offshore PWG/PWE/GFS/ECMWF GRIB files with a 24hr timestep, 5 days, 100km resolution, wind, rain, pressure & swell.
The High resolution GRIB files are too large to download on the Iridium GO connection.
CONNECTION ISSUES: If you are having trouble downloading data please make sure you methodically check all steps in the Iridium Help > Troubleshooting Tips.