The Departure Planning tool is the perfect tool for Sailboats and Powerboats to decide which time to depart on a passage.
Using the power of the PredictWind Weather Routing, Departure Planning compares four departure dates and associated weather conditions to enable you to make the best departure decision.
Departure Planning performs 15 billion calculations in the PredictWind cloud. This data is then summarized to ensure selecting a safe start to your passage is both easy and stress-free.
We recommend watching the Weather Routing tutorials first. For Sail Routing click here to view. For Power Routing click here
Tip : It is always best to run the weather routing to ensure your boat polars are set correctly before proceeding with the Sail Planning or Power Planning.
Note : Departure Planning is a Standard or Professional Forecast subscription feature.
Forecast Models used in Departure Planning, you choose
Select between the global models. ECMWF, Spire, UKMO & GFS are generally recommended for the longer term and extended passages. The PredictWind models (PWG/PWE) will perform better in the short term and coastal passages due to the higher resolution.
Start Time
The start time is the time that you intend to depart on your passage, but you will be comparing four departure intervals after that. You can click on the ‘Now’ button to use the current time and ensure that you have the correct time format.
Departure Planning Steps using the PredictWind Forecast website
On the main menu go to Departure Planning
Select between Sail Planning and Power Planning.
Select Planning Preferences
Select the models you wish to compare for your departure times.
Return to the Sail Planning or Power Planning Map page.
Move your green start waypoint and red destination waypoint to your desired locations, you can drag and drop the waypoints or select the waypoints icon and set the point by entering a lat and long position manually.
Select the start time by selecting the clock icon.
Here is where you select your time zone and start date for the first departure.
Then you can select the spacings between departures.
Return to the Map page
Click on the download arrow icon top right under the wheel icon.
Your 4 departure time routes will be calculated for each of the 4 models you selected.
Once your departure routes are calculated, Select Tables
Here you can see a summary of each departure time averaged across all 4 models, take time to analyse how each departure time affects your passage.
Select the Detailed view which shows the breakdown of each model for each departure time allowing you to see the variation between models.
Return to the Map view.
Press Play to animate the Map, each boat will leave at the designated departure spacings. This gives you an overview of the weather systems influencing the departure times.
You can see the routes relative to the different forecast models.
Tip : Once you have selected a possible departure time. You can run a weather route with that start time to further analyse the passage and the conditions you are likely to encounter.
Please click here How to Interpret Sail Planning Results