How we use the University of Washington Wind Model

[Sandy Beach]

yeah, the DWD forecast is usually down

[BETTY BOOP]

I Check this site almost daily and some times several times a day. Love this site. I am a fishing guide and rely on this site a lot

[baygulls5]

Don't take it away! We use it checking conditions for fishing, kayaking, and sailing. We always go to BWD first! Great job and keep up the good work.

[Cj]

I've been in Barbados for a few weeks but I'm still inclined to check the model every day. I guess it's even more important to me then I thought!

[sixlinewrasse]

Hello BWD

I learned to kite on the island, but now live in Boundary Bay Tsawwassen.
Many kiters on the mainland are using the wind model as I do, and check it daily.
There is also a link on BC Ferries internal website, which the Captains use to make weather judgements, and this is a good indicator of the site's value concerning public safety.
I wish we had an equivalent site on the mainland as BWD.
My only wish is that the currant conditions page contained Pam Rocks. Then we could see when Squamish was working.

Thanks for the info.

J.Hipwell
Boundary Bay Boarder

[Island Noel]

I check the wind forcast every day of the summer and also from overseas to know what is happening at home, when its 5 k I go out fishing, when its 20k I get the kites out. What other website can help plan your weekend better?
so in the summer, I check it several times a day, and also use my I phone to check it. your book marked Everywhere I go lol

[SAR]

I am a Coxswain on a fast rescue boat out of Oak Bay. BWD and the wind model is used extensively by our unit as a trusted source of information. When we see that the wind is going to come up suddenly we have a pretty good idea that we might get paged out. It is our quick, one-stop site for weather and conditions for mission planning.

UW- I would add that Oak Bay Sea Rescue is also a not for profit volunteer organization.

[JohnT]

Just writing to show support for the wind prediction service (in response to the note on BigWaveDave). I use the site approx. once a week to check conditions before sailing from Oak Bay. Looks like there's a lot of other good info here - glad I signed up.

John

[kayaksalot]

Sea kayakers on the South Island use this forecast all the time and recommend it to new paddlers. It's invaluable for us and is the most accurate forecast we can have available. It would be a shame to lose it.
We've already had to deal with Environment Canada cutting back on Marine forecasts but luckily enough opinions were voiced and that decision was reversed.

[prjacobs]

As a small boat sailor I never go out without first checking BWD's wind model pages. The information is invaluble, especially from a safety standpoint. On more than one occassion we have cancelled an outing because of impending high winds shown on the BWD site.

Thanks for all your hard work, Dave, and I hope UW continues to allow access to this important information!

[beemer]

Big Wave Dave is extremely important to mariners in this area. It has by far and away the best prediction model going. I know for a fact that many search and rescue agencies prefer it over the Environment Canada reports.

[ian360]

I use the model all the time, it is an essential resource for the Royal Victoria Yacht Club Racing Team and our coaching staff and race management people. We use it to plan training, and racing and it always factors into our tactical decisions on the race course. One of our members has actually made a power point tutorial for sailors new to Oak Bay/Caddy Bay with a good segment on this website and the model.

[Ned]

I spent about 2 weeks working on my code to try and reduce the amount of hits on the UofW server. They were going to monitor my usage and get back to me after a few weeks. That was about a month ago. I am assuming that no news is good news and we are okay. There was a lot of back and forth and they now understand how we use the model and how many of us use it. The last I heard was that they were sure that something could be worked out.

I'll try and see if there is an update...
Thanks
dave

Any updates since this post back in December??

[bwd]

The latest update I have is that we are in reasonably good shape. They are happy that I was willing to work with them to reduce the amount of data that is downloaded. They also find this forum topic useful.

What has yet to be discussed is having our group contribute in a small way to help maintain their weather products. They realize that we can't contribute the same amount as other agencies (around $1000 per month), but we did discuss an annual contribution of about $1000 per year by our group. This might help fund an undergraduate project at the University on wind forecasts, for example.

So that's where we are now. The future looks good for continued access, but we will have to contribute an amount of about $1000 per year...

Thanks to everyone that took the time to comment. It has been very helpful.
Dave

[saulman]

Since this topic was started in October of last year, it would be reasonable to expect that there is an entire season of users who are just now coming back to the site for their weather predictions. The wording in Dave's last post might give the impression that the thread is over. However, I'd say that it would be great if the comments kept coming to prove and to find out just how widely used this prediction information is.

-correct me here Dave if I'm wrong, but to all you lurkers out there : please keep up the posting on how you or your friends use these prediction tables! I think they can only help the cause.