Editors Note- As part of our mission to support the sailing community, Sail1Design is pleased to unveil our new series, Profiles in Pro Sailing. This series is designed to give our community thoughts, ideas, tips, and reflections on how some of the best in the industry made it to where they are today. We hope these articles are informative, and maybe even inspirational. As always, we invite comments and feedback.
By Airwaves writer Tyler Colvin
I race sailboats for a living. There isn’t a single sailor who hasn’t dreamt of uttering these words at one point in his or her lifetime. For a small sport, there are an even smaller number who make a living solely from sailing regattas year round. In the professional sailing conversation, names such as Ainslie (GBR), Coutts (NZL) and Spithill (AUS) come up. Enter Andy Horton (USA). Professional sailor.
Andy grew up in upstate Vermont and learned to sail on Lake Champlain and Lake George (NY). Not exactly a hotbed for the next who’s who of Olympic hopefuls, the Northeast often features water that is frozen almost as much as it is not. “First time I ever dreamed about it was before I was 10 years old,” recalls Horton, “(at that time) it was rare for people to just get paid to go sailing. I would read every article in Sailing World and just try to learn and absorb as much as I could from anyone I could. It wasn’t until I got to high school that the America’s Cup was a place where people could really make a good living, but the path wasn’t clear.”
Horton attended Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts and went on to Hobart College in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. At Hobart, Horton was a three-time All-American, and the thoughts of making a living on the water started to form. It was after graduation that he began his Olympic Soling campaign. “I lived out of the back of my car, sailed as much as possible and tried to meet as many people as possible.” Said Horton. “ (It was) in college I started to think that maybe I could do this full time.”
The year was 1999. Freshly out of school with an Olympic Campaign underway, Horton was beginning to figure out the game. “(In) 99/2000 we had 38 Farr 40s at Key West Race week, there were a ton of opportunities. This was my dream and it was working.” With the economy still strong, there were a glut of owners with a wad of cash and empty boats. “I tried to learn as much as I could and tried to sail with as many people as I could. In the beginning of your career, learning from them (is crucial).”
One of the people he met was none other than Ed Baird. “I met Ed Baird and jumped on the World Match Racing Tour with him. (In 2003 and 2004) We won back to back World Championships, did a lot of awesome sailing, and tried to absorb as much as I could.” In addition to his match racing, Horton also still had his Olympic campaign. However, with the discontinuation of the Soling class after the 2000 Olympics, his focus switched to the Star Class where he would podium numerous times, including a 1st at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in 2005 and a 2nd in 2006.
Around this time Horton was asked to try out for the Italian America’s Cup team, Luna Rossa. “My senior year of college I gave myself until age 30 to try and make (professional sailing) this work. I was at my America’s Cup tryout on my 30th birthday, having a beer in Spain saying, “We’ll see.” Luna Rossa went on to lose the Challenger Series that cycle to Emirates Team New Zealand, but this wasn’t the end of the road for Horton.
Fast forward to 2015. Based out of Vermont with a family, Horton continues to sail at a high level. At events, his day starts before sunrise and ends well after dark, getting weather forecasts, regatta information, racing, boat work, and debriefing the crew. When not competing all over the world, he spends his time at home getting caught up on emails, setting up team travel and staying in shape. Recently he has forayed into the world of foiling Moths. He had just gotten back from Moth Worlds when this interview was conducted and the excitement was palpable through the phone.
TC: What is your favorite class and why?
AH: Moths. Just got back from Moth Worlds. I sailed one for the first time a year ago, and with other people for the first time about two weeks ago. It was the coolest experience I’ve had in 20 years of sailing. I’ve sailed a lot of cool boats and this was by far the coolest.”
Even professional sailors still get giddy.
Despite all the successes, Horton doesn’t hesitate to downplay his role in the programs he has been involved with. “Its amazing thing and I’m lucky to be able to do what I do and meet all these different people. It is amazing to see how people from different walks of life approach the same age old problem, how do we make the boat go fast. It puts a smile on my face when I can think of all the people I’ve had the privilege to meet and sail with.” It is this approach that has gotten him to where he is today and when asked about it, his top two suggestions were along the same lines.
Number 1, be humble. No one likes to work with people who aren’t. You would be surprised at how many of these relationships you revisit year after year.
Number 2, do any job, do every job, and do it well. Move every sail and sponge every bilge. Never let anyone work harder than you work. Be open minded.
From FJs to AC72s, the dream of a 10-year-old Vermonter is being played out almost 30 years later around the world. It is not without challenges though. “The most challenging part has been being an “independent contractor”. You don’t know where the money will come from next. When you’re young, keeping expenses and overhead to a minimum makes it possible.” In addition he adds, “Time management is another stumbling block…knowing where to go, what to do, and who to turn down. Picking what direction to go can be the most difficult. Getting to know the community is pretty important if you want to make it in the industry.”
It is no lack of hard work, humility and the drive to live his dream that allows Andy Horton to say, “I race sailboats for a living.”
Blog
Using Weather to Dominate the Competition, Part 3: Precipitation
By Airwaves writer Eric Tobias
(for part 1: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition/)
(for part 2: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition-part-2-sea-breeze/)
Precipitation
Precipitation is an important factor to consider as a sailor. Rain doesn’t only mean that we might have to change gear or be ready to get wet; it could also signal changes in wind or act as a preview of the severe weather to come. With good knowledge of exactly when the weather is coming, you can get the most sailing time out of your practice or regatta.
It really grinds my gears when people rely on precipitation percentages to assume whether it will rain or not. The percentages described are your weatherman’s attempt to communicate uncertainty usually 12 hours to a few days in advance. There’s a reason why meteorologists don’t claim it will rain for sure from 6:30 – 7:00 and won’t rain from 7:00 on, because if it rained at 7:05, people would get all wet and upset. So for a rain forecast, percentages will have to do. A 50% chance of rain represents the highest uncertainty, and if you see a 90-100% chance of rain, you can be pretty darn sure it’s going to rain. However, with a look at a surface map and a good radar app, you can get along without these percentages all together.
Radar is the single most useful tool for predicting precipitation. Every sailor should utilize weather radar. If you don’t already have a radar app on your smartphone, you need to download one immediately. Go ahead, I’ll wait. I prefer to use an app called MyRadar because it’s simple and it’s free. When I’m coaching or sailing, and some weather is on the horizon, I constantly monitor the weather radar (I have a waterproof case on my phone; every sailor needs one of these also). This way I can know precisely when the rain or storm is coming, allowing for maximum time on the water without jeopardizing safety. When you always have a radar app in your pocket, you no longer need to rely on percentages to guess about the rain.
A cold front extending from Wisconsin to Texas brings severe thunderstorms and heavy precipitation.
One tip for using weather radar is to look at the color bar scale in relation to radar reflectivity because it’s not always consistent for each website or app. Where you might see a yellow “blob” on one website, it might only be green on another. Radar reflectivity is measured in decibels (dBZ) and it basically corresponds to the intensity of the precipitation. Here’s a brief guide to dBZ numbers and the weather that may accompany them: For 25 dBZ and under (normally green), it means mist to light rain. From 30-40 dBZ (normally dark green or yellow) means moderate rain. From 45-55 dBZ means heavy rain or light hail (normally red or dark red). From 60 dBZ and up (normally very dark red to pink to white), you better get the sails down and watch out, because that’s a severe storm producing extreme rain or large hail.
Summary
A lot more variables go into weather forecasting than the ones I’ve included here, and they extend up through multiple levels of the atmosphere. I’ve provided a guide and some tips that are more applicable to sailors, and hopefully you can use some these tools to dominate your competition at your next regatta. Now that you know about surface maps, fronts, sea breezes, and radar, here’s a step-by-step process of what I do for a day of racing on the water:
Step 1: Night before racing. Take a look at the surface analysis map for the following day. A good resource for this is the NWS Weather Prediction Center website at http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.shtml . Here’s a loop of the surface analysis 7-day forecast: http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/day0-7loop.html
Step 2: Looking at the surface forecast, determine if any fronts are going to pass through the sailing venue that could potentially bring wind shifts or severe weather. We now know what to expect with wind and weather when a front passes through.
Step 3: Decide if a strong pressure gradient is going to bring big, predictable breeze or if a high pressure system and weak pressure gradient will lead to more fluky conditions. If weaker, be ready to take into account the local tendencies of the wind.
Step 4: Verify wind forecasts by using multiple websites/sources. I like to use http://windalert.com/ and http://www.wunderground.com/ . If the sources don’t match up, take them with a grain of salt.
Step 5: Day of regatta. Check the radar (I use MyRadar on my smartphone) to see if anything is coming and determine what gear to bring out on the water.
Step 6: If you’re sailing near a coast, compare the water temperature to the forecasted temperature on land to note if sea breeze is going to be a factor that day.
Step 7: Shamelessly ask the local sailors if there are any local shifts or favored sides to be aware of. There’s no substitute for local knowledge.
As previously mentioned, there are no absolute weather certainties in our chaotic atmosphere. Weather forecasts are limited in their ability to be perfect. Also, there’s no replacement for the local knowledge of how the “wind always bends a certain way around that point” or “if it’s from the southeast, you never want to go to the left side of the course.” Now with your new knowledge of weather, you can utilize the forecast to your maximum advantage and be the first boat out there to catch that favorable new shift. Sail fast.
For the People: RS Sailing’s (not so) New Approach to Boats
In 1994, car phones came in a bag, the Saved By The Bell TV movie was released, and Sail America was gearing up for an America’s Cup Defense. Also in 1994, two friends launched two boats and started RS Sailing. Over the next 20 years, RS Sailing would go on to become a distinctly unique boat building company, come to prominence in European markets and gain international accord. Fast-forward to 2015 and their plan to introduce North Americans to a new world of sailing.
The first launch by RS was of two boats simultaneously, the RS400 and RS600. The RS600 was a singlehanded trapeze rocket ship, similar to a Musto Skiff or Contender Skiff, it was an incredibly quick, light boat for its class. The RS400 was a doublehanded asymmetrical boat with an optimum crew weight of 400lbs, similar in essence to the 5o5 but without a trapeze. While different in essence, both boats shared a common foundation in developmental classes.
Riki Hooker, RS Sailing’s VP of North American Sales, on the 400/600, “both boats were developed from UK development classes. We tried to take the best bits (of each class) and make them more simple and accessible.”
Wildly successful, their line has gone from two models to 15 with four ISAF classes and numerous awards along the way, including the RS Aero 2015 Sailing World Best One-Design. This no new territory for RS, with the RS Cat-16 selected to SAIL Magazine’s Best Boats 2014 and the RS Venture as the 2012 Sailing World Best Recreational Dinghy.
When asked about how they have achieved such success, Hooker emphasized RS Sailing’s commitment to the consumer. “From the outset, every RS boat has been designed by a sailor for someone who genuinely wants to go use it. It has not been designed for a cost or to a specific market; it was designed by passionate sailors for passionate sailors. We want people to sail our boats and be excited to sail our boats.”
RS Sailing has been conscious of over-expansion and over-extending themselves from the beginning. “(We) have to make sure we have complete range of equipment in each country the for lines that we offer,” Hooker explained, “Early on we didn’t have a wide range of boats so it was hard to appeal to everyone.” This has been a big part of the successes they have experienced, especially in recent years.
Additionally, the ability to completely support each class that they offer in each region helps to foster strong classes and happy sailors. “We’re sailors, we understand sailors…(we have) a true understanding of what a sailor needs. We are very proud of what we build and we want to put out the best product we can. We understand the journey each customer has gone to in earning the money that they are coming out and spending on our boats.”
Despite all this success in European markets, the transition to North America has not been a walk in the park. “Trying to build classes is like herding cats. (The) difference between Europe and US, is that in Europe there is less emphasis on the fleet, and in the US, everyone cares about the fleet. We try to foster fleets and build racing,” admitted Hooker. In Europe, consumers are excited about the product and want to go sailing. In the US, consumers are excited about the product and want to go sailing, with a group. “We are trying to sell boats in the North American market without replacing existing fleets.”
The approach RS has taken in the US is simple in theory. Foster recreational sailing with hopes that it will encourage sailors to get into racing. The first boat in the RS line with full racing support here in the US is the RS Feva, a doublehanded boat with fully battened main, jib, and gennaker. An alternative option in between Optis and 420s, Hooker hopes that the Feva could serve as an additional trainer for the 29er and 49er classes, a transition he expects to happen over the next few years.
In addition to the Feva, RS Sailing has launched the RS Aero, winner of the 2015 Sailing World Best One-Design award. What makes the RS Aero so unique is its simplicity and appeal across the majority of sailing abilities, ages and body types. With three rig options, the Aero has gotten rave reviews across the board. In fact, 50-60 hulls sold before anyone had even seen the boat in the US.
Weighing in at 78lbs and 13’ long and a price tag around $8,000, the Aero is comparable to the venerable Laser. Easily car topped, it puts sailing at the fingertips of just about anyone. This ability to cross nearly every category of sailors gets right back to the core ideas of RS Sailing. “As sailors we have an obligation to show kids and new sailors that our sport is cool and new. We (RS) have a responsibility to create sailing. Dinghy sailing is often the first taste of sailing that people have,” said Hooker, “That’s what creates tomorrows yacht owners.”
Change is difficult for everyone and sailors are no exception to the rule. Hooker stresses, “The key point for us to get across is that this is not new, this is something that is already highly successful around the world and NA is the last great bastion in the world of sailboat racing to catch up in this process.” A stellar track record and a fistful of awards should be more than enough to convince North American sailors to check out what RS brings to the table. They are unique in their ability to provide for the consumer what they need and identify with them, all stemming from their roots as sailors.
Using Weather to Dominate the Competition: Part 2, Sea Breeze
By Airwaves writer Eric Tobias
(Editors note: To start at the beginning of this great series, check out Part 1 here: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition/)
Sea Breeze I was once racing a distance race, and we were probably about 30 hours into the race at this point. It was extremely light wind and we were beating to windward with all of the crew hiking on the low side rail. Less than a mile abeam of our boat, our rival competition was riding the shoreline just flying past us with (get this) a full spinnaker. I thought to myself, “How is that possible?” The answer: sea breeze.
If you can understand the fundamentals of sea breezes, it can help you immensely any time you’re racing near a coast or shoreline. It’s important to note that a sea breeze isn’t as basic as a “warm air moves towards cold air” situation. Additionally, any sailor who has experienced or utilized a sea breeze will tell you that timing is very important. A sea breeze is a day-to-night vertical wind circulation resulting from the temperature differences between the land and water. If you have a cold body of water and a hot summer day, around mid-day/early afternoon the air over the land will heat up and rise into the atmosphere. At the same time, the air over the water will cool down and sink. In order to complete the circulation, the air up high will move from land towards water, and the air down low, where we sail, will have wind moving from the water towards the land. The opposite is true for a warm body of water and cooling land around nightfall (technically called a land breeze). A good way to tell how strong a sea breeze is going to be is to look at the air temperature reading on a NOAA buoy compared to the air temperature on shore: bigger difference means a stronger sea breeze close to the shoreline. Just remember that sea breeze is a vertical circulation, and not just a surface wind.
It’s also important to note that the sea breeze is not necessarily going to be 100% of the true wind speed and direction at the time. Sea breeze works in addition to whatever the current wind conditions are in the area. This also means that if the true wind is blowing the opposite direction of the sea breeze effect, the sea breeze will work to suppress the wind speed. When there’s otherwise really light or no wind is when sea breeze has the largest influence. Let’s check out a sailing example:
Because of the effect of the sea breeze, the true wind near shore shifts from north to northwest. This allows the red boat to catch a nice lefty to pull ahead of yellow. Both boats are close hauled on port tack, and if their destination to the next mark is straight north, red has the better VMG thanks to the huge sea breeze lift.
Depending on the location, the water temperature and the time of day, a sea or land breeze can provide a lift, a knock, an increase in wind speed or a decrease in wind speed. A sailor can know which one it is going to be just by knowing the water temperature versus the land temperature and visualizing the effect of the vertical circulation on the wind in the area. Overall, sea breeze can be a dynamic tool to pass the competition. In part 3 of this weather series, we’ll check out the effects of precipitation on sailing, as well as provide a weather checklist to be ready for any given regatta.
For Part 3, go here: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition-part-3-precipitation/
Coaches Locker Room: On The Water Coaching
By Airwaves writer Tyler Colvin
There is an inherent difference between coaching sailing and coaching a field sport. In football, baseball, soccer, or likewise, the coach has the ability to talk to the players during play or call timeouts to regroup the team. Sailing has a rule that specifically disallows contact with the players from prep signal until they cross the finish line. Once across, there is a finite amount of time to debrief, hydrate and refuel. This means effective coaching must take place in between sets in an efficient manner. Many very accomplished coaches have different takes on what this means and what kind of information needs to be presented.
Prestart: Have A Plan
Before the first start, or any start of the regatta, make sure your players have a plan for approaching the line. Depending on skill level, this might range from “be crossing with speed at go” to “win the pin”. No matter what the goal is, they need to have a plan on how to be successful. For beginner racers in a green fleet event just simply talking them through how to get a line sight, timing themselves on the line, and making sure they understand the sequence can make all the difference. Green fleet to gold fleet, they need to know where they are going to start and how they are going to execute.
In Sequence
Inside the prep signal you are no longer allowed to talk or give aid to your players. This is the start of the observation period. Many coaches like to watch the start from either end of the line to see over early boats and to be ready to go up course with their players. A more effective place to watch a start in order to provide more valuable feedback is from behind the line. This allows you to see the whole prestart develop, fleet trends, where the holes are, any glaring mistakes anyone is making, etc. For note takers, this is a good chance to write down who you think may have won the boat, middle, and pin off the start.
On Course
Going up course after the start you need to be careful you stay outside the course and not interfere with wake. About halfway up the first beat trends start to appear on the course in terms of pressure, lifts and headers, and current. Make note of who appears to be winning the right, middle, and left halfway up, compare that to which boats won the different parts of the line. Do this again at the first mark rounding, taking note which boats rounded first and from what side. Often times the top of the fleet is just more talented than the rest of the fleet, however they also tend to pick the correct side and stay in phase, so keeping an eye on them is never a bad idea.
In addition to trends in the fleet and weather patterns, identifying major issues that affect boat speed or position such as not rolling hard enough, footing too much, not having sails pulled up all the way, rig tension, etc. will be useful. It is your job to make sure your players boat is set up to go as fast around the course as possible.
Between Sets
This is the opportunity for you to present your information to your players. This is the timeout, the team huddle, and it has to happen in a matter of minutes. You will have an enormous amount of raw information on your hands, the trick is distilling it to at most THREE points that will help them succeed in the next race. Any more than three points and the chances are they will not remember, process, or care about what you said. The challenge here is figuring out what will make the most difference in their next race.
Looking at their start, were they in a lane and make it off the line in the first row or two, or did they fall to the back of the pack? Working on finding a hole and accelerating can mean the difference between sailing in clean air up the beat or constantly having to tack away from the favored side.
On the first beat, did they put themselves in a position to get the next big wind shift or new pressure? Do the conditions on the day mean success is dependent on pressure? Possibly the most important part of sailing the first beat is making sure they are sailing in clean air for the longest time possible. Working out to the edges of the course and not crossing transoms to come back to the middle will help keep them in clean air. Similarly on the runs, did they have a lane? Did it matter if they had a lane? What was their boat speed like in comparison to the boats around them?
A good rule of thumb is to go with a piece of wind/weather feedback (wind is up, looks like an oscillation with a long period, new breeze is filling from the left), tactical feedback (where do we want to go, how are we going to get there), and ONE piece of boat handling feedback if they need it (roll harder, trim is off, etc.). It is VERY easy to overwhelm a player with too much information in between races.
One important note to make is that many coaches like to rehash the last race with their players and go over details of mistakes in certain situations. This can be effective if done correctly and many extremely accomplished coaches use this tactic. The main issue is that if not applied to the next race, it can result in players stressing over mistakes in the last set and not to what needs to be done to win the next race.
Again, and Again
Moving forward throughout the day you will get in a pattern and it will become more natural. Certain things will become more obvious and easier to identify. From race to race, noticing trends in the course and the fleet will help how to guide your feedback for your players. If you find yourself giving the same piece of feedback to the same boat after each and every race, try presenting the information differently. Showing, telling and giving examples will help to convey your message in a way that they may better understand.
At the end of the day a more thorough debrief should be conducted after the boats are put away and before everyone leaves for food. What went right, what went wrong, general trends on the day, what they noticed, what you noticed, what you can help them with better the next day, all are important topics of discussion. This is your opportunity to break down more complex situations or nit pick at certain decisions that were made on the course.
Using the Weather to Dominate the Competition
Part 1: Surface Maps and Wind
By Airwaves Writer Eric Tobias
To move on to Part II, Sea Breeze, click HERE
To skip to Part II, Precipitation, click HERE
I was waiting at a train station in the rain the other day, and I overheard a woman complaining, “They said only 20% chance of rain today, wouldn’t you love to get paid what they make for all of their mistakes?” As an atmospheric scientist, this bothers me. The problem with uncertainty in meteorology isn’t because of the weatherman or the science. The problem lies with the lack of measurement of the ever-changing chaotic atmosphere. If we could measure every single atmospheric molecule, at every single second, we could perfectly predict the wind, temperature, precipitation, cloud cover and every single weather phenomenon possible. That kind of measurement and technology is of course impossible, so we have to make do with what we have.
My professor once told me, “Take a large, almost round, rotating sphere 8000 miles in diameter. Surround it with a murky, viscous atmosphere of gases mixed with water vapor. Tilt its axis so it wobbles back and forth with respect to a source of heat and light. Freeze it at both ends and roast it in the middle. Cover most of its surface with liquid that constantly feeds vapor into the atmosphere as the sphere tosses billions of gallons up and down to the rhythmic pulling of a captive satellite and the sun. Then try to predict the conditions of that atmosphere over a small area within a 5-mile radius for a period of one to five days in advance.” With weather forecasting, it’s obvious where all the uncertainty comes from. We sailors know better than random train station lady. We know that the weather affects us a whole lot more than just our hair getting a little damp. Here I’m going to provide a 3-part guide to help you better understand the uncertainty in your weather forecast, so you can use it to your maximum advantage at your next regatta. I’ll try not to get too scientifically complicated, I promise.
Wind
Wind is arguably the most difficult variable for a meteorologist to predict. This can be frustrating as a sailor because it is quite obviously the most important one. It not only affects what sail we’re going to put up or what side of the course we’re going to go to, but it also influences the waves and sea conditions we’re going to be dealing with. To better understand wind, you must first learn about the forces dictating it. The geostrophic forces that determine the wind speed and direction are the pressure gradient force and the coriolis force (I know, I promised I wouldn’t get too technical). Basically, the large-scale forces of the wind are due to the balance of pressure differences (which can arise from temperature differences) and the rotation of the Earth. The ageostrophic forces that influence the wind are smaller scale forces near the surface, such as thermals, sea breeze, wind shadows, land/topography influences and local phenomena. The true wind speed and direction is a combination of the two. All right, cool. So how do we apply this knowledge? Let’s take a look at a surface analysis map:
A good resource for retrieving surface analysis maps is the NWC Weather Prediction Center website at http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.shtml . The solid red lines are isobars, lines of constant atmospheric pressure. The geostrophic wind (remember, the large-scale “basic” wind) goes parallel to these isobar lines. In the northern hemisphere, the wind rotates counterclockwise around a low pressure system and clockwise around a high pressure system; the opposite is true for the southern hemisphere. Just by looking at these lines, we can see the wind direction (for the most part). Don’t forget, the true wind speed and direction can still be altered by ageostrophic (we’ll call them “local”) forces. When the isobar lines are closer together, it means we have a stronger pressure gradient force, therefore stronger winds and likely a more accurate wind forecast.
When the isobar lines are more spaced out, you have a weaker pressure gradient force, and weaker geostrophic winds. Recall that the true wind speed and direction is a combination of the large-scale geostrophic wind and the local-scale ageostrophic wind, so when the geostrophic wind is weak, the true wind is mostly influenced by the ageostrophic wind (a mouthful, I know). I’ll repeat that because this is important: When the pressure lines are more spaced out, your wind speed and direction is likely to be more influenced by local forces such as sea breeze, thermals and topography. So when you see a forecast map that has really spaced out isobar lines in your area, maybe it’s time to take your wind forecast with a grain of salt, and rely on local knowledge or maybe poke the boat up into the wind a few times to get a feel for the wind tendencies that day.
Looking at this particular surface analysis map, we can see that the low off the coast of North Carolina causes a strong pressure gradient (meaning the lines are close together) between its location and Maryland. We can expect strong winds from the north in the Maryland/Virginia area at this time (remember the wind goes counterclockwise around a low). There’s also a very strong pressure gradient extending from Montana up into Canada, where there’s likely to be strong winds from the northwest. However, for the Central Plains region, extending all the way from Texas to Michigan, a large high pressure system provides a significantly weak pressure gradient (the lines are spaced out and squiggly), so the winds here are likely to be lighter, more disorganized and more susceptible to local forces.
Fronts
If you don’t already know how to read fronts on a weather map, the red lines with semicircles on them represent warm fronts and the blue lines with triangles on them represent cold fronts. Fronts are often accompanied by turbulent, unstable air, often causing thunderstorms and heavy precipitation. Cold fronts can be especially violent because as the cold air moves in, it pushes underneath the current warm air and causes a turbulent lifting motion that often results in intense storms. You can think of a cold front as a snow shovel pushing snow along a sidewalk, where the snow piling up in the shovel represents your massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds. If you look at a weather map and see a strong cold front sweeping through your area, be ready to experience some severe weather and wind.
You can also predict the wind direction based on fronts. In the North America region, there are typical weather patterns associated with the passing of fronts. Before the passing of a warm front, the wind direction is typically east or southeast. While the warm front passes, there is a steady rise in temperature and a wind shift to a south or southwest direction. Before the passing of a cold front, the wind is typically south or southwest, and as the front passes there is a steady drop in temperature as well as a wind shift to a west or northwest direction. It can be a game changer to look at a weather map in the morning and know if a front is going to pass through your racecourse that day. Later, when you’re out on the water and you feel a sudden temperature change, you can know the wind shift direction associated with it.
A surface map can be a useful tool to know about the fronts in your area and also to know about how much faith to put in your wind forecast. In part 2 of this series, we’ll check out sea breezes and how to utilize them to scoot past the other boats in the fleet.
To move on to Part II, Sea Breeze, click HERE
