Trouble with Garmin InReach weather forecasts

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by txg

There is a simple solution for this problem:

Get a fastseas inreach subscription for 5USD/month and use it for weather routing. That's much better than the inreach weather that's only forecasting for a single position as far as i know, doesn't matter if it is for two days or three or even seven as you will be several hundred miles away from the point that the forecast is made for anyways.

Good stuff. I have a Pacific crossing coming up next year, so will try this out for that. Now if they would just build an app to apply all that text to an easy to read chart!

[sailjumanji]

Using the InReach and OCENS subscription service, you can request a forecast for your current location, or for any lat-long you enter. If we had a three day passage, we would get forecasts for several points along the route. Each point would have 72 hr forecasts in 4 hr increments. You could look at the tables and see when they predicted wind and wave changes, etc.

[907Juice]

I don’t use the weather forecast. If I’m out very long, I’ll usually just send a message to have my dad check the weather and get back to me. Then he can look at 3 or 4 weather sites and get the best intel.

On the same note, I really do like my inreach and use it frequently. I’m less enthused now that Garmin bought it. But then again, it is only a matter of time before they own everything.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Good stuff. I have a Pacific crossing coming up next year, so will try this out for that. Now if they would just build an app to apply all that text to an easy to read chart!

Fastseas is nice for routing. I don't think it is enough for forecasting. I would not want to cross the Pacific without the ability to download GRIBs daily.

[CarlF]

Like 907Juice, I use someone ashore (my adult son) to augment the InReach weather.

He keeps an eye on the weather forecast when I am offshore and will send me a text when he sees something unusual along my track. It's amazing how much he can pack into a few 160 character messages. On most passages, he only has to do this a few times as the InReach is fine in settled weather.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Fastseas is nice for routing. I don't think it is enough for forecasting. I would not want to cross the Pacific without the ability to download GRIBs daily.

It will just be one tool in a full ensemble. The boat is very well equipped with just about every typical comm option aboard (InReach, Satt Phone, SSB w Pactor...). So we can get GRIBs via satt phone/SSB, synoptic charts via SSB, etc...

[MrS]

Thank you sailjumanji and StuM. Doing a big Indian Ocean passage soon and would be nice to get weather forecasts.

[Eder]

I did the Pacific crossing recently using my Garmin weather forecasting...worked fine. You will get what you get when you are out there for weather and no real escape anyway.
Works even better using it to decide when to jump from Marquesas to Tuomodos and other short trips.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

It will just be one tool in a full ensemble. The boat is very well equipped with just about every typical comm option aboard (InReach, Satt Phone, SSB w Pactor...). So we can get GRIBs via satt phone/SSB, synoptic charts via SSB, etc...

So what are you getting from the Inreach data? It is just a couple of samples of a GRIB model.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Paul L

So what are you getting from the Inreach data? It is just a couple of samples of a GRIB model.

Mostly interested in testing out Fastseas...which offers more than the basic or marine forecasts of InReach.

Also: Im a big fan of redundancy. Its waterproof and compact enough to carry in a liferaft. Wouldnt be a bad idea to stuff in a pocket in case you went overboard (I sea kayak with mine and have gotten seriously slammed in beach landings gone wrong in big surf...the InReach was just fine).

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Mostly interested in testing out Fastseas...which offers more than the basic or marine forecasts of InReach.

Also: Im a big fan of redundancy. Its waterproof and compact enough to carry in a liferaft. Wouldnt be a bad idea to stuff in a pocket in case you went overboard (I sea kayak with mine and have gotten seriously slammed in beach landings gone wrong in big surf...the InReach was just fine).

That's routing as opposed to getting weather. With a downloaded GRIB you can use a routing program locally. I use Fastseas for prepassage planning. I like the ability to select a week range of start dates then see what the passage stats are on each one.
For the Pacific I turn off the use of currents, as I don't think the OSCAR predictions are accurate enough to add value in most of the areas we sail.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Eder

I did the Pacific crossing recently using my Garmin weather forecasting...worked fine. You will get what you get when you are out there for weather and no real escape anyway.
Works even better using it to decide when to jump from Marquesas to Tuomodos and other short trips.

You can cross the Pacific without weather forecasts. It's been done many times. The weather doesn't really start to get interesting till you get past Bora Bora. Then SPCZ starts to play a more significant roll. On a number of the passages you really do have significant choices after you have left, for example leaving the Societies toward Niue or Samoa, any passage to or from NZ, and approaching the east coast of Australia.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Paul L

That's routing as opposed to getting weather. With a downloaded GRIB you can use a routing program locally. I use Fastseas for prepassage planning. I like the ability to select a week range of start dates then see what the passage stats are on each one.
For the Pacific I turn off the use of currents, as I don't think the OSCAR predictions are accurate enough to add value in most of the areas we sail.

Yes, I also run SailGribWR for weather routing using local GRIBs.

I havent actually used Fastseas yet (other than to play w it a little online), but it looks like its text message response is essentially a moving forecast, no?

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Yes, I also run SailGribWR for weather routing using local GRIBs.

I havent actually used Fastseas yet (other than to play w it a little online), but it looks like its text message response is essentially a moving forecast, no?

It is a moving forecast along the "optimized" route, not necessarily the route you plan to take. This route does not take into account the uncertainties of the future forecast or any planning for them.

[belizesailor]

Another InReach based forecast option which popped up in another thread:

https://wx2inreach.weebly.com