Your take on Spotcast or Fastseas on the inReach?

[foojin]

We are planning to head north to Haida Gwaii and beyond this year, but unfortunately sold our Iridium phone a couple years ago.

We have an inReach SE, so we were thinking we could use it for weather, but have not read many good things about its marine weather service.

Wondering if anyone has experience with OCENS Spotcast or Fastseas. They both seem reasonable pricewise, but don't know about their accuracy, ease of use or if weather waypoints need to be 5nm from land like the in-house inReach service.

We also have a secondhand SSB, but don't have much experience using it for weather, so won't rely on it just yet.

[sv_pelagia]

OCENS and Fastseas forecasts are based on GRIB files and thus not so useful for the Inside Passage or the East coast of Haida Gwaii. They would be somewhat useful for the West Coast of Haida Gwaii.

The good news is that Environment Canada VHF marine forecasts are available for all of the East and North Coasts of Haida Gwaii (personal experience) and almost all of the mainland Central and Northern coasts (deep in some fiords VHF forecasts do not come through).

We are planning to return to Haida Gwaii this summer, this time to the wild West Coast. Apparently (not surprisingly), some of the inlets have poor VHF weather reception.

The good news is that EC voice forecasts are also provided regularly on marine HF (SSB) @2054. I have attached schedules, but I recommend you download the latest Rasio Aids to Navigation.
You can also call CGS on SSB to get weather.

https://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/publicatio...m-2022-eng.pdf



We have HAM SSB and Pactor, so can also get weather via email. But just in case, we also now have Zoleo satellite communicator. With a friend onshore with zoleo app, they can send 950-character messages to us, enough for an EC text forecast.


Also, with your SSB, you could easily/simply obtain NOAA synoptic forecasts via weatherfax for the West Coast - - better than gribs, but of little use for inside passage or east coast HG.

[sv_pelagia]

Further info: CGS VHF reception on BC Coast (assuming all radio towers functioning...)

Grey areas = poor/non-existent VHF to/from CGS and forecasts (e.g., Princess Louisa Inlet, Kyuquot Inlet)

Dark blue: reduced/spotty reception

Light blue: excellent reception

[foojin]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

OCENS and Fastseas forecasts are based on GRIB files and thus not so useful for the Inside Passage or the East coast of Haida Gwaii. They would be somewhat useful for the West Coast of Haida Gwaii.

The good news is that Environment Canada VHF marine forecasts are available for all of the East and North Coasts of Haida Gwaii (personal experience) and almost all of the mainland Central and Northern coasts (deep in some fiords VHF forecasts do not come through).

We are planning to return to Haida Gwaii this summer, this time to the wild West Coast. Apparently (not surprisingly), some of the inlets have poor VHF weather reception.

The good news is that EC voice forecasts are also provided regularly on marine HF (SSB) @2054. I have attached schedules, but I recommend you download the latest Rasio Aids to Navigation.
You can also call CGS on SSB to get weather.

https://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/publicatio...m-2022-eng.pdf

We have HAM SSB and Pactor, so can also get weather via email. But just in case, we also now have Zoleo satellite communicator. With a friend onshore with zoleo app, they can send 950-character messages to us, enough for an EC text forecast.

Also, with your SSB, you could easily/simply obtain NOAA synoptic forecasts via weatherfax for the West Coast - - better than gribs, but of little use for inside passage or east coast HG.

Thanks for this. In 2020, we found VHF wx coverage poor up some sounds on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and figured it would likely be the same on Haida Gwaii. Nice to hear it's not too bad.

We also relied on the 2054khz repeats of the EC reports, but found we could not get them in some places. I thought perhaps it was my faulty installation of the SSB, but we otherwise seemed to send and receive well, then picked them up fine a few days later. Not sure what the problem was/is.

At those times we would have family send us forecasts from Windy via inReach texts. Worked quite well. We did that some years ago crossing the North Pacific, having family send forecast texts to our Iridium phone. We devised our own shorthand. Family actually loved it.

One thing I don't understand is that forecasts based on GRIBs are not suitable east of Haida Gwaii. If the forecast says wind will be NW 25 knots at a particular waypoint near shore, doesn't this just mean it would be NW25kt if land did not interfere? That seems like pretty valuable information to me, but most likely I am missing something.

Anyway, I will download your suggested pdf and give it a read. Cheers

[foojin]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Further info: CGS VHF reception on BC Coast (assuming all radio towers functioning...)

Grey areas = poor/non-existent VHF to/from CGS and forecasts (e.g., Princess Louisa Inlet, Kyuquot Inlet)

Dark blue: reduced/spotty reception

Light blue: excellent reception
Attachment 253819

Thanks. Looks like our reception (and the reception on other boats we met) should have been better on the West Coast of Vancouver Island

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by foojin

Thanks. Looks like our reception (and the reception on other boats we met) should have been better on the West Coast of Vancouver Island

Look carefully! Several VI inlets are in grey... no coverage. In 2016, however, the only inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island we found to have poor VHF weather was Kyuquot (actually, nonexistent!). But we didn't get deep into every inlet.

Note also that too often one or more CGS radio stations/antennae are "down" (esp in Haida Gwaii, which really affects west coast reception) so reception may not always be "as advertised".

From our 3 previous visits, EAST coast of Haida Gwaii has excellent VHF weather coverage. (Don't know about HG West coast, and preceding diagram suggests there will be problems.)

GRIBS have no human input and the models used by OCENS and Fastseas etc do NOT take into account land effects or depth. Hecate Strait (East Coast of Haida Gwaii) is hugely affected by both land and depth effects, so standard gribs not very useful.

Environment Canada VIZAWEB, on the other hand, shows high-resolution HRDP (2.5km) "grib" data that does take into account these local effects. But I haven't been able to figure out how to use vizaweb outside of its website.

https://weather.gc.ca/vizaweb/php/animate_e.php
Login: vizaweb
Password: Bewaziv16

Good new is Vizaweb doesn't use much cell data, so when cell data IS available, vizaweb handy.

[foojin]

Thanks for the Vizaweb link and sign on info. Likely will be a bit of a project.

[Cire Edhor]

Make sure to get the earthquake forcast service.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by Cire Edhor

Make sure to get the earthquake forcast service.

huh???

[MJH]

Originally Posted by foojin

We are planning to head north to Haida Gwaii and beyond this year, but unfortunately sold our Iridium phone a couple years ago.

We have an inReach SE, so we were thinking we could use it for weather, but have not read many good things about its marine weather service.

Wondering if anyone has experience with OCENS Spotcast or Fastseas. They both seem reasonable pricewise, but don't know about their accuracy, ease of use or if weather waypoints need to be 5nm from land like the in-house inReach service.

We also have a secondhand SSB, but don't have much experience using it for weather, so won't rely on it just yet.

We are also planning a Haida Gwaii adventure this summer. It has been 23 years (1999) since I was last there solo in a much smaller boat (28') and I would like my wife to experience it.

During our 2019 trip to Ketchikan, Alaska we had good luck using cell reception while in or passing populated areas (particularly near Indian villages) getting Canadian weather forecasts. I still have the regional icons on my phone: Strait of Georgia, Pacific-South Coast-Marine, etc. which are much less tasking than listening to the repetitive but always present VHF voice broadcasts. The only difficulty with Canadian forecasts for Americans is locating the referenced sites because we are not familiar with most of the names they mention. I recommend a good BC coast Marine Weather Broadcast Guide like the one usually contained in the Waggoner Cruising Guide. It will reflect all the Canadian Reporting Stations, Weather Buoys, and Broadcast Station locations so you can pinpoint locations referred to.

I don't use my SSB up there at all. We also have an inReach SE but just use it for tracking and limited communication. Aside from GPS and good charts, you don't really need sophisticated offshore electronics to have a good trip.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[sv_pelagia]

For BC weather sources, see:
https://sailing-pelagia.blogspot.com...itish.html?m=0

Scroll down to "Band limited options" for links to text forecasts (very quick to load on cell phone, very low data cost)

A very detailed description of BC marine weather is found here: http://www.publications.gc.ca/site/e...blication.html, available only as a 5 MB pdf download (The online HTML version is no longer available.). IF this link is broken, download file from here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12e...ayfXxxEnBVjfVR

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by MJH

We are also planning a Haida Gwaii adventure this summer. It has been 23 years (1999) since I was last there last and I would like my wife to experience it.

MJH,

are you aware of the 2 online Gwaii Haanas park orientation sessions over the coming weeks?

Contact the park to register.

Maybe see you up there (or on the way).

[MJH]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

MJH,

are you aware of the 2 online Gwaii Haanas park orientation sessions over the coming weeks?

Contact the park to register.

Maybe see you up there (or on the way).

I went through the orientation session in Queen Charlotte City in 1999 but I'm sure there have been changes since then. I'll look into requirements as our departure nears.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by MJH

I went through the orientation session in Queen Charlotte City in 1999 but I'm sure there have been changes since then. I'll look into requirements as our departure nears.



~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

They may be doing in-person orientations by then.

IF so, sessions are NOT in Queen Charlotte City. Their office is now at Haida Heritage Centre near Skidegate. A good walk

60 Second Beach Road, Skidegate (Haida Heritage Centre)
P.O. Box 37
Queen Charlotte, B.C.
Canada
V0T 1S0

Phone: 250-559-8818
Fax: 250-559-8366
Toll Free: 877-559-8818
Email: pc.gwaiihaanas.pc@canada.ca

[foojin]

Took an orientation a few years ago while prepping for a cancelled visit to Haida Gwaii. We have booked a session online for March.

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/gwa...it/tarifs-fees