Who Ordered the Frikkin Cyclone?!

[Wotname]

MJ, Thanks for your very descriptive post (#79) - and all the rest of course .

[chala]

[QUOTE=MarkJ;262104]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]

Its weird to be on the internet while this is happening! The guy on VHF16 is going the reports once per hour but they are nothing like being able to download the charts, graphics and the tech data! Oh, and being able to post on here!

I'd really like to know what kind of setup you have that you can keep posting to the forum during a cyclone!!! I am seriously impressed!
__________________

This is good advertising.
You may be able to sell this to your Internet Service Provider.

[C--man]

Me too!

I am not up to speed on internet on boats and how they do it?

I can only imagine a laptop conected to a cell phone

[cat man do]

[quote=chala;262820]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

[color=black][font=Verdana]

Its weird to be on the internet while this is happening! The guy on VHF16 is going the reports once per hour but they are nothing like being able to download the charts, graphics and the tech data! Oh, and being able to post on here!

I'd really like to know what kind of setup you have that you can keep posting to the forum during a cyclone!!! I am seriously impressed!
__________________

This is good advertising.
You may be able to sell this to your Internet Service Provider.

This is the most affordable and best available that I am aware of as long as you are in mobile reception area

BUT, no cell phone is required to use it

Telstra BigPond Australia

BigPond Next G Wireless Broadband USB Mobile Card Review - Wireless

BigPond Next G Wireless Broadband Mobile Card: Reviews - Cool Gear - Wireless - ZDNet Australia

Dave

[44'cruisingcat]

Damn! Now the USAF/USN site has Hamish doing a U turn.

Why doesn't he piss off to New Zealand? They love bad weather there, it gives them something to brag about.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by C--man

Cool, thanks guys! that was fast!

how do you manage to have internet on your yacht these days?

The internet thing is good.
Its new technology using the mobile phone (cell phone) netweorks.
It comes from a company called HUAWEI Technologies Co., Ltd and looks to be getting a bit world wide! www.huawei.com

The small USB modem has a normal SIM card in it. So next country that has it should be able to keep the same modem.

I have used it up to 16 miles to sea. So its not bad. If you are in a bad mobile spot then it wont work obviously, or it will be very slow.

Where it doesnt work then have to rely on HF radio receiver. But it was been truly great to have it for this last blow.

Cost is $199 incl $30 credit for 1 month giving 1gb but metered in 10mb blocks. You need to not connect too many times, but twice per day for a good session, but not downloading too much graphics and NO movies etc and you can get through the month.
This month will be blown out for us. I have used about 400mb since the first of March. You get an extra 300mb for paying online... so its OK

Coverage has been MUCH better than I thought. But don't think it is super fast... if you are in a bay it will be slow... but it get the job done!
Yoou can always move once per week (or whatever) to download your emails etc.

Optus: Optus - Personal - Pre-Paid Wireless Broadband




The bigpond one is far to expensive...

Mark

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

The bigpond one is far to expensive...

Mark

But I found it worked in far more places.

I did have a virgin and a bigpond for comparison though, no optus

Bigpond beamed out where virgin gave dialup speed

And is it more expensive?
http://www.beeneverywhere.com.au/html/latest_offer.htm

1 gb is $30 and 5gb is $45 with no excess charges

Dave

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Bigpond beamed out where virgin gave dialup speed

And is it more expensive?
Telstra BigPond Australia

1 gb is $30 and 5gb is $45 with no excess charges

Dave

Yes 10 times the cost of optus as you only get 200mb per month unless you are on a 24 month contract. As we are only here for 6 months a 24 month contract doesnt work.

[cat man do]

Here it comes again



Tropical Cyclone Threat Map Page (1)

[Hud3]

Mark's just looking for another go at it, so he can perfect his double anchoring technique.


100300Z POSITION NEAR 24.5S 155.0E.
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 18P (HAMISH), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 210 NM
NORTH-NORTHEAST OF BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, HAS TRACKED SOUTHEASTWARD AT
07 KNOTS OVER THE PAST 06 HOURS. RECENT ANIMATED METSAT IMAGERY
DEPICTS A VERY INTENSE SYSTEM WITH DEEP CONVECTION PRIMARILY LOCATED
ON THE SOUTH AND EASTERN PERIPHERY OF THE STORM. POSITION CONFIDENCE
IS GOOD AND IS BASED UPON A COMBINATION OF ANIMATED METSAT IMAGERY,
A 092318Z AMSUB MICROWAVE IMAGE AND EXCELLENT RADAR DATA WHICH
CLEARLY DEPICT THE LOCATION OF THE STORM. THE TC REMAINS VERY
INTENSE AS CONFIRMED BY DVORAK SATELLITE INTENSITY ESTIMATES FROM
PGTW AND ABRF, AND ALTHOUGH INTENSITY IS BEGINNING TO WANE AS
VERTICAL WIND SHEAR (VWS) ADVERSELY AFFECTS THE SYSTEM, THE STORM
WILL MAINTAIN STRENGTH AS A SIGNIFICANT TROPICAL CYCLONE THROUGHOUT
THE FORECAST PERIOD. OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS, THE SYSTEM WILL TRACK
GENERALLY EASTWARD, WHILE STEADILY WEAKENING UNDER INCREASING
VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ASSOCIATED WITH AN APPROACHING MID-LEVEL TROUGH
TO THE WEST. AS THIS WEAKENING OCCURS, THE STORM WILL SLOW AS THE
PRIMARY STEERING INFLUENCE TRANSFERS FROM THE DEEP LAYER RIDGING TO
THE EAST, TO THE LOW TO MID-LEVEL SUBTROPICAL RIDGE TO THE SOUTH
CAUSING THE STORM TO ENTER INTO A SLOW LOOP BETWEEN TAU 24 AND 36.
THIS FORECAST IS BASED UPON THE CONSENSUS OF AVAILABLE DYNAMIC AIDES
WHICH, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ECMWF, FAVOR THE LOOPING SCENARIO AND
DIFFER ONLY IN THE TIMING OF THE SLOW TURN BACK TOWARDS LAND.
MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 100000Z IS 24 FEET.


NEXT WARNINGS AT 101500Z AND 110300Z.

[skipmac]

I think Oz is just trying to keep up with FL where a couple of years back we had one storm make landfall three different times. Give it up guys, not worth it.

[Jim Cate]

Hud3,

I've been following those f/c with great interest. Do you have a definition for their term "tau"? Seems to be time, but related to what?
Thanks,

Jim

[cagney]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hud3,

I've been following those f/c with great interest. Do you have a definition for their term "tau"? Seems to be time, but related to what?
Thanks,

Jim

Yes, it is fascinating to compare the US and AUS forecast development/changes.
I have come to the conclusion that "tau" is just a time constant.

In physics and engineering, the time constant usually denoted by the Greek letter τ, (tau)...

from wikipedia.

From the latest navy fcst

TC 18P IS FORECAST TO BEGIN DISSIPAT-
ING AS A TROPICAL CYCLONE BY TAU 36

The time constant in this connection is the time the forecast is based on, in this case "101200Z". Details is then published for tau + 00h, tau + 12h etc.
If you look at the fcst for +36h, "dissipating" is mentioned for the first time.

Who Ordered the Frikkin Cyclone?!

No one in this thread is even trying to answer this Question!
Perhaps it was the aussie bomies who needed an exercise in forcasting and tracking.

Thomas

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by skipmac

I think Oz is just trying to keep up with FL where a couple of years back we had one storm make landfall three different times. Give it up guys, not worth it.

It was my namesake, Hurricane Gordon, that made three Florida landfalls in November of ‘94. The name Gordon was used for the first time that year, then again in 2000 and 2006, and is scheduled to be used again in 2012.

[Kanani]

Glad it went by Mark........

Be a bit careful when motoring up in strong winds. We were in NZ one time and a guy in a big fishing trawler kept doing that. As you stated, you really have no way of knowing where you are and often times he would blow down so hard (beam to wind) that he eventually pulled his anchor out and darn near went aground. Putting a floating marker on a small anchor or weight helps to keep your position (be careful not to run over it).

It's my opinion that you are better off allowing the anchor to do it's job. If you have out enough scope, the strain on the anchor due to big waves hitting you is minimal. The boat goes up and down far more than it is forced back.

The best storm anchoring system is a "Y" made up of the best 3 anchors that you have. All 3 anchors should be attached to the bottom of a large swivel with about 50' of chain and a single chain to a nylon rode going up to the boat from the top of the swivel.

The problem with 2 anchors is that you stand the chance of one dragging and fowling the other (especially as the wind shifts). With the 3 anchor system, there is very little chance of dragging because you will almost always be on at least 2 anchors and it doesn't matter where the wind comes from. If you do happen to get on 1 anchor and drag it, it will go between the other 2 and you will end up on 3 anchors. Fluke type anchors work well in this set-up. I carried 2 Fortress anchors just for that reason. They performed perfectly.

I sat out up 100+kts of wind on Stewart Island in NZ for 3 days in 1987. When the wind gets up around 70kts, it's almost impossible to stay on deck. The water flying through that air hurts so bad that you can't do anything anyway. At 90kts, you can't even breathe with your head turned the opposite direction from the wind.

When I set-up for hurricane Iniki in Hawaii in '92, I set up the same anchoring system. We were forecast to get 160kts of wind in Honolulu, up to about 30 minutes before it hit. We stayed with the boat anyway. It changed course and devastated Kauai and we got 60+kts in Keehi Lagoon (Honolulu) for about 1 hour (or less).

I put on a wet suite and had my dive mask and snorkel ready because I knew that there was no way that I could breath in 100kts of wind (from my experience in NZ).