Sailing guide
Preparing your passage: the weather checklist
Five minutes of analysis at the dock save a lot of trouble offshore. Here is the checklist to run through before every outing.
The day before
- ✅ General situation: low/high pressure, trend over the coming days.
- ✅ Warnings in force (gale/storm bulletins) for the area.
- ✅ First idea of the weather window (departure/return).
The morning of departure
- ✅ Wind: direction and strength over the whole route, not just at the start.
- ✅ Gusts: the value that sizes your sail plan.
- ✅ Wind shift: does the wind veer or back during the outing?
- ✅ Sea state: height AND period; any cross sea.
- ✅ Instability: squalls, CAPE, thunderstorm risk.
- ✅ Compare 2 models and check the most recent run.
Before casting off
- ✅ Margins: what if the wind fills in 2 h earlier / 5 knots stronger?
- ✅ Plan B: a bolt-hole port identified along the route.
- ✅ Shift time noted, decision points set.
- ✅ Weather downloaded to consult offline at sea.
- ✅ Crew briefed, departure sail plan chosen (reef early).
Principle: you're not looking for "a possible outing", you're looking for "a comfortable outing with margin". When in doubt, postpone.
Quick example
NW 12–16 knots, gusts 22, shift to N in late afternoon, sea 1 m / 6 s, low CAPE, two models in agreement, bolt-hole port at the halfway mark, weather downloaded. → Green light, leave with a reef ready to take.