Weather Where You Want
GETTING THE GOOD DATA WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT MEANS BETTER BOATING DECISIONS.
I’ll never forget it. Editor-in-Chief George Sass Jr. and I were taking a brand-new center console from Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City up to Rowayton, Connecticut, one summer Friday afternoon. A quick run to be sure, and all the quicker for the 250-horsepower Yamaha pushing that cool new boat. But as we came into Long Island Sound and then proceeded toward Greenwich, a nasty-looking cloud bank showed itself over the Connecticut shoreline and we had to quicken the pace even more.
Every mariner has seen clouds like this, where you can make out the haze of precipitation hanging beneath an already-low ceiling. It’s not if you’re going to get wet, the question is more how much? And when? But I was cool with it. You see, my eyes played a trick on me, and I thought the cloud bank was over the land, moving parallel to us, almost racing us to our destination. And I liked our chances in that speedy boat. It didn’t occur to me that the squall line was moving across the shoreline—not until those huge raindrops began to pelt the water around us with a quickening pace. And then we felt that cool rush of air and the wind really kicked up and the lightning started flashing white and purple, as it does when it seems really, really close.
Obviously avoiding having too many of these sorts of anecdotes to tell in a lifetime is the goal. And it would seem that since many of us feel as updated as we do these days through smartphone use and connectivity, good weather data should be an admirable addition to our steady diet of news and information. But if you’re like me, you feel like you should get everything on one screen—at the helm. Fortunately for us, the developers of helm electronics systems understand this and have done a good job of adding weather functionality. But the way the data gets there is interesting—so interesting that some of the data isn’t quite there yet, but is still good to know about.
The appeal of the SiriusXM satellite weather system is obvious. It’s an add-on to your boat’s electronic system, and it links directly to your MFD. It overlays weather data directly on the charts, including NEXRAD (Next-Generation Radar) showing precipitation and satellite cloud imagery, and also gives you five-day forecasts, lightning-strike data, buoy reports including wind and wave-height, and sea-surface temperatures. Furuno, Raymarine, and Navico, including the brands Simrad, Lowrance, and B&G, offer blackbox SiriusXM satellite receiver/antenna packages (audio splitter included), available now at street prices around $600. Monthly fees for the satellite weather system start at $12.99 for Marine Inland weather, and go up to the Marine Offshore service, for $54.99 per month.
Garmin also has a SiriusXM system, but instead of using the original Sirius satellites its receiver uses XM’s with XM WX Satellite Weather data and analysis provided by WxWorx. The SkyWatch service starts at $9.99 per month, and tops out at the Master Mariner level at $49.99 per month. Users need to consider how they use their boats to determine which service level is right for their needs for any satellite service. SiriusXM’s satellites purportedly cover all of the U.S. and up to 200 miles offshore.
Garmin also offers another way to access weather data: The BlueChart Mobile app. Available for iPad and iPhone for free through the iTunes Store, these apps offer for-purchase charts