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Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing weather around the South pacific

30 September 2012

BOBGRAM issued 30 Sep 2012

WEATHERGRAM
YOTREPS
Issued 30 Sep 2012
Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world of weather maps, so please fine-tune to your place. Dates are in UTC unless otherwise stated.

The Ocean: The energy balance of our weather engine is thermostatically controlled by the sea surface temperature along the equator of our widest Ocean- The Pacific. For the past few months these have been between half and one degree ABOVE normal--- showing a tendency towards an El Nino period. Over the last few weeks the sun has been directly overhead the equator allowing this target area maximum solar input. Interesting the impact has been a small region of DECREASING anomalies. And in the sub-surface the region of positive anomalies has started to shrink—there is now a region of negative anomalies growing at depth in the mid Pacific. The impact of all this is that the probability of an El Nino episode dominating the weather engine is still high but now LOWERING, even though it remains above 50% for the remainder of 2012.
We are currently in neutral but volatile…by early 2013 neutral conditions (between El Nino and La Nina) are more than 50% likely.


The Atmosphere: The Southern Oscillation Index or SOI (30 day running mean) is stalling after a bounce back from its low of -1.01 back on 25 Aug. It east been hovering around plus 0.4 in the past week. So the atmosphere is locked into a monthly swing from El Nino to neutral. It's now in neutral mode, so is likely to swing back into El Nino mode over the next few weeks.

Tropical cyclones: Things are still ticking over with JELAWAT east of the Philippines last week and expected to make land fall over Japan in a few days. NADINE is looping around the mid-North Atlantic.

In the South Pacific, the South Pacific Convergence Zone SPCZ is now activating over the Coral Sea, drying out over Fiji and weakening east of the 180. During the coming week it is expected to weaken in the Coral Sea by Tuesday, stretch eastwards across Vanuatu on Wednesday and across Fiji and Tonga on Thursday and Friday. Avoid the active parts.

SUBTROPICAL RIDGE STR
High HI marking the STR in the east is currently near 43S way to the south of French Polynesia FP and is moving slowly east, cradling a large low that is moving slowly south along around 135W . This low is expected to deepen below 1000hPa on Monday, making for gales all around it and throwing some large swells to the south end of FP.

High H2 marking the STR in the west is taking a different latitudinal track from HI. It is currently in the Australian Bight and is expect to travel NE across eastern Australia on Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then east along 25S from Thursday to Saturday and then along 30S when it clears 180.

The next High H3 is expected to take a more southern latitude across Tasmania on Sat/Sun 6/7 October.

NZ/Tasman Sea
A disturbed southwesterly flow should cover NZ from Monday to Thursday. On Friday, as H2 zips like orange pit eastwards between Fiji and NZ, A strong NW flow should cover the Tasman Sea/NZ area, followed by a front and SW change on Saturday.
At this stage the most likely scenario is that this front may stall over northern NZ and allow a low to deepen there on Sunday and move off on Monday 8 Oct. This scenario may change by then so seek updates.
SAILING TO/FROM NORTHERN NZ.
This next 'window" of OK conditions for approaching NZ from the north, at this stage, is on Monday/Tue 8/9 October… if you are in a hurry to get here now then aim for those dates.

If you are planning to sail from Tonga/Fiji/Vanuatu/ New Caledonia to NZ in October/ November, and looking to buddy with someone, then you may be interested in checking out the ICA's "All Points Rally" to Opua, see http://www.islandcruising.co.nz/ .

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No bonus extras to this week's blog and next week's may be delayed a day or so.


See my yotpak at http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/weather.html for terms used.
Weathergram with graphics is at http://metbob.wordpress.com/
Weathergram text only http://weathergram.blogspot.co.nz
Website http://www.metbob.com
Feedback to bob@metbob.com

23 September 2012

BOBGRAM issued 23 Sep 2012

WEATHERGRAM
YOTREPS
Issued 23 Sep 2012
Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world of weather maps, so please fine-tune to your place. Dates are in UTC unless otherwise stated.

The Ocean: Only small changes have occurred in the sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial mid Pacific during September so far. Generally things have stalled at around the plus 0.5C mark. So the recent trend towards El Nino is now on hold.

The Atmosphere: The Southern Oscillation Index or SOI is rebounding after August's dip. On 25 Aug its 30-day running mean was -1.01, and since then it has risen to plus 0.46 on 21 September. So the atmosphere keeps oscillating about and is not ready yet to dive into an El Nino episode. Even so, computer models are indicating that El Nina may slowly arrive by end of October.

Tropical cyclones: Things are still ticking over with JELAWAT east of the Philippines and MIRIAM off the west coast of Mexico.

In the South Pacific, the main branch of the South Pacific Convergence Zone SPCZ is now deactivating as it is stretched out across Solomons to Northern Vanuatu to Fiji to Tonga /Southern Cooks. There is another convergence zone from Tuvalu (weak) to Samoa to between Northern and Southern Cooks to the SE.

SUBTROPICAL RIDGE STR
High H1 east of NZ near Chathams tonight is expected to travel steadily eastwards mainly between 30 and 40S this week, and maintain a SQUASH ZONE of enhanced trade winds to its north at around 18 to 28S as it wanders eastwards.
High H2 is expected to move across the northern Tasman Sea from Tue 25 Sep. This is likely to divide into two. One part is likely to cross central NZ on Thursday and t'other is likely to go north of the North Island over the weekend.


NZ/Tasman Sea
A broad trough with several small features should slowly cross the country from Tuesday to Thursday, proceeded by a northeast flow on Monday and followed by a SE flow over the North Island on Friday. One of the features in this trough is likely to bring large WSW swells onto the South Island west coast on Wednesday 26 Sep. Otherwise, it is an OK week for sailing towards NZ.
SAILING TO/FROM NORTHERN NZ.
If you are planning to sail from Tonga/Fiji/Vanuatu/ New Caledonia to NZ in October/ November, and looking to buddy with someone, then you may be interested in checking out the ICA's "All Points Rally" to Opua, see http://www.islandcruising.co.nz/ .

THE EQUINOX
We had an equinox (Latin for equal night, but it is misnamed) yesterday 22 1449UTC. That's a special moment in the earth's orbit of our sun, and it fittingly picked by many to mark the start of the Southern hemisphere SPRING.
Many in NZ, for practical reasons, such as climatologists who measures averages, etc. on a monthly cycle, take the months of September, October and November to be Spring, but astronomers, for logical reasons, use the four 'corners' of the earth's orbit as markers (equinoxes and solstices).
The best definition of the equinox is when the sun, as seen from earth, is directly overhead the equator.

As viewed from earth the sun is directly overhead a different latitude every day of the year. The difference between this latitude and the equator is called the sun's declination, as all navigators know already.

On the day of the equinox some say it's a 12 hour day everywhere—that's true only if you measure sunrise and sunset using the mid-point of the sun. Sunrise and sunset tables actually use the top limb of the sun so that adds an extra 5 to 8 minutes of (rather dull) sunlight. The name given to the day with 12 hours exactly sunlight/darkness is the equilux - in Auckland that was 19 Sep (within 20 seconds).

From now on the days will lengthen. But the rate is not linear—Auckland's dawn is getting earlier at the rate of 10 minutes per week at present, but dusk is only getting later at the rate of 6 minutes per week. At the equinox the delimiter (line on the earth dividing day and night) is shaped like a square wave and during the next few months or so it slowly reshapes into a sine wave. You can watch this by downloading the program Home Planet from http://www.fourmilab.ch/homeplanet/ and watching this in the animate mode.

At this time of the year the days are getting longer at the rate of around an hour per month. It is thus a good time to do a switch to Daylight saving, and indeed in NZ we SPRING our clocks ahead an hour at 2am next Sunday 30 Sep. This rate starts easing from now onwards, but the extra sunlight is now affecting the weather patterns.
Our spin axis is NOT at a right angle to our motion around the sun: the 23 deg tilt influences our heating cycle. OK it nods the southern hemisphere closer to the sun than the northern hemisphere for the next six months – and we are now approaching the flatter side of our elliptical orbit for the next six months, but the MAIN FACTOR is to do with the concentration of sun beams over a smaller area (and, in the northern hemisphere, the spreading out over a wider area. A good explanation is given at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuiQvPLWziQ.

There is a lag between the change in increasing sunlight and the spot with the warmest temperatures on earth. The lag in the ocean is a few weeks more than in the land. Currently the warmest SST band in the open part of the Pacific is at around 8 deg N.

Note that the 28C isotherm is the South Pacific already extends as far as between Samoa and Fiji, and is extending southwards at a steady rate. This is the time of the year that the subtropical ridge—that zone which divides the trade winds from the roaring 40s- starts to drift southwards. As it drifts south, the isobars on its southern side may bunch closer together in places, and that increases the disturbed westerly winds in the parts of the roaring 40s. This period, known as equinoctial gales, is likely to last until mid-November.
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See my yotpak at http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/weather.html for terms used.
Weathergram with graphics is at http://metbob.wordpress.com/
Weathergram text only http://weathergram.blogspot.co
Website http://www.metbob.com
Feedback to bob@metbob.com

16 September 2012

BOBGRAM issued 16 Sep 2012

WEATHERGRAM
YOTREPS
Issued 16 Sep 2012
Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world of weather maps, so please fine-tune to your place. Dates are in UTC unless otherwise stated.

The Ocean: Only small changes have occurred in the sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial mid Pacific during September so far. Generally things have stalled at around the plus 0.5C mark. So the recent trend towards El Nino is now on hold.

The Atmosphere: The Southern Oscillation Index or SOI is rebounding after August's dip. On 25 Aug its 30-day running mean was -1.01, and since then it has risen to plus 0.39 on 16 September. So the atmosphere keeps oscillating about and is not ready yet to dive into an El Nino episode. Even so, computer models are indicating that El Nina may slowly arrive by end of October.

Tropical cyclones: Not as busy as last week but things are still ticking over with NADINE in mid Atlantis, LANE and KRISTY off the west coast of North America, and SANBA over southern Japan.

In the South Pacific, the Convergence Zone SPCZ is slowly reactivating after a quiet period. It is stretching from Solomons to the Rotuma /Wallis region to south of Samoa and then towards the southeast. It is not active all along this stretch but is likely to become more active this week. There is another convergence zone along 7 to 10S from 150 to 165W.
On Fri 21 Sep a convergence zone is likely to form over Fiji and this is ten expected to combine with an incoming trough from the west and produce a trough that crosses Fiji and NZ on Mon and Tue 24 and 25 Sep. Avoid.

SUBTROPICAL RIDGE STR
High H1 east of NZ near 33S 170W tonight is expected to travel steadily eastwards along 33 to 35S this week, and maintain a squash zone of enhanced trade winds to its north at around 15S as it wanders eastwards.
High H2 in Tasman Sea near 30S 160E tonight is expected to fade and stretch south and reform over and then to SE of NZ by Thursday 20 September. This weekend it is likely to travel NE and then, next week, it is likely to follow the track of H1.

NZ/Tasman Sea
This week is looking reasonable for travel between Northland and the Tropics and vice versa, with lightest winds over Northland on Wed 19 Sept. There is likely to be strong to gale NE and SW winds in places when the next trough crosses Northland on Mon and Tue 24 and 25 Sep. Avoid.

SAILING TO/FROM NORTHERN NZ.
If you are planning to sail from Tonga/Fiji/Vanuatu/ New Caledonia to NZ, October/ November, and looking to buddy with someone, then you may be interested in having a look at the ICA's "All Points Rally" to Opua, see http://www.islandcruising.co.nz/ for this voyage.

THE BEST TIME TO SAIL FOR NZ???
Well, some Insurance companies do not cover you vessel for any storm damage incurred in the tropics during cyclone season. Some companies say the SW Pacific cyclone season starts on 1 November and hence the early November rush. Other companies say the season starts 1 Dec. usually the first cyclone appears around mid to late December... but there have been very damaging cyclones such as BEBE as early as 10 Oct.
The Australian and South Pacific Cyclone RISK is still minor in the six weeks after the equinox (late Sept and during Oct) and 'acceptable' in October but rises rapidly in November and reaches the rate of around 1 per month by the end of December.
The strength of the disturbed westerlies near NZ is another factor in your timing calculation. These roaring 40s winds feed off the temperature difference between the tropics and the Polar regions. At the equinox (14:29 UTC next Sat 22 Sep.) the sun as viewed from earth is directly overhead the equator. This is when sunshine starts to return to the Antarctic Polar circle after 6 months of darkness. So Antarctica air temperatures are then the coldest of the year. So that temperature difference between tropics and pole is at the strongest of the year, So the roaring 40s are at their strongest and at their furthest north, covering NZ-- and they sort of hold this peak over NZ for the next six weeks.. These are called equinoctial gales, but I like to call them the gales of the Antarctic dawn.
Anyway the Roaring 40s generally start easing in November and have down so by December. So if you wish to time your voyage to NZ by this factor then you'll wait in the tropics for as long as you can.
The most popular time for yachts to take this spring migration is from mid-October to mid-November. It is a good idea to allow 2 or 3 weeks to the voyage and then watch the weather and depart the tropics so as to avoid the worst of the passing parade of troughs and fronts associated with the roaring 40s. These troughs and fronts are usually 5 to 7 days apart, and the journey usually takes around 9 days, so you have to go through at least one trough at some stage. Not a good idea to do so at the start or near the end of the trip, so that means usually deliberately arranging to go through one mid voyage, say at around 30S where these fronts usually are less intense that elsewhere. That's a good general strategy but it needs to be adapted according to the actual weather pattern at the time.
Cyclones tend to be triggered during an episode called of enhanced convection on the South Pacific Convergence Zone. These tend to come and go in a rhythm known as the Madden Julian Oscillation ... named after two meteorologists who identified it independently. The current state of the MJO can be seen at web sites such as http://cawcr.gov.au/staff/mwheeler/maproom/OLR_modes/h.6.MJO.S.html. This web site shows the intensity of convection of the convergence zones between 2.5S and 17.5S. Just remember that blue is bubbly (intense convection) and yellow is mellow (relatively clear skies). An MJO shows itself as a pulse of blue that travels from west to east. During the cyclone season they tend to occur once every 4 to 6 weeks. This is one of the parameters I watch as I prepare my weathergrams.
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It seems I made a typo a few weeks back with my mention of how to download and view the Fiji weather map via email, so here's the corrected version:
First: download and install PhysPlot from http://www.pangolin.co.nz/downloads/phys_su.exe
You can read more about this program at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/physplot. This program only works on computers using Windows operating systems.
Second: When you like you may download the Nadi Fleet code by sending an email to query@saildocs.com, no message header, with subject text "send nadi-fleetcode" (without the quote marks).
When the email arrives with the code, cut and paste it into a file called (for example). Fleet.txt on your desktop. Then use file>open in the PhysPlot program to open the fleet.txt program and the code is translated into a weather map.
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See my yotpak at http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/weather.html for terms used.
Weathergram with graphics is at http://metbob.wordpress.com/
Weathergram text only http://weathergram.blogspot.co
Website http://www.metbob.com
Feedback to bob@metbob.com

09 September 2012

BOBGRAM issued 9 Sep 2012

WEATHERGRAM
YOTREPS
Issued 9 Sep 2012
Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world of weather maps, so please fine-tune to your place. Dates are in UTC unless otherwise stated.

The Ocean: No change since last week- Sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial mid Pacific have generally stalled at around the plus 0.5C mark. So the recent trend towards El Nino is now on hold.

The Atmosphere: The Southern Oscillation Index or SOI is relaxing after a dip during past month. On 25 Aug its 30-day running mean was -1.01, on 2 Sep it was -0.34, and on 9 Sep it was around zero. So the atmosphere remains neutral. At this stage the tropics are 'on hold'. Even so, computer models are indicating that El Nina may slowly arrive by end of October.

Tropical cyclones: It's still busy time in the North America with KIRK and LESLIE and MICHAEL and an area under Investigation west of Africa, but they are all staying well offshore, and doing a good job of venting off any extra energy in the atmosphere/ocean. In a way it's a pity the rain is remaining offshore. The northern American drought is now looking more intense as the African drought.
See http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/climate/world-maps/world-drought-risk.html
This map shows that the Northern Hemisphere Sub tropical Ridge has been further north than normal over the past 6 months—this is related to the recent fading La Nina. The dryness of northern India is a result of weak monsoon rains there over last month or two—again this is associated with a fading La Nina episode.

In the South Pacific, the Convergence Zone SPCZ is starting to reactivate after a quiet period. It is likely to bring some heavy rain to Solomons tonight and Monday and to stretch eastwards along 10 to 15S reaching Tuvalu and Tokelau by early next week and towards northern Cooks by late next week 20-21 September.

This week we have the opportunity to see the transformation of a Convergence zone CZ into a trough.
A CZ is likely to form over Fiji and Tonga on Wednesday. This feature starts off as an extension of the SPCZ. A convergence zone is a feature that is marked by zone of converging surface air. This air piles upwards and then outwards creating a zone of enhanced convection. As air travels through a CZ it usually doesn't change direction much, and the CZ usually lingers around the same place.
During Thursday this CZ is likely to turn into a trough. That is to say that the air pressure lowers along its midriff, and there is a marked difference in wind direction across the convergence zone, with, in this case, NE surface winds on one side and SE winds on t'other. Also the whole system starts to move – in this case southeastwards due to the net NW winds at cloud level. A low is then expected to form late Thursday (UTC) near 25S 165W and deepen as it peels off to the SE , propelled by the upper winds and taking some of the moisture-energy of the CZ away with it to cause chaos in the Southern Ocean. The remains of the CZ are expected to turn into a trough that goes east and weakens, reaching French Polynesia by Sat 15 Sep.

If you are still in Tahiti and thinking about your voyage to Tonga in the next month or so, then watch this event closely and try and avoid a repetition of it during your voyage (Island hop between the troughs if you can).

SUBTROPICAL RIDGE STR
The STR lies between the trade winds and the roaring 40s. There have been some well formed highs travelling along the STR along 25 to 30S recently. One of these is now near south of FP and moving east.

The next is forming in the western Tasman Sea, but seems likely to form a centre near 42S on Tuesday. This High, combined with a low to southeast of NZ, should shovel some polar chilled air from near 60S onto the South Island . The High centre is expected to cross the North Island on Thursday 13 Sep and then move eastwards along 33S , followed by a Low that should form in the mid Tasman Sea on Friday 14 Sep.

NZ/Tasman Sea
The disturbed westerly winds of the roaring 40s are likely to bring a burst of SW swell into the Tasman Sea on Monday and Tuesday, and a low forming in the mid Tasman sea on Friday should cross the North Island on Saturday and Sunday. That really only leaves Wednesday and Thursday as good days for arriving/departing Northland.

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And now for some additional notes to what I wrote last week about obtaining weather maps via email. You may have invested in a some radio fax software such as Xaxero http://xaxero.com/downloads.htm or JVcom http://www.jvcomm.de/ or MScan http://www.mscan.com/ for downloading the sound from your shortwave radio and viewing it on your laptop, That's good. And there is also anap for your iPad called marine weatherfax viewer HD which might work – I can't vouch for it yet.

Winlink may allow you to download some radiofax maps via email as TIFF files from Noaa.
The list of instructions are at http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/ftpmail.txt but there really are no maps that will help is the south pacific.

The Bureau of Meteorology Australia analysis maps for the South Pacific are
http://www.bom.gov.au/difacs/IDX0532.gif
and http://www.bom.gov.au/difacs/IDX0032.gif

And the Fiji analysis maps are at
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/0992.jpg (3pm)
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/0991.jpg (noon)
and http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/0990.jpg (6am)
Here's one for show :

See my yotpak at http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/weather.html for terms used.
Weathergram with graphics is at http://metbob.wordpress.com/
Weathergram text only http://weathergram.blogspot.co
Website http://www.metbob.com
Feedback to bob@metbob.com

02 September 2012

BOBGRAM issued 2 Sep 2012

WEATHERGRAM
YOTREPS
Issued 2 Sep 2012
Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world of weather maps, so please fine-tune to your place. Dates are in UTC unless otherwise stated.

The Ocean: Seas surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial mid Pacific have stalled recently or even relaxed a little and are all around the plus 0.5C mark. So the recent trend towards El Nino is now on hold.

The Atmosphere: The Southern Oscillation Index or SOI is relaxing after a dip during past month. On 25 Aug its 30-day running mean was -1.01, and on 2 Sep it was -0.34. So the atmosphere is in neutral, and that's different from last week's indicators.

Tropical cyclones: It's a busy time around North America with KIRK and LESLIE and an area under Investigation in the Atlantic, and ILENA + another rare under investigation in the Pacific. ISAAC made landfall near New Orleans around 7 years after KATRINA, but was a very low category hurricane and didn't pose much of a problem—rather, its rain has already been lapped up thank you.

The Indian Monsoon failed to deliver its normal dose of rain to some parts of India, but is now very wet over Myanmar/Burma, but dry over Indonesia/Malaysia, so it proving to be a mixed bag--- hard to use as an indicator.

In the South Pacific, the Convergence Zone SPCZ continues to be subdued. There is an active part over Papua New Guinea and Solomons. The zone of welcome rain that has been over Tuvalu/Kiribati /Tokelau is now weakening. Weak Convergence zones CZ are wandering from west to east across the South Pacific Islands, linking in with the transient troughs of the mid-latitudes further south. These systems move east because they are propelled by upper winds, but the surface winds around them are easterly.

This week there are two CZs in the pattern. CZ1 is moving away from French Polynesia FP tonight. CZ2 is bigger; it was over Vanuatu on Sunday and should cross Fiji on Tuesday, and Tonga on Wednesday. This CZ is expected to deepen into a LOW near 25S and to south of Niue on Thursday. Avoid this. The low should then go off to the SE and the CZ is likely to fade as it crosses the Cooks on Friday 7 Sep.

SUBTROPICAL RIDGE STR
The STR is in its normal position along 25 to 30S. The High cell near 170W is expected to wander eastward along 30S. This helps to squeeze the isobars on its northern side closer together, and thus accentuates the trade winds between Northern Cooks and Tahiti from Tue to Thursday 4 to 6 Sep.
Another high is expected to move into the north Tasman Sea on Tue and then wander east along 30S go that it gets east of the dateline by end of Friday 7 Sep UTC.

NZ/Tasman Sea
The strength of the polar vortex is measured by a parameter called SAM (Southern annular mode) and a proxy for this is the AAO (Antarctic Anomaly) at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/aao/new.aao_index_ensm.html . Its looking positive for the next few weeks, and that helps support the idea of disturbed westerly conditions for the Tasman Sea/NZ area.

One of these transient troughs in the disturbed westerlies is crossing NZ on Monday and the next is expected to do so on Saturday, followed by a day or so of vigorous SW winds with the Tasman Sea filling up with large but long-period southerly swells from the Southern Ocean

Traveling towards New Zealand this week:
Approaching NZ from the north between Tue 4 and Thursday 6 Sep is the go.
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Now is a good time for those of you in planning mode for sailing across the Pacific Ocean to check that you have access to good weather information. Sailmail offers good access to GRIB data, and to view these files you may use a grib viewer such as Viewfax at http:// www.siriuscyber.net/wxfax . Also you should download the Nadi Fleet code by sending an email to query@saildocs.com, no message, with text "send nadi-fleet", and view this in PhysPlot from http://www.pangolin.co.nz/physplot

Updates are also available from ZKLF Radio fax on 3247.4, 5807, 9459, 13550.5 or 16340.1 kHz Or High Seas on ZLM 6224 kHz and 12356 kHz at 0303Z, 0903Z, 1503Z and 2103Z and on 8297 kHz and 16531 kHz 30 minutes later or, for warnings, send email to query@saildocs.com, No subject, saying SEND http://m.metservice.com/warnings/marine
Or
SEND http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/10140.txt

See my yotpak at http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/weather.html for terms used.
Weathergram with graphics is at http://metbob.wordpress.com/
Weathergram text only http://weathergram.blogspot.co
Website http://www.metbob.com
Feedback to bob@metbob.com

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