Well, about a week out from setting off from Sydney to Melbourne I am starting to look at weather from every which angle available to me. My most comprehensive resource is PredictWind Offshore, an app that can be used to plan routing based on your weather preferences and boat type.
So, having done some initial research it looked like the weather may be in our favour on Monday 16th to set off and go as far as possible without stopping...So I plugged in 'Sydney to San Remo' (a coastal town near Phillip Island in Victoria) and, hey presto a summary of weather appears for the trip provided by four different weather models... and it looks fabulous! All models agree that there will be a fair amount of wind, but not too strong. Very little upwind sailing, mostly reaching and downwind and with gentle sea state -How good is that! This is somewhat a rarity on the Bass Strait - so lets take it!
Hold your horses a moment Captain Andy, slow down, take a chill pill mate.... This is still 7 days away from set off date and over 10 days away from the end of the passage. While the weather is beginning to firm up, in reality it could change quite dramatically between now and set off time.
Cheers
Captain Andy
