Weather And Boating

Chapter

12
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Lesson Objectives
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Weather information sources

• Basic storm patterns
• Storm forecasting and precautions
• Go, no go decision making
• A personal weather equipment and
equipment check list

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 Weather Information
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• What are some of

the sources you
can check for
weather
information?

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 Wind and Boating
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• What can happen to a vessel

caught in a storm?

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 Winds and Boating
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Storm surge
• Swells
• Breaking waves
• Wave height
• Wave frequency
• Waves in shallow water
• Fetch
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 Winds and Boating
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Storm surge is caused by raising sea levels

in the low pressure areas around the
storms. If these elevated sea levels reach
shore they will add to high tide levels.
• Swells are waves coming from a distant
disturbing force resulting in decreased
heights and longer wave lengths.
• Breaking waves can occur on navigable
waters as well as on shore. Shallow Water
slows bottom of wave, top then spills over &
breaks. Released energy can be dangerous.

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 Winds and Boating
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Wave height is dependent on wind strength,

duration, and fetch. Wave height is
classified (e.g. 3’ to 5’) by the range of wave
heights which will occur 70% of the time.
• Wave frequency indicates gradient of wave
face
• Fetch is the distance over which the wind
blows uninterrupted on the water surface.

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 Winds and Boating
Boating Skills And Seamanship

Table 12-1 Beaufort Wind Scale

Mean Wind
Speed Mean
Beaufort Wind Equivalent Sea Wave
Number Description (knots) Conditions Height
meters feet

0 Calm ≤1 Sea is like a mirrow. - -

1 Light air 1-3 Ripples without foam crests. 0-0.1 0-0.3

moderate waves with a more pronounced
5 Fresh breeze 17-21 long form; many whitecaps. A little spray. 2 6.6
High waves; crests begin to tumbler;
9 Strong gale 41-47 dense streaks of form. Spray affects 7 23
visibility.
Seas tumultuous. The air is filled with
12 Hurricane 64 + foam. The ocean is totally white with 14 46
driving spray. Visibility seriously reduced.
Copyright Hal Roth, 2006, reprinted with permission
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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Weather and heat

• Land heats faster than
water
• Land and sea
breezes

Reprinted with permission from

Gary Jobson’s Championship Sailing by Gary Jobson

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• The Coriolis
Force

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 Understanding Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• The air is warmed at the equator, rises, goes north

and south, is cooled and falls again. When it
reaches the earth, it goes north and south again,
warms up, rises and repeats the cycle twice more
resulting in three “doughnut” shaped air masses
circulating on each side of the equator.
• The Coriolis Force, which turns moving masses to
the right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the
southern, results in continuous wind patterns
around the globe.

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Temperature and
Humidity
• Moisture and energy
• Air masses
• High pressure system contain
cool, dense, dry air.
• Low pressure system contain
warm, thin/rare, moist air
which is energy laden

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Lows
• Highs

Adapted from Boater’s Bowditch by Rickard K. Hubbard

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Why do we have inclement weather

with a low pressure system?
• A low pressure air mass is unstable, i.e., it is less
dense, or lighter than the surrounding air mass
and therefore easily displaced.
• Low pressure air rises & cools, releasing
moisture and energy

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Buys Ballot’s Law

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Fronts warm front

• Warm front
• Cold front moving
• Stationary front
cold front

stationary front

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 Cold Fronts
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Understanding Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Cold Fronts
• Air Cooler Behind Than Ahead
• Fast Moving
• Can Create Violent Weather
• When Passes
• Pressure Rises Abruptly
• Temperature Falls
• Relative Humidity Decreases
• Wind Shifts Direction

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 Warm Front
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Understanding Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Warm Front
• Air Warmer Behind Than Ahead
• Slow Moving
• Non-Violent Weather
• Nighttime Fog Frequent
• Can Have Long Periods Of Rain
• When Passes
– Little Pressure Change
– Little Temperature Change

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Clouds and Fronts

• Who recalls the three types of clouds and
characteristics of each that accompany fronts?

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 Cloud Identification
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Cirrus
• thin high-level made of ice crystals
• Stratus
• Layered, flat
• Cumulus
• Fluffy, White, Fair Weather Clouds
• May Grow To Cumulonimbus (nimbo/nimbus =
rain clouds)

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 Cloud Families
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• High - Cirriform
• Cirrus, Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus
• Mostly Ice – No Precipitation
• Middle - Alto
• Altostratus, Altocumulus, Nimbostratus
• Mostly Water
• Low
• Stratus, Stratocumulus, Cumulus
• Mostly Water

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 High Clouds
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Cirrus
• Mares’ Tails
• Cirrocumulus
• Mackerel Scales
• Cirrostratus
• Like A Sheet Or Veil

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 Cirrus (Ci)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Cirrocumulus (Cc)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Middle Clouds
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Altostratus
• Mid-level, Layered
• Altocumulus
• Cumulus Clouds Gathered In Layers
• Cumulonimbus
• Rain Clouds
• May Develop Into Thunderheads (Towering
Cumulus)

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 Cumulus
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Towering Cumulus (Tcu)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Cumulonimbus (Cb)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Altocumulus (Ac)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Low Clouds
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Stratus
• Low Layers Of Solid Cloud Cover
• Nimbostratus
• Rain Clouds
• Intermittent Or Steady Rain

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 Stratocumulus (Sc)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Stratus (St)
Boating Skills And Seamanship

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Weather clues from clouds

• Cold front clouds

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 Understanding Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• A cold front is comprised of dense air

and as it moves it pushes all the air in
front of it aloft where it cools forming
cumulous nimbus clouds and heavy
rains

Copyright 2007 - Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. 36

 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Weather clues from clouds

• Warm front clouds

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 Understanding Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• High thin cirrus clouds ahead of a

warm front.
• A warm front climbs over the colder air
in front resulting in stratus clouds and
a drizzling rain for an extended period
of time.

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 Understanding
Weather Pg 330
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Approaching low
• Approaching warm front
• Passing warm front
• Within warm sector
• Approaching cold front
• Passing cold front

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 Understanding
Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Fog
• Conditions favoring fog formation
• Radiation fog
• Clear sky, little or no wind, temp & dew point
about equal, burns off quickly
• Advection fog
• Caused by warm, moist air blowing over cold
body; light wind < 15mph; slow to burn off
• Predicting fog

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 Fog Precautions
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• What precautions must be taken in

fog?

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 Non-Frontal Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Thunderstorms
• Stage one
• Stage two
• Stage three

Reprinted with permission from

Boater’s Bowditch by Richard K. Hubbard

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 Thunderstorms
Boating Skills And Seamanship

Tornadoes
Lightening
Microbursts
• Waterspouts

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 Non-Frontal Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• What should you do if you are caught

in a thunderstorm?

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 Thunderstorm
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Get to shore & let it pass

• At sea
• Put on life jacket
• Close ports and hatches
• Note location of vessel
• Reduce speed
• Keep sharp lookout
• Head into wind
• Approach waves at 45 degree angle
• Stay low in boat
• Keep away from metal objects

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 Non-Frontal Weather
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Tropical Weather
• Tropical Depression
• Wind Up To 34 Knots
• Tropical Storm
• Wind 35 - 64 Knots
• Hurricane
• Wind 65 Knots Or More
• Also called
– Typhoon
– Cyclone
– Willy-Willy

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 The Go, No-Go
Decision
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• What are some of the considerations

for making a decision to go or no-go?

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 The Go, No-Go Decision
Boating Skills And Seamanship

• Is weather suitable for cruise?

• Necessary equipment for safe operation
• Crew confidence
• Proper food and necessities
• Getting weather info.
• Boating and safety knowledge
• Navigation ability
• Back up plan
• Float plan
• Comfort level

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