When planning a passage or just a day out on the water, always obtain a weather forecast.
Although most UK forecasts are written from the same Met Office raw data the methods of deriving forecasts from this data differ, so try to obtain a second or even third opinion when obtaining your forecast. Some useful weather forecasting and observation websites can be found in our weather links section.
A forecast is only an indication of what is likely to happen. The closer a forecast is issued to the time it is covering, the more accurate it is likely to be. Be aware that forecasting beyond three days in advance is still considered an inexact science, so treat the last 2 days of any 5 day forecast with caution.
Understanding the underlying patterns that drive the weather in your part of the world allows you to understand what is happening when forecasts prove inaccurate or unavailable, and make you much less likely to be caught out. This is why an understanding of weather is a core seamanship skill included in the Yachtmaster syllabus.
You can also improve your level of understanding with the help of a number of RYA publications available in the RYA shop (select meteorology in the drop down list).
Please use the links below to the Met Office website for the latest forecasts and observations.:-
Metmaps
Produced by the RYA and Royal Meteorological Society, Met maps are blank maps and tables you can use to record the information from the shipping forecast and create your own synoptic chart. They will be familiar to those who have studied for shorebased schemes in the Yachtmaster syllabus. They can be useful to have aboard on a passage as the order in which the fields are arranged on the sheet correlates to the order in which the information comes out of your radio. See 'Related Links' for Metmaps download.
Marinecall
For your longer range forecasting requirements and the convenience of having the latest forecast texted to your mobile, the Met Office`s Marinecall service provides hand-prepared forecasts up to 5 days ahead - please see 'Related Links'.
Tides
The RYA recommends UKHO`s Easytide. Please see 'Related Links' for the UKHO website where you will need to complete a simple registration proceedure to obtain free worldwide tidal predictions for up to 7 days ahead.
Please note: When using online tide tables, be aware that different website publishers adhere to different conventions in adjusting for seasonal time differences.
Most printed UK tide tables list times throughout the year as UT (Greenwich Mean Time), but some online tables automatically adjust to BST for the relevant summer months and some do not. The time difference applied is often shown in the top line of the tidal data.