Weather Archives

Boating’s Deadly Dozen – The Top Causes of Accidents on the Water

June 18, 2024/by Grant Headifen

Discover the most common causes of accidents on the water and learn how to prevent them. Stay safe while enjoying your time on the water.

Sea Monster Story: Katabatic Winds

September 26, 2022/by Grant Headifen

Well actually not so terrifying and not REALLY a sea monster BUT … We spent about 20 minutes starring at the effect of katabatic winds blasting down the valleys and exploding into the water.

What is apparent wind?

September 5, 2022/by Trisha Evelyn

Both the speed and angle of apparent wind can vary depending on your velocity, which has important implications for sailing. What is apparent wind?

Predicting the Wind and Weather

December 18, 2020/by Grant Headifen

NauticEd International Sailing Education forms a strategic partnership with Predict Wind. Read this full article and learn how to get a FREE 3-month subscription to Predict Wind. All that would be pretty cool – right? Well, welcome to the 21st century! And welcome to the Predict Wind App! Predict wind is a company that has […]

How to Effectively use a Wind Meter on a Sailboat

February 24, 2014/by Grant Headifen

Using a Wind Meter – get your head out of the boat Please consider our awesome Electronic Navigation course. It is also loaded with similar animations to help you understand many of the electronic aids on a sailboat especially your GPS chart plotter, wind meter and autopilot. First let me state my point of how […]

Where is the storm center?

January 16, 2009/by Grant Headifen

We’ve received a few questions on clarification of the mechanics of determining the direction of the center of a weather system either a high or a low. So we added it to Module 4 of the weather course and we’re also describing it here. The graphic below shows a weather map in the northern pacific […]

Cirrus clouds

January 11, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Perfect example of cirrus clouds this morning in Austin Texas. Cirrus clouds typically mean that weather is changing in about 2 – 3 days. Many times it can mean the approach of a warm front – but not necessarily.

Cold Front again

December 11, 2008/by Grant Headifen

Bamm another cold front right behind the other. And this is what it looks like now as it has moved off into the gulf. However – today is different from yesterday. The sky is completely clear and this is shown by the high pressure over Austin right now. High pressure means air is moving out […]

First Weather Blog

December 10, 2008/by Grant Headifen

This is the first weather blog and fitting as it is – a cold front ripped through Austin Texas, NauticEd’s HQ, last night dropping the temperature from 76 deg F yesterday to freezing rain overnight, 32 deg F and a sharp wind direction change from west to north. The cold front looked like this. This […]