Conference unifix::sailing

    The charts that NOAA provides are very good but as you say they
    cost some money ($ 20 minimum if I recall correctly).  I have
    crossed the Gulf Stream many times in races and I have found 
    that the voice transmissions from NMN give very accurate coordinates
    of the north wall - as good as the charts.  Where the charts tend to 
    be somewha tbetter is in describing irregularly shaped eddies.
    Cahrt or no chart I would not cross the Stream without the lates
    NMN update.  Get yourself a portable tape recorder though, unless
    you are a speedwriter.
    
    /Dimitri

    Thank you (fharisto) Dimitri.I am interested in the charts mostly for
    eddies that may exist near us and can help us get out of the area faster 
    in case of bad weather coming our way.
    I have just the feeling,since I haven't cross it on a sailboat, that is 
    kind of unusual to miss when you crossing the GS north wall. 
    I may also bring along a thermometer ...just to look more scientific.
    Please tell us what NMN means the freq. and times of broacast if you
    can.I may have it programmed in my IC-700 but right now I cannot recall
    it.By the way since I cannot even speak,forget speedwriting,the language
    I do have onboard a taperecorded.The only problem I have is that when
    I connect  it to SSB it doesn't record internally.Well it works O.K.
    externally.
    Thanks again...Mike K.

    I tried the Gulf Stream water temps FAX number with my FAX and it works
    fine.
    
    Do you know a FAX # which will produce FAX charts of weather systems?
    Cold fronts, warm fronts, you know, the evening weather news type 
    charts?
    
    Tx.  Jeff

    You may call the phone number on the front page of the charts you got
    through the fax 305-665-4707(voice) and ask them.I am sure they do have
    the answer.Let us know.

    To answer my question on  .2 ,when I checked my list of stations
    programmed in my SSB found out that NMN is a Coast Guard station 
    designation that brodcasts  NWS (National weather Service) Offsore 
    Forecasts from Portsmouth VA at Freq.'s 4426, 6501, 8764,13089 and 17314 kHz
    
    

    Good to see that you have those frequencies programed.  BTW,
    I log in infrequently, because I am only a consultant for Digital
    and come in at most once a week.  
    
    My experience with NMN transmissions is that they are extremely
    valuable and reasonably accurate, both weather and oceanographic.
    The latter data come from the NOAA organization that produces the
    charts and they do their best to represent eddies as circles.
    Given that what they work from is water temperature sensing and
    not current (they have now an experimental program underway for
    direct velocity deduction) use of the charts for current extraction
    is very inaccurate.  I have found many cases of little current
    where you might expect a lot, and more important, I have been 
    caught in major current features that were not apparently connected
    to detected eddies.  For the Bermuda race it is certainly worth
    while getting the most recent chart, but I always update it
    from the NMN data.  BTW, I do have wefax onboard, but since it
    is notthe programmable kind, I often miss the latest GS chart
    so NMN is the most reliable source.
    
    Some years back when I got my wefax I was almost paranoid about
    getting the latest GS chart all the time - you never know when
    it gets updated as this depends on cloudcover over the area. Since
    then I have relaxed about it and have nevertheless had several
    firsts in class, including this year, in various Bermuda races.
    My point is that I have learned that given the interpetation
    uncertainties, the voice coordinate transmissions by NMN are
    good enough.  
    
    Good luck on your voyage.
    /Dimitri