"Frogwatch" wrote:

I think all this happed the week before last, maybe Thur ? Here in
Tallahassee, I'd heard of nasty weather moving in with very strong
wind forecast. On Thur (maybe it was Wed, I forget) I looked outside
of my door at the trees blowing around and thought "Damn, I'm sure
glad I'm not on the water". Skip says he had not heard a forcast for
nasty weather which I believe. I also remember the "Storm of the
Century" when we were due to leave that morn for a crusie but I'd
heard of a weird low in the west Gulf and decidded to wait. Oddly,
some sailors I met two weeks later HAD NOT HEARD this forecast, gone
sailing and got hammered. What is going on here? Is the NOAA
forecast that bad? I know that sitting at anchor you have few options
for getting weather but at a marina you at least have local weather
news too.

One of the things that is emphasized in the Thornless Path is that you
have to get the weather EVERY MORNING at the same time, and make a
notes on it so that you know what is going on - what fronts are coming
through.

I told Bob I would not go offshore at all (just in the ICW) unless I
had a SSB and could get weather on it. And I typically listened to
Herb several days in advance of when we were going anywhere, and then
every day after we left. And listened to what he was saying to people
in various areas - not just where we were. Active listening - trying
to anticipate what Herb would say and why he was saying it.. Even
though it might be inconvenient to do so, I think that's important.

In the Gulf, it might not be so easy because Herb doesn't typically do
the areas close to land in the Gulf, but in that case, I would get as
many different forecasts as possible - not only NOAA but also the
weather channel and local TV and radio.