Star Weather Routing and Advisory Services
Highly personalized wind forecasts for small vessel voyagers venturing offshore anywhere on the planet.
Up to 5 day wind forecasts based on projected vessel position. Gulf Stream information included.
Forecast updates are on demand by the subscribing Captain and are charged per each update session/forecast, as often as the Captain requests one. A “Passage Package” or “Ten-Pack” are available. See pricing below.
Update response time will usually be within an hour of a text request but not guaranteed. Email response time will be longer. Satellite providers’ servers are pretty much always slow, which results in slow or delayed responses on both sending and receiving.
Forecast information is derived from European and North American models as shown on “Windy” and cross referenced with NOAA buoy data and forecasts. While every effort is made to provide an accurate forecast, an accurate forecast can never be guaranteed by SWRAS due to all the variables and unknown factors involved.
Departure timing advice is offered along with initial route suggestions.
Course changes during the voyage may be suggested based on current conditions or forecast conditions. However, the Captain is responsible for all on board decisions including departure timing and route chosen.
Favorable weather is never guaranteed. The Captain should at all times make seaman-like decisions based on all available data including on board observations of barometric pressure and prevailing weather conditions.
The following information will be required when signing up for weather advisory services:
• Boat name, make, model, length. Approximate speed under power and fuel range. Sailing speed whilst beating, reaching and running in 15 knots of wind (approximately).
• Departure port, destination.
• Number of people aboard. Phone # for contact ashore.
• Payment arrangements prior to departure.
• Communication with me needs to be established prior to departure. Text messaging via InReach is a good way to go.
Information required with every forecast request:
• Current position lat and long. Current course and speed. (InReach does this) In addition, current wind speed and direction aboard would be helpful.
Please note that sea conditions including wave and swell height and direction will not normally be addressed, as it is generally irrelevant to passage planning and more relevant to dinner planning! However, sea conditions are taken into consideration when advising on the Gulf Stream crossing, as a strong contrary wind can make for an uncomfortable or even dangerous ride across the Stream.
Visit the Star Weather Routing website or email starweatherrouting@gmail.com
Trevor is a graduate of the South African Merchant Naval Academy, with 10 years’ Merchant Naval Deck Officer experience plying all the major Oceans of the world on merchant ships. He then set off from South Africa on a circumnavigation, much of it single-handed, in his 37’ cutter “Wandering Star”. He has done many small boat deliveries along the rugged South African coast as well as trans-Indian and Atlantic ocean deliveries. He was a Yacht Master Ocean qualifying Examiner and a volunteer crew for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in Knysna SA. He and his wife Liz, met in Australia, crossed the Indian then sailed back across the Atlantic in 1987 and settled in Solomons, MD. They have been managing Spring Cove Marina ever since and continue sailing “Wandering Star” on the East Coast.
Trevor has been doing John Kretschmer’s weather routing on all of his Ocean crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific for the past number of years.
Individual Services
- • Individual Wind Forecast: $50
- Typically a 3-5 day forecast with wind speed and direction, for the vessel’s projected position on each day, based on the weather expected and the vessel’s expected course and speed. This will include Gulf Stream information as appropriate.
- • Departure Window Discussion: $75
- Includes all “back and forth” prior to departure. Email is best for this communication.
Ten Pack
- • Prepaid credit of 10 forecast requests, valid for 12 months: $250
The Passage Package
- This would include departure discussions, unlimited forecasts, sailing or boat problem troubleshooting/advice and constant tropical weather and frontal systems monitoring while you are on passage.
- Caribbean
- • Caribbean to US East Coast. $500 each way
- • Caribbean to Bermuda or Bermuda to US. $300 each leg
- Trans-Atlantic
- • Caribbean or Florida to Europe $950
- • Mid Atlantic to Europe $850
- Pacific and Indian Ocean passage packages available.
To sign up, or if you have any questions, email Trevor:
Trevor Richards
starweatherrouting@gmail.com
Trevor’s routing service and over-all weather insights have made passages on Quetzal faster, more comfortable and definitely less stressful. He has guided us across the Atlantic several times and helped us dodge the weather minefields along the way. What make’s Trevor’s service extremely valuable to me is that he understands the nature of how I like to sail and that two way communication can’t be overstated. He can feel the pitch of my boat in his bones. He’s a mariner in the truest sense of the word, and has an intuitive understanding of how weather and sailboats communicate. There are other weather routers to be sure, but nobody else combines the breadth of sailing experience and technical knowledge like Trevor.
We were also relying on routing advice from Trevor Richards, a circumnavigator and vastly experienced sailor. Each day Trevor would crunch various weather sites and send me his suggestions via satellite texts.
We sailed from the US to the Caribbean in mid-winter and wrote: “Steve and I would like to thank you for your wonderful weather analysis and course predictions. All of the information was perfect. What you were telling us was exactly what was happening and the forecast was right on. During our blue water passage having accurate wind and sea state forecasting gave us peace-of-mind. We will definitely have you help us on the way back to Spring Cove in April/May.