So who do you believe? EC or Big Wave dave??

[Cuba Libre]

EC forecast for northern Strait:

Today Tonight and Saturday Gale warning in effect.
Wind southerly 20 to 30 knots except southwest 35 near Qualicum Beach. Wind becoming northwest 25 to 35 early this afternoon then diminishing to 20 early this evening. Wind diminishing to light before Saturday morning then increasing to southeast 15 Saturday morning. Wind increasing to southeast 20 to 25 Saturday afternoon.

BWD:

Comox for Friday December 30, 2011 Best wind dir = SE
Time 6am 7am 8am 9am 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm 6pm 7pm 8pm 9pm
Wind Direction SSW SW W N SW SW SW W W WNW NW SW W W NNW N
Wind (knots) 20 10 5 10 10 10 10 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 10 10


There is such a difference that it is STUPID!

 

[Fish Assassin]

EC....As BWD has been wrong alot this winter. But EC changes to many times a day...Drives me crazy. What is nice though.. is when both of them agree.

 

[scott craven]

My experience is that E.C. predicts the worst possible scenario for weather...
Big wave is usually more moderated.
BWD will have another update shortly, see if it changes ?

 

[Dave S]

My experience is that E.C. predicts the worst possible scenario for weather...
Big wave is usually more moderated.
BWD will have another update shortly, see if it changes ?

I agree with Scott. EC always is worse than BWD for predictions. I use BWD and find it pretty good.

 

[Englishman]

I agree with RSC. In my experience around Sooke EC always goes for the worst case scenario. Once that gale warning goes up, it is gloom and doom for the whole area. BWD is mush more fine grained and wind forecasts for individual areas (e.g Jordan River or Gordon's beach) can be 10-15 less than the blanket EC prediction. Of course it may be different in your area, but the inshore areas on S Van Isle are all oriented in slightly different directions and that often makes a difference.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Wind is hard to accurately predict all the time. Sometimes one will be right sometimes the other. EC's forecast i would say is normally more accurate as BWD local wind forecasts are much more difficult to predict.

 

[vetteman]

I usually go with Big Wave Dave or I phone the Nanaimo airport for the current marine conditions.They update every two hours. I seldom listen to their marine forecast because I find the accuracy to be somewhat lacking. I'm more interested in what's happening right now!
Dave

 

[Sculpin]

I look at both of them. EC has been off too many times to just go with them. A SFBC member sent me this link which I like to check out as well.


http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?newHomeRegionID=133&newHomeSiteID=983

 

[tortuga]

3:30 and BWD is bang on. If he's right tomorrow morning it's game on.
Wouldn't want to be heading back to Comox from Kitty tho.

 

[firelight]

I look at both of them. EC has been off too many times to just go with them. A SFBC member sent me this link which I like to check out as well.


http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?newHomeRegionID=133&newHomeSiteID=983

This looks likes good weather site, although the sailors are just starting to have fun when I'm heading home.

 

[searun]

I usually look at BWD if I'm looking for a forecast. However, I generally simply rely on checking the actual conditions off the ocean bouys and follow the north to south conditions to see what is coming my way. Here's the link to La Perouse, but you can select other reporting bouys once you are at the site:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46206

Enjoy.

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Thanks Searun. What wave period measurement indicates "not today". What would the wave period of an average August day be.

 

[searun]

Period is usually in 8 - 12 second range. Looking for long period and low waves. Generally any sustained wind over 18 kts spells trouble unless it is blowing against the prevailing waves, or is just localized. I like to look at the the stations north of us and track what is happening to determine if it is building or receding.

 

[juandesooka]

For JDS Strait, I rely on a combination of BWD and US Nat'l Weather Service http://www.atmos.washington.edu/data/marine_report for "Central Strait". The Canadian forecast is skewed so heavily to side of safety/conservative that it's basically useless ... small craft advisory 3/4 of the year. I find the US report is pretty accurate for Sooke-Jordan River area.

BWD latest reports is the best ... or even better the up-to-the minute live gordons beach webcam. That is what is happening right now.

I find La Perouse is helpful for surfing, but not really for fishing conditions. Ocean swells don't make too much difference locally (unless you're trying to fish swiftsure in a big west swell with ebb current...look out!). The buoy is off Ucluelet, so too far away for any local wind prediction.

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Period is usually in 8 - 12 second range. Looking for long period and low waves. Generally any sustained wind over 18 kts spells trouble unless it is blowing against the prevailing waves, or is just localized. I like to look at the the stations north of us and track what is happening to determine if it is building or receding.

Thanks again Searun.

 

[GLG]

3:30 and BWD is bang on. If he's right tomorrow morning it's game on.
Wouldn't want to be heading back to Comox from Kitty tho.

New update from BWD and it looks good.
Hope to get out also.

Me, I look at BWD and the buoy report for Sentry Shoal
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46131