Cruising World - November - December 2016

to interpret the arrows and

barbs.” These are the symbols

that show anticipated wind

direction and speed. Typically,

each full barb represents 10

knots of wind speed; a half-

barb depicts 5 knots.

While McGowan suggests

that Raymarine chart plot-

ters might eventually tackle

weather routing, for the time

being, this powerful tool is

largely limited to website ser-

vices, including PredictWind,

and computer- and tablet-

based software, including

Adrena at $700, Expedition

at $1,295, and TimeZero (what

used to be Nobeltec and

MaxSea) at $800.

“Weather routing today

is about speed, safety and

comfort,” says Frédéric

Algalarrondo, TimeZero’s

group sales manager. “The

fastest route isn’t always what

a sailor is looking for. They

want a safe trip and an optimal

time, so we added parameters

so that a navigator can select

the fastest route and avoid the

high winds and waves.”

Given TimeZero’s well-

honed racing pedigree,

including numerous wins in the

singlehanded, round-the-world

Vendée Globe race, it’s not

surprising that this software

uses a boat’s performance-

characteristic metrics, called

polars, to determine its best

route from Point A to Point

B in light of the forecast.

Polars can be either manually

imported or downloaded from

TimeZero, which maintains a

database for several hundred

dif erent vessel designs. If your

boat’s polars aren’t available,

Algalarrondo advises using the

metrics of a similar sailboat.

Considering Furuno’s inter-

ests as a part owner in the

former Nobeltec, it’s also not

surprising that TimeZero

software plays nicely with

data from Furuno radars

and sounders. While this

is good for sailors running

Furuno navigation equip-

ment, TimeZero can also read

NMEA 0183 data, allowing

it to be brand-agnostic with

NMEA 0183-compatible elec-

tronics such as wind sensors

and speedos.

TimeZero’s latest software,

called TZ Navigator, is touch-

based and intuitive. To use

it, a Windows-based PC (see

TimeZero’s website for sys-

tem requirements) must be

running TZ Navigator ($500)

and the TZ Routing Module

(sold separately; $300), polars

must be loaded, and the com-

puter must have access to the

boat’s GPS data. Algalarrondo

says most cruising sailors

also integrate AIS and wind-

instrumentation data.

Users then download a cur-

rent weather forecast from

TimeZero’s servers to their

PC using available commu-

nications. (As with Theyr

Weather, Algalarrondo

suggests users download judi-

ciously to preserve their data

plans.) TimeZero has agree-

ments with dif erent global

weather providers, including

NOAA for North America,

which supplies TimeZero with

raw data. This raw data is run

through various weather mod-

els, and a 16 -day forecast is

sent to the PC as a GRIB fi le.

Once the fi le is down-

loaded, navigators can use the

software’s time bar to drag

the forecast chronologically

forward to peer into the mod-

eled future, or they can select

the routing tool and let the

software compute the fastest

routing. Within auto-routing,

users can set custom param-

eter options — for example,

maximum and minimum

acceptable wind speeds and

wave heights. Alternatively,

cruisers can use the software

to plan their optimal depar-

ture time based on tides and

weather. Users can review

their expected sailing angles

and name and label their

routes, which are detailed in a

table that can be copied into

Excel for logbook purposes.

Once all factors have been

considered, the user activates

the route, and all germane

route information is displayed

at the bottom of the screen.

One of TZ Navigator’s

newest features is a safety

check that helps you avoid

buoys and rocks by ana-

lyzing your route based on

depth and vector charts. This

includes a smart cross-track-

error feature that determines

a route’s safe leeway. On your

computer screen, safe routes

are green, while routes that

are too shallow or otherwise

unsafe are colored red. Users

can adjust their routing at any

point, and TZ Navigator will

recalculate its safety check

accordingly. Once underway,

the software can trigger audi-

tory and visual alarms if a

sailboat treads too close to a

navigational hazard.

While TimeZero is signifi -

cantly more sophisticated than

the original MaxSea software,

TZ Navigator’s creators wisely

preserved some of the older

features in the latest software.

For instance, the software cal-

culates the maximum distance

that a boat can sail in 15-minute

periods given forecasted condi-

tions; these are marked on the

PC’s chart-plotter page with

a series of wavy lines, called

isochrones. TZ Navigator cal-

culates the fastest course to the

next waypoint through the iso-

chrone bands, marking it with

a black line.

TZ Navigator was specif-

ically designed to work on

older or lower-speed com-

puters or Windows and

iOS -compatible tablets

(see nobletec.com for spe-

cifi cs). “It’s not much of a

system requirement,” says

Algalarrondo. “I’ve used it

on a $99 Dell tablet and it

worked perfectly.”

Given that many well-

equipped cruising boats carry

both chart plotters and a com-

puter or two, there’s little

reason not to stack the rout-

ing odds in your favor and take

advantage of satellite weather

and computer-based weather-

routing software. Granted,

there are cost considerations,

but that’s a fairly low hurdle in

light of the added safety and

comfort that these technol-

ogies af ord. After all, if we’d

had today’s technology back in

1987, I might still be a cof ee

drinker.

David Schmidt is CW’s electron-
COURTESY OF THE MANUFACTURERS ics editor.

A number of

weather sources

are available to

feed data directly

to your chart

plotter.

This SiriusXM weather map displays storm conditions, sea

temperatures, and conditions at a particular buoy.

november/december 2016

cruisingworld.com

109