I know this topic has been on before but I couldnt find it..Can you get one for under $50 that does the job? After the last sail when I got flattened I overestimated the wind strength yesterday & rigged too small. Its also hard to estimate when the wind is so gusty that its just areas of darker patches on the water .

MkI eyeball is pretty accurate but you need to train yourself. I found this which may help. Allways hard in sheltered waters as the wind at shore may be entirely different to out on the water, but look up for a more accurate idea.

note: 10 m above ground

FORCE EQUIVALENT SPEED DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATIONS FOR USE ON LAND

mph knots
0 0-1 0-1 Calm Calm; smoke rises verticall.

1 1-3 1-3 Light air Direction of wind shown by
smoke drift, but not by wind
vanes.

2 4-7 4-6 Light Breeze Wind felt on face; leaves
rustle; ordinary vanes moved
by wind.

3 8-12 7-10 Gentle Breeze Leaves and small twigs in
constant motion; wind extends
light flag.

4 13-18 11-16 Moderate Breeze Raises dust and loose paper;
small branches are moved.

5 19-24 17-21 Fresh Breeze Small trees in leaf begin to
sway; crested wavelets form on
inland waters.

6 25-31 22-27 Strong Breeze Large branches in motion;
whistling heard in telegraph
wires; umbrellas used with
difficulty.

7 32-38 28-33 Near Gale Whole trees in motion;
inconvenience felt when walking
against the wind.

8 39-46 34-40 Gale Breaks twigs off trees;
generally impedes progress.

9 47-54 41-47 Severe Gale Slight structural damage occurs
(chimney-pots and slates removed).

10 55-63 48-55 Storm Seldom experienced inland; trees
uprooted; considerable structural
damage occurs.

11 64-72 56-63 Violent Storm Very rarely experienced;
accompanied by wide-spread damage.

12 73-83 64-71 Hurricane

longwinded said...

MkI eyeball is pretty accurate but you need to train yourself. I found this which may help. Allways hard in sheltered waters as the wind at shore may be entirely different to out on the water, but look up for a more accurate idea.

note: 10 m above ground

FORCE EQUIVALENT SPEED DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATIONS FOR USE ON LAND

mph knots
0 0-1 0-1 Calm Calm; smoke rises verticall.

1 1-3 1-3 Light air Direction of wind shown by
smoke drift, but not by wind
vanes.

2 4-7 4-6 Light Breeze Wind felt on face; leaves
rustle; ordinary vanes moved
by wind.

3 8-12 7-10 Gentle Breeze Leaves and small twigs in
constant motion; wind extends
light flag.

4 13-18 11-16 Moderate Breeze Raises dust and loose paper;
small branches are moved.

5 19-24 17-21 Fresh Breeze Small trees in leaf begin to
sway; crested wavelets form on
inland waters.

6 25-31 22-27 Strong Breeze Large branches in motion;
whistling heard in telegraph
wires; umbrellas used with
difficulty.

7 32-38 28-33 Near Gale Whole trees in motion;
inconvenience felt when walking
against the wind.

8 39-46 34-40 Gale Breaks twigs off trees;
generally impedes progress.

9 47-54 41-47 Severe Gale Slight structural damage occurs
(chimney-pots and slates removed).

10 55-63 48-55 Storm Seldom experienced inland; trees
uprooted; considerable structural
damage occurs.

11 64-72 56-63 Violent Storm Very rarely experienced;
accompanied by wide-spread damage.

12 73-83 64-71 Hurricane

Love the way the computer has thought your figures are skype phone numbers..
What I use on the lake
8kts = dark ripples , not much happening to trees / bushes- desperation floaty time
10-12kts =start to get little white caps on the dark ripples can see bushes moving if optimistic - 6.6m & concentrate & you might get planing
c15kts = whitecaps, bushes moving - planing
20 -25kts = lots whitecaps + dark water with gusts ,trees obviously moving - make sure you choose the right sail or your rat****
30kts =some larger breaking waves ( 2 - 3')lots of white water , trees swaying , flags ripping . time to get the 3.3m out & hang on..
But add the fear factor & 15kts looks like 25..

stick your pointer finger in your mouth and then hold it up into the wind if it dries in 1 sec it's 25knts 2 secs 20knts 3 sec 18knts..etc if it's still wet after a minute you forgot to take it out your mouth

some boaties reckon they are better. I'll stick to digital. Regardless of how accurate they are you have to get close to the wind you are sailing in- no good standing 5m above water level etc unless that is always where you stand to observe.

^

Almost forgot, the Dwyer uses a pith ball in one leg of the gauge and it is VERY sensitive to wind speed variations. After a small while, you will get used to the ball movement.

Hope this helps.

several years back i had one of these grey $100 1inch fan driven anemometers from whitworths, it had a big easy read display with a light, showed windchill, auto off etc. and was waterproof, and thought it was the bee's knees, but the battery would go flat in just a month with it turned off. They replaced it with another faulty one and apparently there was a faulty batch. I eventually just got my money back.



later i discovered you could buy the same for only $35 but it was yellow



three of us with different types of anemometers compared them side by side on the beach and all were pretty much spot on with each other

at whitworths it looks like mine has been replaced with this one

www.whitworths.com.au/wind-hh-anemo-therm

KenHo said...

I think I'll get one of those form Whitworths.
I used to be able to tell what sail to rig, but I realise , esp after Maui, that I have forgotten what strong wind feels like. Chronic underpowered GC sailing has turned my touch to mud.
I had no idea what sail I might need on any given day. I was using a 4.2 in what looked like calm water half the time. One day I tried 3 rigs before I found something that was close to right. Clueless...................

15kts will get average size grains of dry sand on the beach moving though. Fine sand blows in about 12. No sand moving means no sailing for me, that's for sure, and that has saved me a bunch of wasted rig-ups.

Standing on a dune or hill adds a lot, as the hill pushes air up causing increased pressure. Polarised sunnies add 5kts if you are looking at white-caps, as does the low sun in winter time, so there are a few traps there. Measuring anywhere but the waters edge can be deceiving.
Get an anemometer, and you quickly realise that people mostly grossly over-estimate wind speed.

Thats what happened to me.!. I used to be pretty accurate but so much lack of wind & Ive lost my touch.
Ill research those meters.Thanks.

There is no such thing as an accurate hand held wind meter. The reading is affected by friction and turbulence from the ground, your hand, the position you hold it, where you stand. Just about everything goes against getting an accurate reading.

The only way to get any sort of accuracy is to mount them on a pole several metres up with no obstacles near them. Even obstacles on the downwind side can make a difference. Then you have to take a plot over several minutes and observe the averages and peaks. It's all too hard.

The best way is to learn to judge the wind from the environment and the feeling on your face and the sound in your ears.

If you have to get a wind meter get one of these.

www.hallwindmeter.com/

They don't have batteries to run out and they sensitive to bad handling than the pith ones.

The twirly anemometer ones are better than the propellor ones but they're still expensive pieces of not very accurate technology.

I have to strongly disagree wihth all this.
Yes, many things affect wind, and it's rarely constant anyway, but an objective anemometer will get you much closer than a guess, every time.
I used to have one some years ago, and when I trusted it over all the seasoned opinions, I always had a better sail.
In fact, I realise now that it is why I developed a good feel for the wind in the first place.
I frequently had people next to me saying "It's at least 25kts", when really, it was 17.

Gorgo said...

There is no such thing as an accurate hand held wind meter. The reading is affected by friction and turbulence from the ground, your hand, the position you hold it, where you stand. Just about everything goes against getting an accurate reading.

The only way to get any sort of accuracy is to mount them on a pole several metres up with no obstacles near them. Even obstacles on the downwind side can make a difference. Then you have to take a plot over several minutes and observe the averages and peaks. It's all too hard.

The best way is to learn to judge the wind from the environment and the feeling on your face and the sound in your ears.

If you have to get a wind meter get one of these.

www.hallwindmeter.com/

They don't have batteries to run out and they sensitive to bad handling than the pith ones.

The twirly anemometer ones are better than the propellor ones but they're still expensive pieces of not very accurate technology.

I was taught the "door slamming" method of wind speed. If it's windy enough to blow your car door shut, it's good....(thanks Nige)

Delusional optimists more like it.

Similar to the door slam effect, I find that unless it's a bit of a struggle to carry my gear to the water, I'm gonna be underpowered.

Haircut said...

KenHo said...


I frequently had people next to me saying "It's at least 25kts", when really, it was 17.

it's either the BOM effect or they own a kite

An alternative anemometer design. Lots of trial and error there for you.
If you wanted to be really cute, you could have a number of different length ribbons in different colours, each assigned to a different sail.

Just had a look online for teh "Whitworths" one.
They are on ebay for a fraction of the price. The prices are all over the place, but you can certainly do much better than teh Whitworths price.

Trousers said...

I had this idea when i was first getting into shortboarding about a 1m stake with a ribbon tied to the top. I would start with a long ribbon and 'tune it' by trimming it back until it was at the right length to only lift off the ground when I could comfortably plane. this would be the indicator to help me decide when to head out on marginal days, my optimism and enthusiasm to sail often makes me believe there's more wind than there is; wishful thinking.

never followed through on it though...i questioned how effective it would be.

If you have an iphone there is a wind meter you can download for about a dollar.

I was out one day with a few guys and one brough a weather station and the other had the iphone.

There was no difference in the readings which goes to show that the iphone is the is todays equivilent of the swiss army knife.

Here's a screenshot:

Richiefish said...

I was taught the "door slamming" method of wind speed. If it's windy enough to blow your car door shut, it's good....(thanks Nige)

Cripes if i relied on that Id NEVER get a sail..