SailWindow Support

Getting Forecasts

• Open Locations and add a sailing spot by coordinates or supported place lookup.
• Use Summary for the current sailing window, NOAA marine text forecast, and active warnings.
• Use Forecast for wind, gusts, waves, wave period, wave direction, temperature, rain, and thunder risk when NOAA provides those fields.
• Use Radar to animate recent rain and storm frames or view the latest NOAA MRMS reflectivity.
• Use Wind > Map to compare regional forecast models, animate forecast time, and tap the map for sampled wind speed and direction.
• Use Wind > Route to choose start and destination points and departure time, then compare GFS, HRRR/GFS, ECMWF, ICON, and GEM wind-only sailboat routes up to 750 nautical miles.
• Use Obs to see the nearby NOAA/NDBC stations and buoys used by the app.

Wind-only Routing Limits

Route playback shows all successful model boats on one forecast clock over a smoothly interpolated 0–15 knot wind-color field. The field and paused streamlines always use the selected forecast product. GFS, ECMWF, ICON, and GEM remain model-pure; the explicitly named HRRR/GFS product discloses GFS fill only where HRRR samples are unavailable. The hourly table reports wind direction, strength, valid time, position, and local source along every model route. A model can be reported unavailable when its forecast is missing, too short, or temporarily rate-limited while other model routes remain usable. The estimate uses forecast wind and a generic cruising-sailboat model; it does not use your boat's polar. It does not detect or avoid land, shoals, hazards, restricted areas, currents, tides, or waves. Treat every route as a planning aid only, inspect it against current official charts and forecasts, and never use SailWindow as your sole means of navigation.

Data Sources

SailWindow fetches weather data directly from NOAA, NWS, NDBC, Open-Meteo, RainViewer, and related map providers. Availability can vary by location, forecast model, station status, marine zone, network conditions, and seasonal buoy deployments. The Wind map is regional guidance sampled from forecast models; it does not display every model at full native resolution.

Troubleshooting

• If a field says unavailable, pull to refresh and confirm the selected location is near a NOAA marine forecast zone.
• If a buoy is missing, it may not currently appear in the live NDBC latest observations feed.
• If conditions look stale, verify your network connection and refresh the selected location.
• If a wind model is temporarily rate-limited or unavailable, keep the current model visible and try the other model again after a short wait.

Contact

For support, include your selected location, the time of the issue, your iOS version, and what data looked incorrect or unavailable.

Developer profile: github.com/dimab0