It’s the question of the ages: Should I stay, or should I go? To offer a bit of clarity into this, at least as far as passage planning goes, is FastSeas, a new weather-routing app. FastSeas is designed by a cruising sailor and is easy to use. “Give FastSeas your vessel’s LWL, closest point of sail, departure location, destination, and time of departure, and it will find your optimum route using the latest wind and ocean current forecasts,” says developer Jeremy Waters. “You can adjust comfort criteria to decide whether speed or pleasant sailing conditions are important to you.”
The routes are calculated using NOAA GFS wind forecasts and NOAA OSCAR ocean current observations. Free Basic and paid Premium subscriptions accommodate all budgets. The Basic subscription is limited to five requests per month, while the Premium subscription permits unlimited requests and requests via email (for use with Iridium Go!, InReach, and Sailmail/Winlink).
Check it out at fastseas.com.
