Before you set sail, make sure you understand the direction and strength of the wind

Before setting sail, it is very important to make sure that your journey won’t be impacted by problematic weather conditions. A few weeks back, we provided you with a detailed interview with Simon Rowell, the British Sailing Team’s meteorologist that focused on how to get your own 15 minute weather forecast. Now, we want to help you understand a bit better the direction of the wind and the kind of wind speeds that make it safe to sail or potentially dangerous.

Wind Speed Chart

Let’s first start by looking at the speed of the different wind forces. A chart that will come super handy when the weatherman says “Force 4 wind”.

Beaufort force	Wind speed
F1	1 – 5 km/h
F2	6 – 11 km/h
F3	12 – 19 km/h
F4	20 – 28 km/h
F5	29 – 38 km/h
F6	39 – 49 km/h
F7	50 – 61 km/h
F8	62 – 74 km/h
F9	75 – 88 km/h

Wind Direction Chart

Now that you know the speed of the wind, you are ready to move to the next step: wind direction. The next chart shows, for each wind direction, when conditions are good and when they are poor.

Wind direction	Sailing conditions
North Westerly	Up to F4 – Good sailing conditions · F5 – Seek captain’s advice · F6 and above – poor sailing conditions
Northerly	Up to F3 – Good sailing conditions · F4 – F5 – Seek captain’s advice · F6 and above – poor sailing conditions
North Easterly	Up to F3 – Good sailing conditions · F4 – Seek captain’s advice · F5 and above – poor sailing conditions
Easterly	Up to F3 – Good sailing conditions · F4 – Seek captain’s advice · F5 and above – poor sailing conditions
South Easterly	Up to F3 – Good sailing conditions · F4 – Seek captain’s advice · F5 and above – poor sailing conditions
Southerly	Up to F4 – Good sailing conditions · F5 – Seek captain’s advice · F6 and above – poor sailing conditions
South Westerly	Up to F4 – Good sailing conditions · F5 – Seek captain’s advice · F6 and above – poor sailing conditions
Westerly	Up to F4 – Good sailing conditions · F5 – Seek captain’s advice · F6 and above – poor sailing conditions