Estimate the wind

[JohnHuth]

Hi, All - 

 

I'm starting a thread, which *may* (or may not) be interesting.   This is something familiar - you pull into a parking lot, ready to paddle, and you look out on the water and assess the conditions, including the wind.    There's some judgement of "this is easily manageable" or "this is dicey" or "OMG, I'm not going out in that".

 

But, there's also communication about what you *think* the wind speed is to others- in knots, mph, or the Beaufort scale in Forces.  

I made (and am making) a set of videos from the same location at different wind speeds, and I want to see what people think the wind speed might be, and also their assessment of paddling in it.   For reference, these are all taken looking south at Nantucket Sound, always with the wind coming from the south to the south shore of Cape Cod.  The waves are fetch limited for the biggest winds, with Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard blocking ocean swells, so what you see is the product of wind over about 20-30 nm of water.    So, here's the first:

First wind video

[JohnHuth]

Second wind video

[JohnHuth]

Third wind video

[JohnHuth]

 

Fourth wind video

(more to come)

Edited April 23, 2020 by JohnHuth
Parenthetical comment...gotta give a lecture

[Jim Snyder]

I can't get your videos to play...

[Ken]

Did you measure the wind for all of these?  Is the object to guess?

[gyork]

John-were these filmed at similar phase of tide cycle? Opposing wind/tide will add some drama to the video. Not used to seeing the effects of a 30M fetch but I'll be sporting, and take a stab below, white lettering:

1. ~18-20k and I'm staying @ base camp.

2. 9k and ok to paddle

3. 12k  could paddle if I'm touring, but prefer not to go out for a day paddle

4. 8k and no worries

[Ken]

I was thinking the idea is to determine the Force rating.  I like the white font trick as it shows when cursor is hovered.  Below are guess in white for Beaufort Force...

1. F6

2.  F4

3.  F3

4.  F2

 

[mhabich]

This table from the Met Office relates Beaufort wind force to wind speed, expected wave height, and sea state:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/guides/coast-and-sea/beaufort-scale

Video showing sea states from a kayaker's perspective:
http://solentseakayaking.co.uk/theory/navigation/sea-states-for-sea-kayakers/
also at 

 

[Pintail]

My take on these examples (Good job, that Huth man!):

(i) Force 7;

(ii)Force 3;

(iii)Force 5 and 

(iv)Force 4.

[prudenceb]

Interesting what a difference it makes to watch the vids with sound off...

 

[Dan Foster]

Since these are American winds, I made my guesses in Freedom Units: B - 8mph, A - 12 mph, E - 16 mph, G - 20+ mphI was surprised at how little movement there was in the beach grasses in some of those shots.

[JohnHuth]

I do have measures of the winds for each of these, but they're from an anemometer on the roof of my house.   Since I'm on a bluff, the effect of height and the funneling of winds up the bluff tend to skew the readings high.   I have a hand-held anemometer, and I'm going to re- calibrate to surface readings.