Marine Weather

Here it is! The course you’ve been waiting for.

Marine Weather (ASA 119) teaches boaters how to take weather into account in the planning and navigation of voyages, both local and global. Anyone who ventures onto the water will benefit from this course.

Weather is a big subject with many facets, but when it comes to marine weather it really boils down to wind prediction. Wind drives a sailboat and creates the waves. Although severe weather is a concern, sailors spend far more time dealing with too little wind rather than too much. This course teaches you how to find more wind when there is little to be had, in addition to avoiding extreme weather whenever possible.

Students will learn to integrate marine weather into their overall navigation using the latest technological tools as well as traditional maritime skills such as barometer, wind, clouds, and sea state observations. Also included are the theory, properties and behavior of squalls, fronts, storms, hurricanes, fog and global wind patterns and the study of weather maps.

With weather being the most pressing factor in a journey by sail, this course is a must-do.

Prerequisites: None

Location: Spirit of Hope Church, 7600 Harold Ave., Golden Valley, MN, 55427

Course Fee: $299, including materials and ASA certification upon successful completion.

Class Schedule: Tuesdays, October 19, 26, November 2, 9, 16, 30 2010, 6P - 9P

Independent Study Class / Correspondence.  TBD.  We like to interview prospective students in this category.  Please Call.


Throughout the course we emphasize how you combine your own observations of wind, sea, clouds, and barometer to better interpret the official forecasts obtained from radio or facsimile as well as make your own forecast if you loose the official sources. We also help you develop practical rules of thumb that will contribute to sound, efficient decision making underway.

 Topics include:

  • Radio sources of weather and how to interpret them
  • Basic principles of Highs and Lows — ridges and troughs
  • Weather maps: what kinds, how to get them, how to read them.
  • All about barometers
  • Fronts, squalls, storms, and hurricanes
  • Tropical versus extratropical cyclones
  • Sides of a storm and storm avoidance
  • Cloud ID and interpretation
  • Fog — sea fog and radiation fog
  • Global winds — prevailing westerlies, trade winds, doldrums, monsoons, roaring forties, screaming fifties, polar easterlies
  • Pacific High, Aleutian Lows, and counterparts around the world
  • Local winds and weather — Puget Sound, Juan de Fuca, Pacific Coast
  • How to use barometer, wind shifts, and clouds for shipboard forecasting
  • Waves and swells, significant wave height, sea state forecasting
  • Beaufort scale
  • Winds and terrain — land and sea breezes, shoreline wind shifts, drainage winds, channeled winds, convergence zones
  • How to predict wind shifts inland and at sea
  • Use of the internet for weather study and planning


Call Northern Breezes Sailing School at 763-542-9707 to register or with questions.

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Northern Breezes Sailing School
3949 Winnetka Ave. N.
Minneapolis, MN  55427
Call For Free Brochure (763) 542-9707

American Sailing Association Sailing School

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