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Weather RoutersA "weather router" is a professional forecaster that you engage to advise you on the timing and route you should take when you make a passage from hither to yon. He'll attempt to deliver forecasts customized to your location and plans. We have met people who are totally reliant on weather routers (at anywhere from $25 to $50 or more per consultation), to the extent that they wouldn't even make a short coastal trip (think in terms of 50 miles) without a go-ahead from their weather router! Good grief. Now, I'm not knocking the expertise of these folks, but you should always remember one thing. The weather router is sitting in a nice, safe, comfortable office, advising you on the course and speed you should take over the next x hours, but you're the guy who's stuck out there. If you feel you need a weather router to help you make the decision on when you should depart on a passage, and what your route should be, fine. Just remember, you're ultimately responsible for what happens. Wouldn't you prefer to make your own decisions, in an informed way? Let's face it, weather forecasting is still not an exact science. Sooner or later, regardless of what your weather router forecasts, you're going to get thrashed. You've probably guessed by now that we don't try to shift responsibility for our decisions to a weather router. We do our own forecasting, using GRIBs, weather faxes, and readily available high-seas forecasts for the area we're traversing. And we go to sea prepared for bad conditions.
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