SAILING INFORMATION ARTICLES

Weather Basics - Beaufort Scale

Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort of Britain created a scale to help the sailors in estimating Wind Speed and its effects through ocular observation. It is known as the Beaufort Scale and it is still used nowadays to estimate Wind strengths and to tell sailors and yachtsmen what to expect when they set sail with a particular Wind Speed.

FORCE	EQUIVALENT SPEED		DESCRIPTION	SPECIFICATIONS FOR USE AT SEA
	10 m above ground
	miles/hour	knots
0	0-1	0-1	Calm	Sea like a mirror
1	1-3	1-3	Light air	Ripples with the appearance of scales are formed, but without foam crests.
2	4-7	4-6	Light Breeze	Small wavelets, still short, but more pronounced. Crests have a glassy appearance and do not break.
3	8-12	7-10	Gentle Breeze	Large wavelets. Crests begin to break. Foam of glassy appearance. Perhaps scattered white horses.
4	13-18	11-16	Moderate Breeze	Small waves, becoming larger; fairly frequent white horses.
5	19-24	17-21	Fresh Breeze	Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed. Chance of some spray.
6	25-31	22-27	Strong Breeze	Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive everywhere. Probably some spray.
7	32-38	28-33	Near Gale	Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along the direction of the wind.
8	39-46	34-40	Gale	Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spindrift. The foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
9	47-54	41-47	Severe Gale	High waves. Dense streaks of foam along the direction of the wind. Crests of waves begin to topple, tumble and roll over. Spray may affect visibility.
10	55-63	48-55	Storm	Very high waves with long over-hanging crests. The resulting foam, in great patches, is blown in dense white streaks along the direction of the wind. On the whole the surface of the sea takes on a white appearance. The 'tumbling' of the sea becomes heavy and shock-like. Visibility affected.
11	64-72	56-63	Violent Storm	Exceptionally high waves (small and medium-size ships might be for a time lost to view behind the waves). The sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam lying along the direction of the wind. Everywhere the edges of the wave crests are blown into froth. Visibility affected.
12	73-83	64-71	Hurricane	The air is filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray; visibility very seriously affected.

from: http://www.zetnet.co.uk/sigs/weather/Met_Codes/beaufort.htm

Use the Beaufort Scale to give you an idea on the situation that you may face when you set sail with a specific Wind Strength.

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