Long distance boat voyaging, planning software

[skylark]

I just got an email on this software, it looks pretty good:

http://www.bluewaterracing.com/

BLUEWATER RACING is a set of tools for tactical and strategic planning of long-distance boat racing and voyaging.

What it does:

    * Display and edit routes
    * Interface to GPS units
    * Support a selection of chart formats, including: a built-in highly-detailed global planning chart; BSB format charts (freely available from NOAA)
    * Display, examine, and manipulate multiple GRIB weather files
    * Display weather images, and track your route across them
    * Examine and manipulate boat performance "polar" files
    * Combine polar performance data with forecast winds to estimate travel time along routes
    * Compute optimal routes, combining boat performance with multiple wind forecast files of varying precision
    * Track competitors

[Auspicious]

Nice find.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I will repeat here for the sake of future searches. I really like Visual Passage Planner ( http://www.digwave.com/ ) for planning. It is a digital version of 1 degree pilot charts, also has current data, and you can enter a limited version of your polar charts. It was a great aid to me in planning my transatlantic and for a couple of offshore deliveries.