SimSail

SimSail is an application that is designed to simulate the effects that winds and currents have on a boat that follows a set route.

The application displays a user-friendly interface and enables you to load GRIB files for your analysis. This means that you can obtain a meteorology map from any source and most importantly of any size and use it to plot and calculate your route.

SimSail is capable of displaying the winds on any of the loaded maps and you can view them with or without interpolation. It also offers you the chance to view their orientation according to time. You are able to either view the wind characteristics at a your current hour, or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to switch between the different layers of the map. This allows you to have a clear view of how the weather progresses and makes it that much easier for you to set your course.

As far as currents are concerned, you can’t alter them as they are automatically calculated in terms of force and direction. You can however view their values by simply placing the mouse cursor over portions of water.

With SimSail, routes can easily be edited and saved for later use. When it comes to creating the actual route, the application enables you to set the start date and time, load polars, choose engine behaviour in windy situations and compensate wind variation from the GRIB file or set a unique force and direction for it.

Depending on what you need or prefer, SimSail offers you multiple displays for the created route. You can choose to view dots, lines, dots and lines, boat speed, engine / sailing, wind force, up / down wind and sails.

To sum things up, there is a lot more to SimSail that needs discovering and once you get familiar to all that it has to offer, it proves to be quite the helpful tool.