it was a ritual if a weekend onboard was planned, I'd need to get the weather forecast. That used to mean a toll call to a NOAA service for Lake Champlain in Vermont. I'd write it down as it could take several minutes to get through. Wind direction and speed for 48 hours, best educated guess available, was like a gift.

From that, you could plan some sort of itinerary a day in advance. Pretty handy for a coastal sailor with a weekend to sail.

Today I can go to the NOAA weather site online and get more information about the weather along the coast than I would have dreamed of 20 some years ago. Using their graphics tools, I can just about lay a course line for where and how I want to sail for a weekend, overnight or just a daysail, with 4 hour increments detailing wind and wave trends through the day.

I can anticipate with pretty good accuracy even the sails I'll be setting and what the seastate will be at night in potential anchorages, even how much sunscreen I'll need. Great to have. Are others finding this as helpful?