Beaufort Wind Scale

[Merlin Clark]

For determining wind speed by observing the sea state. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html

 

[kpgraci]

Gentle Breeze is the sweet spot for me. Moderate Breeze is fine once I'm out, but I don't like leaving port in a 4.

I've noticed on Lake P when white caps appear the wind is about 15 with waves about 3 feet - so pretty close. I image it works better on the ocean.

 

[caguy]

The gale wave height seems a little high. The last gale I was in only seemed like 18-25' waves, they were really more like 12-15'. I was in the Mac 25 and they were big enough.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Whitecaps = 12 knots.

Whitecaps on SF Bay with an ebb can start a LOT sooner.

I'll bet you can read the "Disclaimers" about the B scale on wikipedia.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Gentle Breeze is the sweet spot for me. Moderate Breeze is fine once I'm out, but I don't like leaving port in a 4.

I've noticed on Lake P when white caps appear the wind is about 15 with waves about 3 feet - so pretty close. I image it works better on the ocean.

Yeah the scale is meant for open ocean with unobstructed fetch.
We have it pretty sweet in the Indian River Lagoon, unless the wind is following the lagoon, we don't get much fetch at all.