Wind Speeds

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” - Jimmy Dean

As a sail boater, it’s important to understand the wind. Too little and the day is wasted. (Once there was more tide than wind and our boat floated backwards despite full sails.) Too much and the sailing is dangerous. (Our town’s club boats are mostly tip-proof but when winds tilt the boat over 45 deg. and the gunnel (deck edging) is in the water then it’s time to return to port. Racers & youth might enjoy this but I don’t.)

For those of us who don’t carry a wind gauge or anemometer in our pocket, the classic way to measure the wind is via the Beaufort Wind Scale. The scale was created in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort, a high-level administration in the British Royal Naval to standardize just what was meant by “a stiff breeze” and other wind speed comments in the ships’ logs. The system was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1830.

The advantage of this scale is that you can look at the waves, trees, and flags to estimate wind speed. Today for example, flags are partially extended so it’s a Light breeze and a great day to sail.

Since I can not paste an HTML table into this, please check out the NOAA version of the Beaufort scale for actual details.

Bottom Line

I can never remember each of the 13 steps in the Beaufort scale. What I have learned is key indicators:

• If flags don’t flap then it may not be worth going out on the water (or flying a kite)
• Many white caps means small boats should get out of the water
• It takes a lot of wind to move most trees (quaking aspens being the exception)
• It does not take much wind to stir up the seas. Small craft advisory now begins at 17 knots, but it takes 30 knots for a Gale, 48 for a Storm and 64 for a Hurricane.