True Wind

True Wind and Sea state calculator

This True Wind and Sea state calculator determines the true wind speed, true wind direction and corresponding Beaufort force, sea state and wave height, based on the ship’s heading, ships speed, relative wind direction and relative wind speed.

This is a useful App for mariners/sailors, shore based ship management companies or people interested in nautical science, that need to understand the effect of wind on sea states and determine the true wind direction and speed due to the relative motion of the ship.

This calculation normally involves calculating vector forces using some stationary and can be a bit time consuming. The App is user friendly and has jog dials that can be moved around smoothly to set the direction. The results are depicted in a fraction of a second saving time, and instead of opening a book to get the corresponding Beaufort force, sea states, compass points or wave heights – This App saves you all that trouble.

The inputs are:

Ship’s speed in nautical miles per hour (knots) or meters/sec (m/s).

Ship’s direction from zero to 360 degrees on compass.

Relative wind direction as displayed on a standard shipboard anemometer from zero to 180 degrees port or starboard (stbd).

Relative wind speed in nautical miles per hour (knots) or meters/sec (m/s).

The following results are displayed after pressing the calculate button:

True wind speed in nautical miles per hour (knots) or meters/sec (m/s).

True wind direction from zero to 360 degrees on compass.

True wind direction in terms of compass points

Corresponding Beaufort force and description

Corresponding Sea state description and code

Probable wave height for the corresponding true wind speed.

A photograph of what the sea state may look like.

Developer: Captain Darren D’Souza – Master Mariner