Marine Weather Services Survey

[IronNoggin]

To: Boating and Marine Associations, Their Members and Mariners

Re: Marine Weather Services Survey: Please participate and share with other Mariners

Environment Canada (EC) is responsible for providing marine weather and ice information, and issuing all marine weather alerts for Canadian waters. Environment Canada is committed to understanding the needs of mariners. We are conducting a survey to better understand those needs and the use of our services.

We would like as many mariners as possible to complete the survey. If you are a mariner please take a few minutes to complete the survey. If you know other mariners who may be interested in participating, please share this invitation with them.

Your participation will remain completely confidential and anonymous. Results will be used to shape the weather information that EC provides to mariners.

To begin this survey, please click here: http://ec.sondages-surveys.ca/s/marine2012/?l=en

If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact Daniel Huang at 709-256-6608 or daniel.huang@ec.gc.ca.
.................................................. ..............

Well Worth filling out if you ply our waters!!

Cheers,
Nog

[Opinionated Ol Phart]

Yup-- let them know how you feel. Even thou it looks like EC may be looking for a way to justify reduced service (thanks Cons), maybe if we bitch about the poor marine forecasts they will put more effort into it. (IMHO the local marine wind forecasts are WRONG (too high or too low) 50% of the time)

[One Shot]

Done....................Thank you for posting.

[Philcott]

Just completed it.

[madrona sh]

Cut the french it drives me nuts.

[MB_Boy]

Done as well.

Heard some interesting tidbits about EC's forecasts when we were getting ready in the day(s) leading up to running out for tuna last Sept. long weekend. Not necessarily word for word but something in effect that there was a new "top dog" or something like that who makes the calls on the forecasts and has a tendency to "over report" what the conditions may be so as to save face if winds DO actually blow higher than forecasted. No confirmation at all on this......but just what I had heard when I mentioned 24 hours in advance of us running out 55 miles that winds were to be 15-25 or something like that whereas the others sites the tuna guys monitor were very different. Suffice it to say.....we ran out offshore in flat calm waters......with no wind.....and it was so calm I caught an extra hour or so of sleep on the run out.

That was forecasts from EC that were less than 24 hours (close to 15 hours) in advance of our ~4:30am departure. Had we listened to EC...we would have called off the run and I would have ended up walking around shopping in Tofino with the lady folk.