THE
MAINSHEET
Summer 2012
Contents
River Current Speed
Richard Cannon
There has been a lot of current recently but usually it is not actually as fast as it looks. One knot is 100ft per second and the distance from club back door to the start line is 100ft so if some thing takes a minute to drift from the back door to the start line the speed is 1 knot.
When there is a current of over 1 knot the Environment Agency are likely to have yellow warning boards at the locks and advise unpowered craft not to navigate.
Weather Station
Richard Cannon
Richard bought a wireless weather station but then decided it would be more useful at AQSC than at his house.
Bryan Clements fitted a mounting pole to a fence post behind the club house; it is very easy to remove. The weather station outside sensors are only mounted while someone is at the club. The display is on a table or in the start hut. Both items are stored on a glasses shelf at the west end of the bar.
The weather station displays and stores many measurements and has a USB link to a PC; the main displays we are interested in are wind direction, average and gust speeds, and their maximum values.
Normally the only actions needed are to switch between Average and Gust speeds, display the maximum wind speeds, and reset the stored maximum values. Instructions are attached to the display.