Expidia
Commander
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,368
This was pretty cool . . . I keep my electronics in a waterproof Pelican case. So when I take them out to use on the boat that day I put my 3 lb Asus netbook back in the case and take it along in the boat.
Past Sat. we launched on Lake Champlain and were anchored in a nice cove to get out of the 20-30 mph occasional gust of wind. It was beautiful out and just over 60 degrees. I was fishing and my wife was lounging around reading magazines, drinking some wine and sucking up some rays.
So I stopped for lunch around 11:45 and turned on the laptop and checked the weather at: http://www.weather.gov/radar_tab.php
Just click on the map and your area will pop up.
I always check this site before I leave to launch the boat and everything looked clear even far to our West.
So that Sat the weather stations were not predicting rain till late afternoon. That's why we went out early and were going to get off the water before 3 pm.
As soon as I turned on the laptop i saw the radar map and it now showed a rain storm with red and yellow which can mean severe rain storms. If those red and yelow cells are bordered by a yellow line it's even worse and can throw off tornado activity in it's path. Yet the skies were clear all around us. But the cells were only about 45 minutes to our West and seemed to be traveling fast towards us. I said we needed to head back to the launch quickly because I wanted to get off the water and get the cover back on the boat before it rains.
My wife said " it's not going to rain, it's beautiful out right now" famous last words
We were going to use the boat on Sun too and nothing worse than having to deal with sopping wet carpets the whole day.
Got the boat back on the trailer and watched a few boaters just launching and clueless as to what's coming shortly. They were just jet skiers, so no reason to warn them Who do I look like Paul Revere?
Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot the skies opened up and it rained pretty hard for the rest of the day and heavier all night.
Now I was only able to do this because I have the Verizon access card which I can connect from just about anywhere. True it's $55 a month for their 5 GB plan or $25 for their limited plan, but I use it for my business too and it's great when I'm in hotel rooms with slow or no interent access or staying over relatives houses that are too cheap for premium channels. I hate commercials.
I've even been watching TV through a Slingbox that is connected to my bedroom TV while anchored. It connects through the internet into my bedroom DVR unit and I can watch HBO or recorded programs from anywhere. I know, I know it sounds sick to watch TV while in my boat, but if it was bigger and I was at a marina what's the diff. most boats have access to cable or use a dish in a marina.
But that ability to see the weather coming at me on my laptop was pretty cool. We finished our lunch in the car and hit the motel dry as bones for a little sack time before dressing to go out to dinner. It poured outside for the rest of the day and night and that sounded a lot better to me than when it pours into my bimini cause I know at some point I have to get the boat back on the trailer. Don't like doing that during a lightning storm.
Gotta luv technology!
Past Sat. we launched on Lake Champlain and were anchored in a nice cove to get out of the 20-30 mph occasional gust of wind. It was beautiful out and just over 60 degrees. I was fishing and my wife was lounging around reading magazines, drinking some wine and sucking up some rays.
So I stopped for lunch around 11:45 and turned on the laptop and checked the weather at: http://www.weather.gov/radar_tab.php
Just click on the map and your area will pop up.
I always check this site before I leave to launch the boat and everything looked clear even far to our West.
So that Sat the weather stations were not predicting rain till late afternoon. That's why we went out early and were going to get off the water before 3 pm.
As soon as I turned on the laptop i saw the radar map and it now showed a rain storm with red and yellow which can mean severe rain storms. If those red and yelow cells are bordered by a yellow line it's even worse and can throw off tornado activity in it's path. Yet the skies were clear all around us. But the cells were only about 45 minutes to our West and seemed to be traveling fast towards us. I said we needed to head back to the launch quickly because I wanted to get off the water and get the cover back on the boat before it rains.
My wife said " it's not going to rain, it's beautiful out right now" famous last words
We were going to use the boat on Sun too and nothing worse than having to deal with sopping wet carpets the whole day.Got the boat back on the trailer and watched a few boaters just launching and clueless as to what's coming shortly. They were just jet skiers, so no reason to warn them
Who do I look like Paul Revere?Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot the skies opened up and it rained pretty hard for the rest of the day and heavier all night.
Now I was only able to do this because I have the Verizon access card which I can connect from just about anywhere. True it's $55 a month for their 5 GB plan or $25 for their limited plan, but I use it for my business too and it's great when I'm in hotel rooms with slow or no interent access or staying over relatives houses that are too cheap for premium channels. I hate commercials.
I've even been watching TV through a Slingbox that is connected to my bedroom TV while anchored. It connects through the internet into my bedroom DVR unit and I can watch HBO or recorded programs from anywhere. I know, I know it sounds sick to watch TV while in my boat, but if it was bigger and I was at a marina what's the diff. most boats have access to cable or use a dish in a marina.
But that ability to see the weather coming at me on my laptop was pretty cool. We finished our lunch in the car and hit the motel dry as bones for a little sack time before dressing to go out to dinner. It poured outside for the rest of the day and night and that sounded a lot better to me than when it pours into my bimini cause I know at some point I have to get the boat back on the trailer. Don't like doing that during a lightning storm.
Gotta luv technology!
