It took a little while. But thanks to the programming work of Kevin Saliou, Windy now once again offers the option of installing a plug-in that allows fans and gamers to follow the Vendée Globe skippers directly in the most popular meteo app among sailors.
In the photo gallery above, we use annotated screenshots to show how the function can be integrated and then easily activated in the main menu of the desktop view. We also go into some of the aspects that are particularly relevant for further routing, such as the display of cloud cover on the weather map or the selection of different weather models and the retrieval of real-time wind data from nearby weather buoys or research vessels. None of this is offered by the organisers' tracker, which is not very informative anyway, with its unenlightening 3D visualisation of the boats and limited ranking information.
In this respect, Windy's Vendée Globe plug-in is currently the best way to get to grips with the tactical options of the participants. Especially now, in the field of Doldrums, this is of particular importance.
The Geovoile tracker, which we also use have installed on yacht.de (here for good reasons in the 2D view and with the average speeds and speeds of the past 30 minutes, 4 and 24 hours), so far only provides the wind data according to the European ECMWF model. Although this has a finer resolution than the American GFS model, it is not necessarily better in some situations. This is why professional navigators always work with both.
The only function that Windy does not offer is the further plotting of individual boats. Although this would be technically feasible, it would require the speed forecast data of the teams or designers - and these are guarded like state secrets. So if you activate the advance arrow in the browser based on the latest position data, you can see how the weather is developing. However, unlike on the skippers' computers, who usually navigate with Adrena, the boat icons remain in place.
Nevertheless, it is definitely worth installing the plug-in! Click here for the Windy-Homepage, at the top of the gallery. Have fun with it!
