ORCV Weather for Sailors Online Course 

This course was refreshed in 2024 and incorporates a mixture of online learning prior to the instructor led online sessions. The course covers both the fundamentals and planning for a 3+ day coastal passage.

The Weather for Sailors course provides you with the meteorological knowledge needed to safely enjoy your time on the water.

Our highly qualified weather enthusiast presenters will led you through a mixture of lectures and practical exercises. The course provides a solid foundation in marine weather, with the opportunity to discuss more advanced topics with our experts as the course progresses

The Weather for Sailors course is designed to inform all types and levels of sailors, racers and cruising sailors alike, how to observe weather conditions and how to find the right forecasting advice from the vast array of modern resources available.

Knowledgeable on weather and seasoned sailors, our instructors take a practical approach to weather looking at the applications and linking these back to visualizations before looking at various technology platforms now available.

This course commences with the fundamentals for enclosed water sailing and builds on this knowledge for those looking to take on longer passages of 3 or more days, whether that be for racing or cruising.

Suitable for Ocean Racers, Cruisers, Motor Boats, Skippers and Crew.

Weather for Sailors course outline

Over 3 nights, this instructor-led online course covers the fundamentals of weather including

• Fundamentals of weather terminology.
• Definitions.
• The Barometer
• Vectors in sailing
• Seasons
• Coriolis
• Weather systems, Global mechanisms
• The forecasting process, the weather map,
• Weather information, how to read and use it.
• Fronts
• Weather Warnings
• Waves & Tides
• An introduction to Clouds and their signs.
• Gusts, lulls, and coriolis.
• Sea breezes-local- -autumn, winter, summer. Land breezes, katabatics.
• Obstructions
• Topography, land effects & Bathymmetry
• 4 & 7 day prognosis-maps
• Routing Software and forecasts
• Topography-sea breezes-land breezes-katabatics-timings, clouds-temperatures-airmasses
• Other land effects, headlands, indents, rivers, mountains, cliffs, islands, wind directions
• Thunderstorms etc
• Jet streams briefly
• Bathymetry, tides, currents,(and shallows) moon passage, tidal nodes, using port data
• Using ORCV Bass Strait tidal model
• Gribs
• Coastal tides & Currents
• Severe weather systems
• Sailing the tropics

Pre-requisites: All participants will be enrolled into the ORCV Online Learning module, where you will be asked to complete the online learning content (approx 2 hours needed) prior to attending Session 1.

2026 Cost

$195 per person non-member (plus 50c booking fee)

$155 per person ORCV Member (plus 50c booking fee)

$97.5 per person ORCV Youth member (plus 50c booking fee)

2026 Presenters

Simon Dryden, Ray Shaw and Greg Patter - all ORCV members and weather aficionados

2026 Course Dates

The 2026 Weather for Sailors course has been completed.

2027 Course Dates

Please use the Waitlist button below to add your name to the waitlist to receive a notification when the 2027 Weather for Sailors course is open for bookings. 

More Information

For any queries, please contact the ORCV Office on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.