Mariners and politicians share a common concern ��� they need to know which way the wind is blowing. The politician who lacks this knowledge is at risk of losing his job. The mariner who doesn���t know which way and how strongly the wind is blowing may place his boat and crew at risk. Both the politician and the mariner need more information than the simple ���stick out your finger��� approach. I���ll leave the politician���s needs to somebody else, but I'll address an interesting solution for boaters looking for wind and numerous related meteorological facts���the new Airmar Powerboat WeatherStation.

Safe sailboat navigation requires a constant awareness of wind conditions, especially true wind direction and speed. While powerboats don���t rely as intensely on wind information, there are times when not being fully aware of the true wind can create problems, even for larger powerboats.

For example, the helmsman of a boat proceeding with the wind behind him at 25 knots may feel like the conditions are reasonably calm, the breeze he feels is blowing at less than 10 knots, and the seas, although active are causing no problem or concern. Reverse course in the same conditions, and the true wind is immediately apparent ��� 35 knots on the bow. The moderate, non-threatening seas become something altogether different. Maximum safe cruising speed may need to be reduced, lengthening the return trip and quite possibly making the crew and passengers less than happy campers.

Airmar���s WX/Wind Sensor can tell you and a lot more. WeatherStation (they very likely built the transducer for your depth sounder and fishfinder) is an ideal choice for virtually boater The WeatherStation is remarkably compact and has no moving parts. Contained in a 3-inch diameter, 5 -inch high plastic housing, the sensing unit closely resembles a GPS antenna. Installed on a standard 1.5-inch diameter antenna mast, it is virtually invisible on most powerboats.

The small size of the WeatherStation is achieved thanks to the ultrasonic measurement of moving air molecules caused by wind, instead of the conventional vane and rotating anemometer you see perched on the tops of most masts. The WeatherStation features four ultrasound transducers mounted in the upper part of the unit, which project their sound energy downward against a metal reflecting plate. Operating in pairs, the transducers transmit an energy pulse that is then received by the opposite transducer functioning as a receiver (similar to the way your depth sounder or fishfinder operate). In still air, the signal will arrive at the receiving transducer at a precisely known fixed time. Any breeze blowing through the gap between the transducers and the reflecting plate will alter the time of arrival of the sound pulse at the receiving transducers. The unit���s internal microprocessor processes the time difference to create an accurate measure of wind direction and speed over the range of 0.5 to 99 knots, with 0.1knot resolution. Directional resolution is 1 degree, with a sensitivity of �� 1.5 degrees. And there are no moving parts to attract birds!

The WeatherStation measures much more than the wind���s apparent speed and direction. The unit contains a GPS receiver and a magnetic heading sensor. When the boat is moving the speed over the ground (SOG) and course over the ground (COG) information from the GPS is used to compute the true wind direction and the true wind speed, reducing the chance of being fooled into complacency when running before an undetected strong wind.The magnetic heading sensor provides the information needed to determine wind direction when the vessel is stationary making the heading data from the GPS indeterminate. Heading and wind direction can be referenced to either magnetic or true north.

In addition to measuring the direction and speed of the apparent wind and computing the true wind speed and direction, the WeatherStation contains sensors for barometric pressure, air temperature and relative humidity.All of this information is transmitted via a standard USB plug that feeds the WeatherStation data to a computer (running the Windows XP operating system) and programmed with the Airmar WeatherStation software program.

Loading the WeatherStation software into the computer is straightforward, with the possible exception of loading the USB Serial Converter portion.With a bit of patience, however, everything will soon be functioning. Setting up the program proceeds quickly using the setup page.The process includes choosing display formats. The list is long but the settings can be made quickly and need not be reentered. (Note, that the barometric pressure cannot be compensated to account for the elevation at which the vessel is operating.)

Two data display formats are provided, one using an analog gage format, the other showing a large analog compass that shows heading, apparent and true wind direction plus eight supporting digital displays. On the analog page, 10 gages and six ancillary data blocks tell you all you ever wanted to know about the current weather conditions (with the exception of visibility and if its raining). A large compass gage displays true and apparent wind direction and the vessel���s heading with color coded analog pointers plus supporting digital readouts. A barometer gage shows barometric pressure and the pressure trend. Eight smaller gages display computed wind chill, air temperature, apparent and true wind direction, relative humidity, dew point, time (from the GPS, 12 or 24 hour format) and the number of GPS satellites being received. Just about anything you want to know, short of the forecast for the next weekend is there on the screen.

As they say on those infomercial ads, BUT WAIT, there is more! Click on any gage other than the large compass and the time and the display will change to a graph format with a recording of the data for the preceding 24 hours. Click on the ���next screen��� button and the display changes to present the large compass gage with all the other information in digital format.

The top of the screen is used to show the version of the software in use, the vessel���s GPS coordinates, SOG and COG (plus water depth and temperature if an Airmar Smart sensor is connected to the system), a graphic wind speed display using images of standard signal flags, a GPS signal indicator and a freezing point indicator. When the Smart sensor is installed two additional gages displaying true wind relative to the water and water speed are available. The NMEA 0183 format output from the sensor is converted to USB format for display on the PC. An alternative unit, the Combiner allows presentation of the information on the PC and on NMEA 0183 input instruments.

There���s a lot more in this compact unit than I can figure out from sticking my finger in the air. And all of the information will help make your time on the water safer, and more enjoyable. Price: $1,495. Contact, Airmar, (603) 673-9570; www.airmar.com.