Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

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FoilDodo
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Spanishalex
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Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

Gents I found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owANTKK7EUs&lc=UgxtCPzkZJs66hqFDgJ4AaABAg.9Ip9z5ry1ue9Ipa-ZFerx8

Wind sensor on min 3:10 looks cool. Messaged the video creators to ask brand and advice (see attached). Does anyone know of a house owner close to old federal where we could put a hub for the windmeter. Is it possible to convince the Core of Engineers? I would assume more weather data would be useful no?

I wonder if the parking booth gets internet?

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

I learned long ago, you pretty much don't want to live anywhere on Lanier that you could sail from.

The sailing club has/had a wind meter but it worked best for SW since that's the way it really faces and that's the crux of the problem, finding someplace with enough exposure to different wind directions. The other is that likely spots keep eroding (like the island up from Aqualand.

All that being said, the point at Old Fed might not be bad and there are literally several dozen sailors across the street at Sunrise who'd be happy to pitch in to help defray the cost, I'd bet. I'm thinking they have to have some 'net access with their kiosk at the gate. They may well be open to the idea especially if we help cover the cost. Money is likely tight with the repairs needed at the campground, West Bank, etc. Id think the biggest cost is installation (pole, labor) and whatever subscription fees, etc there are.

The LLSC webcam is still a good resource especially for days like tomorrow where there's a risk the breeze doesn't stick to the water

https://www.llsc.com/webcam

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

Maybe someplace at Aqualand marina? They had/have some kind of maintenance shed on that peninsula that juts out to the west (our common landing spot to add more down haul) or on their gas or courtesy dock? There seems to be some buzz amongst boat owners there about inadequate dock maintenance lately but there sure are a lot of sailboats docked there. You would think it’d be very well used.

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

Well the one at Gainesville airport isn’t matching what’s happening at VP right now Sad

You can put it on my boat at sunrise if you want to pay the Marina internet fees. $$$$

Alan

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

While this may not be an ideal location, this USGS gage station appears to be on the lake side of the dam, and it records wind speed & direction:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv/?site_no=02334400&agency_cd=USGS

Has anyone used this source or compared it to the Gainesville airport?

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

So I just talked to the management at Aqualand (I keep my boat there) and pitched the idea of us installing a wind meter. They said it sounds possible, but they have a lot of renovations going on at the moment, so we should check back in the spring when things slow down a bit. They did mention that a solar powered device would be preferable and that we could get access to the wifi.

I’m happy to talk about this with them again in a few months. In the meantime, if folks have any thoughts on type of device or how we could go about paying for it let me know.

-Clayton

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FoilDodo
webguy
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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

If it had the range, island 16 (or the remnants of it) has a good fetch for most directions or the nearby island where it’d have to be up on a mast. No doubt there’d be a six month + review by the CoE to approve installing something on “their” island.

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webguy
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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

There are low tech solutions that perhaps the LLSC would be willing to undertake with us (meaning we pay for it.) There is a flag pole directly in front of the web cam, but it either has no flag or it is mounted above the field of view of the camera. A windsock placed a little lower on the pole can give a reasonable estimate of the wind speed and direction. That's why all the little airports have them present. This has all the limitation of the web cam location - it is useful for only sw ish directions. However, it would help some because it is pretty hard to tell the state of the water from the camera, and those directions are also the territory where skunks frequently live. Avoiding a wasted trip to the lake has some value as well.

"When you find a flag blowing in the wind, estimate the angle between the flag and the flag pole. Divide this angle by four to get the wind speed in mph. A flag that's at an 80-degree angle would have a speed of approximately 20 mph. You can also estimate the wind speed using the general nature of the flag itself."

https://www.windsocks.direct/blogs/news/how-do-i-determine-wind-speed-by-looking-at-my-windsock

You could do the same with a flag though a windsock is probably better and easier to interpret.

https://larasmoyo.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/estimating-wind-speed-with-only-a-flag/

https://sciencing.com/estimate-wind-speed-using-flag-5839428.html

What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.

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Re: Yearly proposal & question on wind meter on Lanier

There's been a flag or streamer on a fence pole at LLSC from time to time. Because they often use the flag pole with the nearby mark F as a finish line, a flag or windsock (that resembles a pennant) would confuse the signals for racers. I'll put a streamer on a stick on one of the poles next time I go. The look of the water works pretty well for me on anything from south to west. I wish the camera had better resolution but mostly it's been a pretty good gauge of direction and speed. At 270º and further north Old Fed Campground puts the cove there in the lee. Looking at it today, you can see dark water beyond the Old Fed point = NW to N. A bit of a gap in the trees on the campground lets puffs squirt through to the bay on a NW wind. You'll see them roll through. Good

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