About Us

Jon Bilger - Director

Jon Bilger is the founding director of PredictWind, and also a keen competitive yachtsman with the following main achievements; Alinghi Weather Team Manager – Winner of the America’s Cups in 2003/2007  Alinghi Weather Team Manager 2010 Dog Match Navigator for TAG Heuer in the 1995 America’s Cup 7th 1992 Olympic Games in 470 Olympic Class New Zealand National Champion in multiple dinghy classes Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Auckland With this experience he understands the importance of a good wind forecast. In his role for PredictWind he has given us the following insights;

Background of Company

“At Alinghi we had access to some of the best weather modelling technology available, and as a sailor, I thought that it would be great if the same technology would be available to the public for marine forecasting.

We approached the people responsible for our weather modelling and obtained the exclusive license for the technology. With the development team we then obtained the topographical information to allow specific local forecasting at 20,000 sites around the world. Now local sailors around the World can have the same information that the Alinghi team had in Auckland and Valencia.

PredictWind is a totally unique product in that you can see the predicted weather patterns hour by hour over a one square kilometre grid. Since the trial release of PredictWind in June 2008 the response has been fantastic with positive feedback from sailors and boat owners who are now relying on PredictWind as their primary weather forecast.

To show you the benefits of PredictWind we are offering a no obligation free trial so you can see for yourself how well the weather model works.”

Weather Modelling Team

“Due to commercial confidentiality restrictions we cannot reveal the names of the experts who are behind the success of PredictWind. We can however assure you that the technology is culmination of 30 years of experience by a team of research scientists. It is cutting edge technology that has not previously been available to the public until June 2008.”

About the Weather Modeling Technology

"In the America’s Cup we forecast for one specific location, but the challenge for PredictWind was to provide forecasts on a global basis. At present we have 520 forecasts areas that we can display forecasts maps for both our 8km and 1km resolution model. In addition we have around 20,000 specific forecasts locations within those maps to pinpoint your location.

In addition you can access a lower resolution marine forecast for any area around the world for the two PredictWind forecasts. GRIB files can be requested using the free GRIB viewer.

Forecasts are generated automatically every 12hrs and available first thing in the morning and evening for your local area. There is a serious amount computing power to make this all happen, and some very smart software to automate and monitor the process."

The Future of PredictWind

"We intend to keep the Free Version of PredictWind, so the widest range of people can test the benefits for themselves. We will be adding more forecast areas as requested and we are working on additional features to the web interface.

To help pay for the development and computing resources required PredictWind is a subscription service with packages available to suit your needs and budget."


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