Friday, 22 December 2000

MEDIA RELEASE - PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE

Sydney-to-Hobart forecast and new marine weather guide released

Sailors will learn of the first official weather forecast for this year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race at the launch of a new marine safety initiative in Sydney today.

Dr Sharman Stone, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Environment and Heritage, will launch the Mini Guide to Marine Weather Services at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Bureau of Meteorology staff will explain the forecast for the start of next Tuesday's race and the trend statement for the following few days.

The Mini Guide is a new national initiative in weather education for sailors and mariners, says Sharman Stone. "This is the first guide for New South Wales waters and is being made available for contestants in this year's race. The guide will be progressively rolled out to other states and territories next year.

"Unlike existing educational material, the Mini Guide is pocket-sized and waterproof to make it readily useable for sailors at sea to help them understand weather terminology.

"This new 'layman's guide' to off-shore weather has been in the pipeline for some time. The need for such a guide was reinforced by the 1998 Sydney to Hobart, when many competing yachtsmen who heard Bureau forecasts did not understand how the forecast translated into conditions at sea."

Dr Stone says the new guide contains information on important nautical telephone numbers and radio frequencies, definitions of common weather terms - including wind categories and warnings - details of marine weather forecasts, and information on coastal water zones.

"The new guide will complement the important work that Bureau forecasters will contribute to the safety of competitors over the event's duration," Dr Stone says. "This will include extensive briefings of competing yachts on Christmas Eve and the morning of the race, and the distribution of a 'Weather Pack' containing the new mini-guide and other satellite imagery, sea and weather reports.

"Yachts equipped with satellite communications equipment will also receive three-hourly coastal station reports courtesy of the Bureau," she says.

"Let's hope this guide helps all competitors have a better understanding of the enormous dangers that can exist in the waters that surround our country."

Mini Guide to Marine Weather Services is available for free. It will be widely distributed through yacht and angling clubs and other maritime organisations. It will also be available from the Bureau's New South Wales office by calling (02) 9296 1555.

Ends

Further information: Simon Frost, Dr Stone's office, tel: 0419 495 468