In my limited experiences with ocean kayaking, I've noticed that windspeed is only part of the equation and that there are other factors that are surprisingly important (well, surprising to me, anyway). Like the direction of the current relative to wind direction --- if the wind and currents are going in opposite directions, the swell/chop seems to increase in amplitude and decrease in wavelength, making for much nastier conditions but if the wind is blowing the same way the current is going it has a marked calming effect.
The more information you have, and the more accurate it is, the better.
Because I don't have a drysuit yet and am still learning, and go solo a lot, anything over Beaufort scale 4 conditions makes me think twice.

Cyberhun, do you have & use an anemometer? And you're certainly right about wind-over-tide situations where wave lengths shorten and wave heights increase dramatically. My own experience with reports (including my own) of wind speeds and wave heights is that we tend to overestimate them quite severely--about 150% for wind speed and often 200% (2X) for height, and maybe more. I'm currently reading a GREAT book, "Blazing Paddles" by Brian Wilson. It's his account of his solo circumnavigation of Scotland, in conditions of wind and wave, tide and current that are far beyond what I'll ever attempt. Without in any way detracting from Wilson's skills or accomplishments, though, it is clear that wave heights and wind speeds that he reports are his on-the-spot "estimates" only--guesses really, made under conditions of maximum excitement and stress--and that a paddler, no matter how strong or skillful, could never survive the wave heights (during surf landings and launchings) and wind speeds he reports. But read the book for yourself.

I don't own an anemometer and knowing exact wind speeds isn't something that is important to me. What is important is seeing and feeling the conditions (wind, waves, water, etc) and then making a judgment call as to whether or not I want to paddle.

In my local area I can guess pretty accurately what the conditions will be based on the wind reports. Whether or not those reports are accurate I don't know, but they are consistent. If I am paddling in a new area I go and check things out in person. Even if I know the accurate wind speed I have no idea what its effects will be in an area that is unfamiliar to me.

Also, it doesn't matter to me what other people can paddle or what they claim to paddle. What matters to me is what conditions I can handle, or what conditions I feel like handling that day.

OceanAir, your detachment is admirable. So long as you do not communicate with other paddlers about wind and sea conditions, then your indifference to the actual, measured wind speed makes no difference whatever to anyone else's decisions about when and where to paddle. The value of actually knowing how hard the wind is blowing is that it provides a common, verifiable language among kayakers and other mariners, just like agreeing on a common standard for measuring distance (sea miles), boat or wind speed (knots), etc. Anemometers, viewed in this light, are just like a kayaker having charts, timepieces, compasses, etc.; an anemometer is yet another tool for knowing what's really going on around you, and being able to exchange accurate data with others.

I agree that it is important, but... what do you do with that information. How wind effects an area is more important that just knowing its speed, that information you can not get from an anemometer.

Simply put, I don't think about what I can paddle in terms of what other people can paddle. I know the upper limit of my ability, and also know that lots of people can paddle in conditions beyond my limits. I don't think that because someone else claimed to paddle in a certain wind speed, or even actually paddled in a certain wind speed, means I will be able paddle in those conditions.

Maybe it is just me but I have never heard people use wind speed as a qualifying factor for paddling an area. I have never come across such phrases as 'you are safe to paddle in that area as long as the wind is below 15 knots', or 'I have paddled in 35 knot winds so you should be able to as well'.

Sure knowing the wind speed is useful, but how useful? 15 knots in one area might mean something totally different than 15 in another area. Or a N wind might have a completely different effect than a NW wind. Obviously paddling in an area in calm conditions is much easier than paddling in difficult conditions. I base that decision not on the numerical speed of the wind but how the wind feels (not just on my skin but also in my judgment). Wind predictions are rarely accurate and conditions can change at anytime (in fact they are constantly changing).

hmm... after thinking about it... I think a numerical value for wind speed is an over simplification, especially when it comes to ocean conditions, personal ability, and personal comfort.

Before I decide where to go paddling (or IF to go paddling), I check the weather report. Wind direction and speed are the two most important pieces of data for any experienced kayaker. We all know that people do use wind speed (and direction) as a qualifying factor for paddling an area. I grant that predictions of wind, weather, etc. are often erroneous, as are reports kayakers give of conditions (wave height, wind speed) that they paddled in. I cited several examples in my previous posts of paddlers reporting, without any actual measurement, that they were out in "35" or "40" mph winds, and that things were just fine, exciting, exhilarating, blah. And that such unsubstantiated reports could lead other, less experienced kayakers into thinking that they also could paddle in "35-40" mph winds. By all means don't bring or use an anemometer on the water or at the launch site if you don't want to, but don't tell anybody else that the winds were blowing at ......mph or knots or whatever, if you don't really know.

hmmm... I understand your point, but at the same time - what if those wind reports were accurate? What if some people can and do paddle in 35 knot winds? Does that mean they should not tell other people about the conditions they paddle in? Does that mean that everyone should assume they can paddle in the same conditions of everyone else?

Should the same go for wave height, surf period, frequency, tidal current, uv index, or any other factor in paddling? If I miss judge wave height and someone tries to paddle in those conditions is it my fault? Or rather, if I can paddle in 30 knot winds and report that I can and did paddle in 30 knot winds, does that mean everyone just assumes they can paddle in 30 knot winds as well? Am I some how responsible if people misjudge their ability, or over estimate their ability based on what I am able to paddle?

If some people can and do paddle comfortably in 30 or 35 knots winds (uncommon maybe), I assume that we KNOW this, or they KNOW this because somebody was carrying and using an anemometer, and not just guessing. I assume that we are not just taking someone's impression of what the wind speed, wave height (always a puzzler!) etc. was, as a substitute for an actual datum. Now, with GPS, kayakers can get a lot closer to accurately measuring current speed also. My point, again, is that it is better to know, and relatively easy to know, with an anemometer, how hard the wind is blowing, really.

Here's the ideal scenario: superpaddler A goes out with his anemometer, and determines that he is happily and safely paddling in 30-knot winds. Less-experienced paddler B, also armed with an anemometer, visits same site, holds up his anemometer on the beach. It reads 30 knots. He looks at the water and quickly realizes that 30 knots of air, and the subsequent waves, are way beyond his abilities. Thus, both parties actually know how hard the wind is blowing, and can make more informed judgments about how, when, where to paddle.

Frequent use of an anemometer helps to calibrate our subjective impressions of conditions on the water with an actual, measured wind speed. Like a thermometer, or a ruler, or a chart, or a compass, an anemometer is just another way of quantifying phenomena such that people can accurately evaluate the magnitude of phenomena and then communicate with one another.

Well,I went for a paddle with a few mates the other day and it was blowing a bit ,and I saw this gizmo that Barry had and thought it was a GPS or something but it was an anemometer and I said what the hell do you want for.So we had a guessing game on the wind strength .I said I thought it was about 18 to 20 KPH.We checked it and it was 10.3 ,I was amazed,obviously I have been over estimating for awhile so thats blown my paddling stories for awhile.

Wavehog, thanks for your input. If you get an anemometer, you'll have fun deflating your paddling mates' tall tales about paddling in "30-knot" winds, etc. Your experience with Barry and his anemometer is almost universal--people almost always are misinformed and overconfident about what wind strengths they believe they have paddled in or can paddle safely in. As Chairman Mao, The Great Helmsman, said, "Learn Truth From Facts!" An anemometer can supply those facts.

I'm bumping up this thread so that it will better correspond with the latest Sea Kayaker newsletter (Dec. 2, No. 20). SK's editor Chris Cunningham there addresses this subject of gauging wind speed. Chris reminds us of Eric Soares' notion of calibrating one's ability to accurately assess wind speed by use of an anemometer--you use the anemometer to train yourself to get better and better at determining wind speed on the water. I wholeheartedly recommend this. Take a look at the December Newsletter on this SK website, and check it out.

These threads can stay dormant for a while. Just thought I'd add something that I read this morning in a book called "The Proving Ground" by G. Bruce Knecht. It is an account of the ill-fated "Hobart" ocean sailing race of 1998 when the weather really got out of hand and even these incredibly experienced sailors didn't understand the relationship between wind speed and the force of the wind. The senior meteorologist was quoted in the book as saying, "The power of the wind increases disproportionately to its speed. In mathematical terms, the force of the wind equals the square of its speed. Therefore an increase from 50 to 60, a 20% increase in speed, amounts to an increase in power of 40%."
I like the idea (for those of you that are so inclined to carry the anemometer and go out on the briny wave) to use it regularly to train your senses. I regularly used topos when taking out canoe trips and training people in navigation to identify and train the eye to size on the ground. If I was near a tiny island at the beginning of a trip, I would take out my map and look at how big it is on the map and on the ground and basically wait until someone asked me what I was doing because we know where we are, because the cars are still in site. I would tell them that I was "scaling my eyes." I know 100% that is that island on the map, so now I can train my brain to recognize that that size on the map is that big in the world. The same idea for wind... check and feel... train the senses.
The one thing I would add as a side bar is how long the effects of the wind hang on after it has petered out and where you are in relation to the shoreline shape and the depth and shoaling profile on the coast. I was out in the fall of 2007 checking the marine weather ever half hour all day and we were planning to camp on the Western Islands in Georgian Bay (Lake Huron, Ontario) about 14km off shore. All was duckie until 4:30 pm when the report told us all bets were off and there would now be a storm in the middle of the night with gusts up to 80 kph but it would moderate by early morning. The decision to stay on the island instead of making it a plus 40 km day was made. We figured that we could wait until 2pm the next day to let the waves calm down and we did. I was still windy and waves of 4' to 5' feet but in the Feathercraft K2, we felt secure. It didn't turn out that way. The approaching shore to the east comes up steeply and I am sure the curve of the shoreline funnels the wind too higher speeds. Suffice it to say that we ended up with a 3 hour paddle from hell. We were in up to 10 foot waves, and we had to change track a number of times as we saw that we were approaching areas of breakers where there were shoals a couple of miles off shore. A couple of surprise surfs scared the crap out of me (though my paddle buddy in the stern position was not as freaked because of his perspective.
This long winded tale is just to add that the wind speed is just one factor to be taken in context with topography, fetch, shoaling/depth, wind shadowing of islands points and type of craft. I don't have to worry about tide here, but lots of you folks do, so add that on.
Paddle safe and enjoy... I learned a lesson that day.

Hope this works: http://www.seacanoe.org/Offshore.htm#Deceptive%20but%20'Orrible%20Off-shore%20Winds This is a useful posting about winds, especially offshore winds, by Paul Caffyn, the King of the Circumnavigators.

Steve, thanks for your input. A scary paddle indeed! My mantra is Know the Wind; Respect the wind; FEAR the Wind! As Chuck Sutherland said years ago (and it made a big impression on me), "On open water there is no place to hide from the wind. There is no place to rest." So true!

I got a handheld anemometer and like using it for measuring the wind speed as well as the air and water temperatures. The one thing to remember is that the reading will always be less than what is being recorded at a nearby weather station. While standing on the shore and with the anemometer held in the air it will only be 7 feet above the ground. While seated in the kayak it will only be a few feet above the water. These readings will be less than those placed at the standard height of 10 meters (33 feet). The wind speed is affected by the ground and any obstructions. This is similar to the affect of the shoreline affecting (and slowing) flow along a river.

A reading of 20 MPH at water level may actually equate to a wind of over 25 MPH at the normal height.

But, it is a good tool to be able to compare wind speed relative to other days. And the one I have with the ability to measure both air and water temperature is a handy tool also.

SDK--like Wavehog, you'll have fun getting your paddling mates to estimate the wind speed, then sharing your own anemometer readings with them. I paddle often with a former small-boat sailor and I now and then get him to estimate, usually at the end of a day's trip while we're standing on the shoreline at water's edge, and the wind is up. He'll say "20 knots"; I then show him the anemometer and it's maybe 11 knots. He's getting better.