WindSMS sends you SMS messages describing the wind conditions from certain locations around your metro area. It is ideal for board and kite sailors who do not have immediate access to Internet services.
When you subscribe to WindSMS you are asked to select a series of criteria. You will only receive SMS messages when the wind speed and direction (and other criteria you set) are met. For example, you might like sailing on Melville Water in Perth in South or South Westerly winds stronger than 16 knots – these are the settings you will make when you subscribe.
While WindSMS is designed to assist board and kite sailors by informing them of the current wind conditions via SMS, this doesn’t mean you cannot use it if you are not a Wind or Kite sailor but you might find some of our other offerings more suitable.
Data is provided obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology radio weather stations.
Ocean Reef, Swanbourne, Rottnest Island, Melville Water, Garden Island, Safety Bay, Mandurah.
Avalon, Fawkner Beach, Frankston, Melbourne, Point Wilson, Aireys Inlet, South Channel Island, Bairnsdale, Cerberus.
Nobbys Head, Norah Head, North Head, Sydney Harbour, Fort Denison, Sydney Airport, Little Bay, Kurnell, Bellambi Point.
Banana Bank, Inner Beacon, Spitfire Channel, Redcliffe, Brisbane Airport, Gold Coast Seaway, Coolangatta, Maroochydore, Double Is. Point, Cairns, Green Island, Low Isles, Townsville.
Edinburgh Airport, Outer Harbour, Adelaide Airport, Noarlunga, Sellicks Hill, Parawa, Edithburgh
In short, to enable us to provide the service at a reasonable cost. SMS messaging is expensive as we all know. In addition, beta users expressed the opinion that they did not want their phones flooded with SMS messages. For the same reason the number of days in a year SMS messages can be sent is capped at 100. Given the wind data to which we have access, this should easily cover the number of days you could expect to have favourable winds.
The wind data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology. Occasionally their weather stations are damaged or taken off-line for maintenance. For these reasons you are asked to enter an alternative location from which you will receive wind data. You will only receive data from the alternative location if data from your preferred location is unavailable.
The wind data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology. Occasionally their weather stations are damaged or taken off-line for maintenance. For these reasons you are asked to enter an alternative location from which you will receive wind data. You will only receive data from the alternative location if data from your preferred location is unavailable.
You may need to “tune” the criteria according to which SMS messages are sent. To do this you will need to logon to www.windsms.com.au (where you subscribed). You then select the Change Details menu item, enter your password, and then change the criteria.
Occasionally, for reasons beyond the control of WindSMS, you may not receive an SMS message when you should have. This could be caused by an Internet service failing somewhere, an extended power failure or the SMS service network going down. Naturally we will do everything in our power to ensure there are no extended outages.
To do this you will need to logon to www.windsms.com.au (where you subscribed). You then select the Change Details menu item, enter your password, and then change the criteria.
The WindSMS service is available in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and several other locations. If you move to one of these locations you only need to logon to www.windsms.com.au, select the Change Details menu item, enter your password, and then change the location to your new domicile. Don’t forget to change the alternative location as well.
You can do this by logging on to www.windsms.com.au and selecting the Suspend Subscription menu item. Once you enter your username and password you can select the Suspend Subscription check box and submit the change. Once you have done so, no SMS messages will be sent until you return to the website and clear the Suspend Subscription check box.
You can do this by clicking on Request for Termination of Service. You need Adobe Acrobat® installed on your computer to display this file. Return the form to WindSMS by post, email or fax.