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Saildocs

Email-based information delivery for bandwidth-challenged users since 1999

             Optimized for Offshore Sailors

            Saildocs provides weather forecasts, documents, and web content via email - 
            perfect for low-bandwidth satellite connections (Iridium, Sailmail, Winlink). 
            All files optimized to minimize data costs.
        

Weather Forecast Data (GRIB Files)

Request custom weather forecasts from multiple global models, delivered as standard GRIB-1 data files:

Available Weather Models:

Free: NOAA GFS global model
Others: ECMWF, ICON, HRRR, NAVGEM, COAMPS regional models, RTOFS ocean currents, WW3 wave details

Example weather request:

To: query@saildocs.com
Subject: Weather

send gfs:20N,60N,160W,120W|2,2|24,48,72|WIND,PRMSL,WAVES

See GRIB request documentation and available models for details.

Document & Web Page Retrieval

Saildocs can fetch documents from the web and convert them to plain text, perfect for email-only connections:

Available Documents:

Text weather bulletins: NWS forecasts, tropical updates, offshore reports
Web pages: Converted to plain text for easy reading
Weather charts: Selected charts available in optimized format
Document library: Curated sailing and weather references

Example document request:

To: query@saildocs.com
Subject: Request

send index
send FZPN02.KWBC

Example web page request:

To: query@saildocs.com
Subject: Web page

send http://example.com/sailing-info

Scheduled Delivery

Set up automated delivery of weather forecasts or bulletins at scheduled intervals. Perfect for passages when you want daily updates without manual requests.

Example:

To: query@saildocs.com
Subject: Scheduled grib request

sub gfs:20N,60N,160W,120W|2,2|24,48,72|WIND,WAVES time=06:00 days=14

Scheduled deliveries can be set for any interval and duration. See documentation for details.

About Saildocs

Saildocs was created in 1995 by Jim Corenman (co-founder of Sailmail with Stan Honey, and author of Airmail and Viewfax software) to provide email-based information access for offshore sailors with limited bandwidth.

The service has delivered millions of weather forecasts and documents to sailors worldwide for more than 25 years, and continues to serve the offshore sailing community.

Documentation

Support

Questions? Email: support@saildocs.com

Last Updated: 2025-11-03