This is a transcript of Mad Mariner's MadCast, the podcast that covers all aspects of boats and boating. In this segment, we interview Herb Hilgenberg, who has been providing weather and sea predictions by radio for more than 20 years. He shares how he got started and why he continues with Mad Mariner Contributing Editor Diane Byrne.

It's probably best to start with your background and the story behind why you started to provide these weather and sea state predictions. It's a pretty harrowing story, to say the least. But for the benefit of anybody who doesn't know it can you explain what happened?

Hilgenberg: Well back in 1982 when we decided to head from Beaufort, North Carolina to the Caribbean, I had only basically VHS equipment on board and then a regular receiver that enabled us to get WWV every eight minutes after the hour for the weather reports. What we didn't realize is that the kind of weather reports we were getting were really local within 20 miles offshore. And no idea as to what the weather was like several hundred miles off shore and what we were getting into. We left after a forecast, good forecast waiting for two weeks. We finally left and got out there and got hit by really bad weather once we got into the Gulf Stream and further east. It wasn't until we arrived in the Caribbean that I learned that there are other ways of getting specific information about the weather offshore. Namely from MIC November, the U.S. Portsmouth, Virginia Coast Guard station as well as facsimile charge from the U.S. Navy, but you needed expensive equipment and also it was really not advertised in many of the cruising boats. So we didn't know about it. And so, of course once we got to the Caribbean I did purchase some equipment over the years and was able to get much better information that was basically made available through the National Weather service and through the U.S. Navy. And I bought the appropriate equipment so that I was able to at least receive weather update and use them during our passage basically back from the Caribbean back to Florida and on to our hometown.

A few years after that, I understand that you started to really study meteorology and you were living in Bermuda at that time too. That's around the same time that you started to give out daily forecasts. Why did you decide to undertake it yourself and maybe not leave it to somebody else, or maybe anticipate that there would be some other government level forecast being given out?

Hilgenberg: Five years later, we ended up in Bermuda, where I started, I guess, I continued with my professional career which is basically financial management. But listening to the radio and to the local happenings in Bermuda, I was astonished to find out that we were no the only ones who had this problem five years ago. Everyday there was a story about somebody having to be rescued outside of Bermuda, bad weather conditions affecting boats, people losing their equipment, and saying, you know, what happened. So I said to myself "Gee, five years ago I learned a lesson." I would have thought that by now some of the newer generation of cruisers would be able to use some of that service. And I guess they weren't, because they were just as misinformed as I was or were not able to afford to get some of the equipment and have access to the type of information that would have enabled them to have a better preparation for a trip like a long range reliable five-day forecast. So having had my own experience and having now collected a fair bit of equipment, I figured that well, maybe I should try and get involved in this. And I basically started to, just for the fun of it do local forecasts, being a member of the amateur radio society. And eventually the word spread to when people arrived in Bermuda they said, "Herb, why don't' you keep contact with us on Ham Radio and give us a forecast." So that's how I started to basically to use information that was readily available if you have the right equipment. And I basically just relayed that on to the boats who are leaving and who had Ham Radio onboard.

Now around the same time Warren Brown as some listeners may know of as being a pretty intrepid and famous fellow sailor asked you for some help when he was about to embark on a trip. Can you explain what happened and how it ended up that a lot of other boaters ended up tuning in?

Hilgenberg: I was essentially doing this on amateur radio frequencies. And Warren Brown wanted to go to the North Pole as sort of an exploration trip and he was only able to operate on Marine Sideband, not on amateur radio. So he asked me if I was able to accompany him essentially via the airwaves to the North Pole and this is what we did. We basically maintained contact and we had a lot of hairy situation where they had to assist in a rescue off of Greenland. Somebody was severely injured there. And this all helped by being able to communicate with him and the Coast Guard. And the word just spread that I was ending up on Marine Sideband frequencies and suddenly somebody else would check in. And then it was four and then five and then six and then ten people and so I figured it would be better if we agree on a time frame. So we started this and it used to be around six, seven o'clock in the evening when I would come up nightly and get people to come up. And again what I did in those days was to essentially use information that was readily available and I relayed it to the boats out there. And it was only that-- that's when I began to realize that relaying that information was not always the best approach. Because for some odd reason the accuracy of forecasts for the Atlantic were not as good as let's say near shore, simply because there was not much interest in it, I guess, for people. I mean most weather service have a primary responsibility and that is to provide weather reports for their population. And it gets pretty scarce when you're out on the Atlantic you get some coverage but it's very broad, very general, it's not very specific microanalysis. And that's when I really got involved in studying, self-studying meteorology becoming more familiar with what information was available. And then analyzing it and even changing it so at least I felt I was in a better position to give a more accurate report including having my own satellite access system in Bermuda. So that's basically how I got involved on Marine Sideband.

Now it's really interesting to note that not only did plenty of boaters really find that you were onto something and really helpful but, the U.S. Navy also approached you to. Now talk about that.

Hilgenberg: As I mentioned in those days there was no satellite data collection. There was no internet. There were not too many weather buoys. So the only way that the National Weather Service or any National Weather Meteorological operation, like the World Meteorology centers, would be able to obtain any for of data would be strictly from actual physical reports ground troops. Now they would get that from actual vessels that were on the high seas and who had agreed to provide updates to the Coast Guard, who intern then would pass it on the National Weather Service or aircrafts would make observations about how high a cloud cover, jet stream, et cetera. All of this was done manually by ships and by planes. Well here I was having contact with as many as 80, 90 vessels a day in those days. And first I got a call from the National Weather Service in Washington saying, "Look would you mind if you give us all of the reports and we'll pay for downloading it. We'll call you at night on our computer. And we'll use some kind of a..." in those days I think it was Telex type transmission... "you just key in all of your data into a computer page and then we'll download it or upload it. And then we'll use that as part and parcel of our compiling of the high seas forecast." At the same time the U.S. Navy, who had their station in Bermuda, the U.S. Naval Air Station said, "Hey we would like to have that too," because you see in those days the U.S. Navy was providing the weather forecast for Bermuda, and was doing the rescue operations for Bermuda. So I would pass them on all the information that I collected everyday from the boats and we had kind of a deal. I will provide them with all of the data that I was collecting from the boats and they provided me with facsimile charts and all the necessary information, raw data that they had compiled so that I could use it to make my weather analysis. So that's how we got together.

Now in the 1990's you moved up to Canada to retire as I understand. But you really didn't end up retiring at least from forecasting. It kind of evolved I would say because there were so many boaters that were relying on you and actually. You know, now with SSB being so much more prevalent, or I should say SSB being replaced or no sorry you couldn't use SSB because you were on land, correct? That was the reason you had to switch? You switched from SSB?

Hilgenberg: No, actually here's what basically happened. When I was in Bermuda I had my boat there which was dually licensed. And I was able to use my Marine Single Sideband transceiver from my boat in Bermuda and there was basically no legal implication in doing that. But as you may well know or as most people know when you are land based in the States or in Canada or anywhere in the world, you cannot use a Marine Sideband radio from you house. And you can't even use a VHF radio from your house. So I basically had a simple choice. Either I would stop doing what I was doing or I would resort back to amateur radio. I could do that from the house but that would limit the traffic only to people that had amateur radio licenses and not those who had commercial licenses using Marine Sideband radios. So I made application with Canada to get a permit. And they were, you know, in the beginning they were saying, you know, "If you were a marina a Coast Guard station or commercial station shipping company that has to maintain contact with its ships then, yes," I would be able to get a license, "but this is a hobby." But I guess they probably did some inquires with Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard and somehow I managed to get a permit, a license to operate from my house with a Marine Sideband radio similar to the way a Coast Guard Station operates.

So these days how many boaters are requiring or requesting I should say your assistance on average on a daily basis?

Hilgenberg: It used to be pretty strong. Like we used to run peak sometimes 75 or even more-- I didn't, sometimes I used three or four log sheets. I can put about 35 boats on one log sheet. So I would have two, sometimes three log sheets full of boats checking in. But remember that was in the days when we had pretty limited access. Today we have satellite communication, email communication from a boat. You can be on your boat and get the latest weather information, grid files whatever you want directly from the internet, including satellite pictures and anybody with inexpensive equipment can get this nowadays, especially grid files which have become very popular thing. So today maybe in peak periods I have one and a half log sheets. I have maybe about 50, 60 people out there trying to make contact and many of them are really reoccurring sailors. Some of them I have talked to over 20 years because they know me. And what they realize and what many of the people who have this access to all of this data do not realize is that when you look at four different computer numerical models run by, let's say four different participants in the world meteorological organization, let's say United States, U.S. Navy, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe. If you take those models and compare them they don't agree after two days. Sometimes they don't even agree after 12 hours. So there's some sailor out there who is using a grid file from the National Weather Service swears by it and then doesn't realize that there are four other nations producing similar files which are different. They don't have access to that. I do. So those people who know that they do check into my net. Those who don't rely on the grid files and sometimes they say they may listen into the frequency. And they may suddenly call and says, "Look, my grid files show light winds and you are saying we are going to have gale force conditions and that's what we have. Can you tell us how we can get out of it?"

For the people who aren't presently using your service center and are curious about how to become someone who relies on you. Walk us through the process. How do they find you? What information do they need to give you? And how you take it from there, whether you set up a, you know, a specific broadcast time each day, or you set a specific email time each day, things of that nature.

Hilgenberg: Basically it's word of mouth. Now word of mouth has resulted in many magazines for example putting articles up, boating magazines. So people who are interested in cruising or sailing will kind of read these magazines in up comes my name. Then there's Google, you know, where they can put a note in there like weather forecasting for the Atlantic and my name will come up. Or they can look at the U.S. National Weather Service and under weather forecasts, facilities and agencies they'll probably find my name. So if people are serious enough and do search and look they will find the information about the service. And then I have a website which usually is mentioned in these articles that they can come up with or that they can find in Google and that describes what I do in terms of how people find out about it. As to the kind of information the only request I have when a boat checks in for the first time is to, not just give me their boat name and make sure I understand it but also to tell me where they're calling from because I use a rotational antenna which allows me to hone into signals. So if somebody's in the Gulf of Mexico and another person is calling from the Azores and another person is calling from Bermuda or from Newport or from the Caribbean I got to swing my antenna around. And over 20 years you will wear out a rotor motor pretty quickly. So I have this one simple rule when boats check in if they're coming up for the first time they have to tell me where they are calling from. If they're already on my log, I know where they are. I know where they will be today and already did my homework in terms of my analysis for their basic conditions and where they should be heading to. So yes, I do require that. And the information that I give them is, I'm sorry. The information that they give me is basically once they're in transit they're boat positioned and a brief description of weather, mainly winds. In the old days their report was helpful to me in revising my forecast. Nowadays, it's strictly a confirmation of whether my analysis is consistent with what they are encountering. And if it is then I know that my forecast is reasonably accurate. If there is a difference then I need to know why. So that's basically why I ask them for information. In terms of what I give them, usually I give them a synoptic analysis of what kind of weather systems there are. And again I do that by area so they don't have to repeat this for every boat. Any particular boat I will provide with way points, like, I would say look we got a bit of a strong line of winds lying north of a line from point "˜A' to point "˜B' draw that line stay south of it. I give a way point 35 north, 40 west over the next two days. And I basically provide an update for about five days. And then I update that every day, because sometimes there are significant changes. When a low pressure system develops, there could be a significant change by as much as a 300, 400 miles per day inaccuracy that the person has to be aware of. So that's what I do.

Now you were talking a few minutes ago about the various sources of report that you use. And you've talked a lot about equipment as well. Paint us a picture of what your office, so to speak, sort of looks. You know, what's in front of you? What's surrounding you?

Hilgenberg: Okay well, I got a sort of what used to be our laundry room, 'cause it's got a window in it. It's basically now, sort of, my computer room and basically I just got the large desk which has two computers. One computer is basically on satellites via internet. I used to have my own dishes on the roof and access the both U.K. and U.S. satellites, but today you can get all of this from the internet. So one computer is strictly devoted to downloading weather satellite data and wind data, et cetera, while the other computer is used for downloading weather charts from various meteorological organizations and so I keep both of these computers going. Then I have two Marine Single Sideband transceivers, I'm an ICOM man. I use the ICOM, ICM 710. I've got two others that are basically in the hospital. But basically that's what I use and it's 150 watts output. I have my own antenna on the roof which I build it's called an "˜X' beam. It's a monstrous antenna which I can turn, so that the gain is directed towards the area where I know the boats are and of course telephone and Skype and email. I do not provide forecast via email. I know you sort of mentioned that briefly in the beginning. This is strictly a radio operation. It's a public service. Email becomes a private dedicated service. If somebody wants their forecast by email they should, I guess, engage a service that does that. Most of them do it for a fee. This is a voluntary service and it's strictly via Single Sideband, unless I get a call from the U.S. Coast Guard that there's an emergency and a person needs assistance and only has satellite phone, fine. Yes I will be involved either with satellite phone I will be available for these situations, but not for normal communication.

This is hurricane season while we're speaking. And given the destructive power of recent storms like Charlie and Katrina and Ike, I'm wondering if you find that boaters these days are more educated about these types of weather patterns and other severe weather patterns for that matter in comparison to boaters say 20 years ago. Or do you see that they're equally educated?

Hilgenberg: Oh, I would say definitely they are more educated nowadays. If they are not then I would consider them irresponsible. I mean the information that comes across whether it's on TV or news, internet the information is there and I think most people do, you know, read and quite often people will, you know, say Herb I want to leave from Bermuda to the Azores late July, August. "I know it's hurricane season but what do you advise?" So yes people, I think, are much more conscious of it mainly because they know the information is there and they can access it.

Now do you see yourself retiring anytime soon from this service and if so has anybody volunteered to pick up where you're going to leave off?

Hilgenberg: A lot of people have asked me that as far back as I guess five or six years ago and my answer then is probably the same as it is today. I think the day will come, and we're getting pretty close to that where every person can get a very accurate and detailed micro forecast for his tract which is going to be as accurate as it can be. And there's really very little that I could do to compete with that. The only thing that I could do is where something happens and there is a need for a rescue that I would be able to make call outs and provide information as it happens. I get these at least probably once a week I get a call from either the U.S. or the Canadian Coast Guard either because somebody's overdue or there's and EPIRB emergency beacon that has been activated and they couldn't quite trace the location. Although the name they did able, were able to copy the name of the boat and they will ask me if I can make a lookout request and see if anyone is in the area who can assist or assist if somebody is in trouble and wants to have information. And that is one area which may become more pronounced in the future because too many people are now forgoing the importance of remaining informed via actual SSB Coast Guard transmissions, weather reports and data that they can get through Single Sideband. They have a satellite phone and they're, you know, calling a friend maybe they're calling somewhere and download some data but they miss the rest of what's happening in their vicinity. And then if they're in a distress situation the Coast Guard can't reach them because the phone is off the hook or it's not turned on or it got wet and it's not working right or maybe the particular satellite that should be working isn't working. So suddenly the Coast Guard has to get involved and they can't get a hold of the person. And that's when they will call any operator who has access to radio either Ham Radio or Marine radio and try to see if they can connect to the person offshore. So that's probably what I would be left with.