Meteomatics’ API Powers the Girls Who Dare to Break a Rowing World Record

Meteomatics was delighted to support the Girls Who Dare Team by providing access to Meteomatics’ Weather API during their record-breaking row from San Francisco to Hawaii. The team broke the previous record of 62 days, 18 hours, and 36 minutes by more than two full days, and the Meteomatics Weather API was key to their success. The Girls Who Dare Support Team regularly accessed Meteomatics’ API to get the most up-to-date forecast for the exact coordinates along their route, across all 4,400 kilometres that the team rowed.

The ability to accurately assess the weather situation and make adjustments for race planning was critical to breaking the record, as James Dawson (Data Scientist for Girls Who Dare) explains: ”Meteomatics’ Weather Data API is so easy to use: I was able to access historic and live data through the same API endpoint, which made it really simple to track current and forecasted conditions, and to make direct comparisons against what the previous world holders encountered in 2018.

“Better still, I was able to write Python scripts to request Meteomatics Weather Data and combine it with the Power BI data connector that Meteomatics provide. This significantly reduced the amount of data engineering required, making it possible to combine the data quickly and keep the team updated on their position, and importantly their progress against the record attempt.

“Accurate weather data was vital in helping us achieve the world record, but also helped me keep the girls motivated by informing them of weather phenomena and conditions, such as exactly when they would reach the ‘trade winds’ which would give them a significant boost and propel them towards the world record.”

Meteomatics’ is proud that the forecast accuracy of our data and simplicity of the API was an important part in helping the Girls Who Dare plan and fulfil their world record ambition.

Meteomatics’ vast database of weather and maritime information (>7 Petabytes) continues to support a growing number of use cases, across a wide variety of industries. We are excited that the unique simplicity and ease of use of Meteomatics’ API is unlocking the value of weather information to help others achieve resilience and greater prosperity.