Commanders forecasts were based on satellite transmissions from Team Adventure and weather data gathered from various Internet sites. Team Adventure s instruments computer sent hourly messages to New Hampshire on the catamaran s latitude and longitude, its speed and direction, the true wind speed, and barometric pressure. Of greatest concern to Commanders' was the area of the Southern Ocean. Data from that area are hard to come by. Unlike in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, there are few other ships to report weather conditions.
Storms also tend to be stronger and often strike without warning.