Go/No-Goby Capt. Ron
You

5 steps · 3 minutes · then go ride

Welcome to the Beta, Captain

This app runs Capt. Ron's rules (38 years on his home water around Marco) against live wind, storm, tide and radar data for 46 Florida launches — so you launch with a plan and come home dry. All of Florida coming. Here's everything you need to get set up.

1

Plan Your Run

On the PLAN YOUR RUN tab, pick your ride date (tonight-for-tomorrow works), departure time, duration, and your zone — by ZIP, by tapping theLIVE ZONE MAP, or in plain English ("launching from Goodland, heading to the dome homes" or "Fort Pierce inlet, 2 hours").

You get a full report: the big GO / CAUTION / NO GO pill, a 0–10 index, the risk board, storm timing, tides, live radar trend, and the Pass & Rip Hazard read for your inlet. The report auto-refreshes every 5 minutes while you have it open.

2

Turn On Phone Alerts (iPhone Setup)

Armed alerts push a notification to your phone the moment radar shows cells closing on your launch — even with the app closed. Sign in first, on the website or in the Capt Ron app. The app asks for the phone's notification permission. Add to Home Screen is only for Safari on iPhone.

  1. 1. Open this site in Safari, tap the Share button (square with the up arrow).
  2. 2. Scroll down, tap "Add to Home Screen", then Add.
  3. 3. Open the app from that new home-screen icon (not Safari).
  4. 4. Generate a report for your zone and tap ARM PHONE ALERTS — allow notifications when asked. You'll get a test push right away so you know it works.

On Android, open this site in Chrome, sign in, tap ARM PHONE ALERTS, and choose Allow. If Chrome says notifications are blocked, the button lists the settings to change and offers Try again.

3

Ride Mode + Buddy Watch

On the water, open RIDE MODE from your report. It tracks your live GPS position, re-reads the radar at your position every couple minutes, and calls the play out loud: "RUN SW NOW — cell 8 mi NW, ~22 min out" — with a chime and vibration when things escalate.

Tap SHARE LIVE POSITION and send the Buddy Watch link. Shore opens a live map — your track, radar, and lightning — no app or login needed.

Keep the phone mounted, on, and unlocked. If the screen sleeps, Ride Mode is dead — the browser stops GPS and radar. Pocket the phone only if phone alerts are armed; those still fire with the app closed.

4

Ride Replay

After you tap RECORD TRAIL, Ride Mode keeps your GPS breadcrumbs. When you're back on the trailer, openPAST RIDES to replay the route on a map — the trail animates with distance, duration, and top speed. Every replay has a share link for the group chat.

5

Tell Us How It Went

After your ride, the app asks one question: how did the water actually treat you? One tap — GOOD / MIXED / ROUGH. Every answer is scored against what the report predicted, and that's how the WXRR gets sharper every week of this beta. Found a bug? Use theFEEDBACK button any time.

About this app

Every GO, CAUTION, and NO GO comes from Capt. Ron's thresholds in the rule engine. Live wind, tide, radar, and lightning are scored there. An assistant may read a place name you type. It does not score the water or change the call.

No AI makes the call. Every GO, CAUTION, and NO GO comes from live data and Ron's written rules. The call is built from these sources. Each one can be checked on its own site:

  • Open-Meteo — paid commercial plan. Wind, gusts, direction, weather codes, CAPE, rain chance, and wave heights.
  • NOAA CO-OPS — tide predictions. Swap the station on a report if you want a nearby gauge.
  • USGS — river gauges on the Suwannee, Santa Fe, Withlacoochee, Peace, Caloosahatchee, Kissimmee and St. Johns.
  • RainViewer — radar tiles and the live trend.
  • NOAA Weather Prediction Center — the surface chart. Reading it does not change the call.
  • WarPulse (primary lightning, paid) and Xweather by Vaisala (second source, paid). A close Xweather strike is shelter on its own. A close WarPulse strike is shelter when Xweather agrees, when radar shows a real cell, or when that second feed is down. If Xweather is up and empty and radar shows no cell, that flash is caution. If either feed is down, the report says so.

Also used: Esri map tiles, and Zippopotam.us when a ZIP needs a point.

Built on Vercel (hosting), Supabase (accounts), and Expo (mobile app).

The full list is on Data & sources.

This is decision-support. Your eyes at the ramp, and the official NWS marine forecast, are still the final word.

PLAN MY FIRST RUN → PRE-LAUNCH CHECKLIST →

DECISION-SUPPORT TOOL ONLY — NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CAPTAIN'S JUDGMENT. ALWAYS FILE A FLOAT PLAN, WEAR YOUR LANYARD KILL SWITCH, AND CHECK OFFICIAL NWS MARINE FORECASTS BEFORE LAUNCH.