Use Buoy Weather to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable experience on the water.
The "N" component - if there is an "N" in the wind direction DO NOT make the crossing. Unless the winds are under 10 mph and the wind direction is out of the ENE or the WNW.
Before your crossing - always watch the "local" weather for any local storm cells that may pop up. Do a final weather check before you head out ie local TV, WeatherBug, etc. Once you are underway if you feel it is too rough you can always turn around and head back. Much better than getting beat up.
The morning of your crossing - check the local weather one more time for any changes (isolated storm cells etc). And then you will be ready to stick your bow out. If you feel that the conditions are ok for your boat and crew go for it. If the conditions are NOT ok you can return and start planning for the next weather window.
Before your crossing - always check out other weather websites:
Float plan - establish a float plan. Before you head out execute your float plan. Example http://floatplancentral.cgaux.org/download/USCGFloatPlan.pdf
For additional crossing reports to the Bahamas check out our US east coast - south report
Significant Wave Height - most all professional forecasts use 'Significant Wave Height'. It is the average of the one-third highest waves thus about half the waves will be bigger and half smaller. The statistical distribution of wave heights follows a Poisson distribution (ie. not a normal or "bell" curve): 10% of waves will be about 10% higher or more, 1% of waves will be 50% higher or more, 0.1% of waves will be 85% higher or more. Those numbers are for off shore locations. In shallow waters the really big waves cannot develop.
Bumpy - wave heights above 1 foot to 2.5 feet.
Very bumpy - wave heights 2.5 feet to 3.5 feet.
Lumpy - same as bumpy except for a longer "per" ie less chop and more rollers.
Doable - if the size and type of your craft is able to handle the wave heights and if your crew can handle the craft the seas will be doable.
Virtual Buoy Reports - our reports are based on Virtual Buoy locations that we have developed based on our years of boating experience and data that we get from www.buoyweather.com. They use weather data from numerous services etc inc NOAA.