when does inshore become coastal?

[Burnham_Bob]

It's fairly obvious that offshore is where you start drinking your own urine and shooting albatrosses, but anyone got any suggestions as to the point where inshore becomes coastal?

Most of my sailing is buoy hopping on the east coast but I'd assume a trip from Burnham to Harwich qualifies as coastal - fairly obviously, but is there an RYA official definition?

Googling just got me lots of clothing sites..............

 

[wavelet]

Offshore Yachts made the Halcyon 23, a coastal cruiser and this is another definition of "Offshore" - off the shore, ie. near the shore. Coastal in this sense really means the same. Of course there is the Halcyon 27, also by Offshore Yachts, which I know of at least one which has done an Atlantic circuit. This sort of voyaging is definitely far offshore, and mostly oceanic, but this doesn't help the matter. Offshore means away from the shore and the distance is a matter of context, so if you were drifting on an inflatable airbed and the wind took it out of shouting distance from the beach you would think of it being offshore, but the lifeboat speeding out to rescue you would be the Inshore lifeboat, so there we have some dimensions to it, but not all as it is up to the person concerned to say which it is.

 

[Sgeir]

I've always assumed that it refers to sailing beyond the sight of land, in other words, where the issues concerning navigation take a qualitative jump up the scale.

But please don't take that as gospel.

Incidentally, I'm sure the albatross would be a protected species if it ever neared the UK. But there's no injunction against drinking your own pee. Or, indeed, anyone else's if you're of a mind to.

 

[l'escargot]

I would say inshore is "home" waters and not far from home. Coastal would be more passage making, you could be several hundred miles from home but you haven't gone out of sight of land to get there - sailing along the coast. Offshore is generally accepted to be out of sight of land.

 

[Slow_boat]

I've a feeling that there is a definition of distances from the RNLI or the RYA, but I can't find it on google.

 

[stephenh]

The EU , British Govt., Met Office, Defra etc. - all have different definitions - I have come across "inshore coastal" used as a single phrase.
There seems to be a general acceptance that 'inshore' = up to 6 miles and 'coastal' = up to 12 miles.
OTOH the RN used to say that 'coastal' meant in sight of the coast; anything else was 'offshore'.
BUT....
If you were 100' in the air on a destroyer and just seeing the coast you would be coastal, if you were alongside said destroyer in a small yacht and not seeing coast - you would be offshore and if the coast were very flat and low you could easily be within 6 miles and therefor 'inshore '!!!
Take your pick....

 

[jonathankent]

When buying flares, they seem to quote inshore as up to 3 miles from land, coastal up to 7 miles off land, and then over 7 miles as offshore. I almost had the tendancy then to put "3 miles offshore", but that would have confused things even more. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Personally, I would take inshore as day sailing around the bay and coastal as a passage along the coast, even if it only happens to be a couple of miles off. I expect everyone will have their own definition.

 

[bilbobaggins]

What's with the 'technicolour yawns'? Been on the 'Lannie' again?

 

[Sgeir]

ah, the auld lannie, or Lanliq as they call it in Bearsden. Naw, wisnae that. Sumpin t'dae wi' pish. Ah forget, been a long day ....................

 

[BrendanS]

inshore becomes offshore when you can no longer see shore and you are becoming a little scared about the conditions. I freak out when I'm 0.0005 miles offshore and still can't see it.

I'm fairly comfortable if I'm 0.5 miles offshore.

I'm comfortable if I'm 5 miles offshore

I'm happy when 50 miles offshore

 

[Cornishman]

Why do you want to know?

I don't think the RYA has a definition - why should they?

 

[FullCircle]

Bob,
you are an East Coaster, this is easy.....

Inshore:
Water very brown in colour, will definitely go on the putty every tide, even at neaps. Depth Sounder calibrated in millimetres under the keel. Little sticks called withies every 300 metres or so. Waves very short and steep, breaking easily.Coastline visible but its 1 mile to shore at low tide.

Coastal:
Water brownish with green tinges, some chance of going on the putty if you are silly. Depth sounder still shows 10ths of a metres. Bouys of several colours always visible just on the visual range of standing on a small boat deck. Remember to avoid those breaking waves, as they mark the edges of the sandbanks. Coastline only visible where a large man made erection or a wind turbine is visible.

Offshore:
No brown in water, no chance of going on the putty. Depth guage not worth owning, now reading in 10s of metres. Bouys become occasional. If waves are seen breaking, make sure your insurance is valid. Coastline more likely to be Holland or Belgium, if at all.

 

[guernseyman]

Someone mentioned flares; one definition of inshore is the distance within which flares ca be used reliably, say 2 nautical miles.

For a definition of coastal, sometimes the depth of the water is used: within the 30 metre contour line, for example. From another angle, you might define coastal as being over the continental shelf.