6 month Winter passage from Scotland, ideas?

[spilt-my-tea]

Greetings all
Any ideas on where I can find advice on optimal passages based on time of year? I'm moored in the Hebrides during the summer and plan to spend the winter (Oct-March) bobbing about somewhere, but emphasis on the 'bobbing' rather than pretending to be a wet pinball on speed, I'm single-handed on an Offshore 8 (26") that's sea worthy but I'd prefer not to put that to a continual test, the odd bit of excitement is fine though and I'd also prefer not to bounce from one harbor to another but I don't have the experience to spend the entire 6 months at sea, a balance would be nice.

So are there any publications out there that would help me or any salty types that already know?

Many thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Uricanejack]

6 months starting from Skye. If I were you I wouldn't start from there.
Just point the sharp end south and keep going. I head out a bit earlier than October if I could.
When you get to lands end turn left. cross over to france find a cannal and head for Med.

 

[spilt-my-tea]

6 months starting from Skye. If I were you I wouldn't start from there.
Just point the sharp end south and keep going. I head out a bit earlier than October if I could.
When you get to lands end turn left. cross over to france find a cannal and head for Med.

Thanks for the reply Uricanejack, unfortunately my start position and date can't be changed and whilst I had thought of the Med, I'm not too keen on the place (lived there for many years, it ain't cheap or pleasant in the winter) but I have been thinking about either the west coast of Africa, Baltic and Greenland (if I'm gonna be cold I may as well be bl**dy cold, besides, it's why I'm installing a wood burning heater) but I can't find much info on the states of those seas in winter regarding temps, wind and even ice.

Still trawling the 'net, still dreaming

 

[Niander]

Get a berth on the caledonian canal you can go out to sea at both ends or have fun on the lochs but you have shelter when you need it and you will need it at times
in Scotland in winter!
Gails up here tomorrow for instance!

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

I have been thinking about either the west coast of Africa, Baltic and Greenland (if I'm gonna be cold I may as well be bl**dy cold, besides, it's why I'm installing a wood burning heater) but I can't find much info on the states of those seas in winter regarding temps, wind and even ice.

I've only cruised the Baltic in Summer - I got the feeling there was a lot of ice in winter with only channels kept clear, but someone who knows will be along soon!

So I can't help you, but the reason for my post is, if you do Baltic or Greenland in winter, will you be writing a blog and if so will you share it with us?

 

[yodave]

How about spending 6 months exploring east of IJmuiden? Lots to see and do. Lots of shelter. Better weather than Scotland, and not as far as the med. Also cheap flights to Glasgow if you need to return home for a few days.

 

[dylanwinter]

How about spending 6 months exploring east of IJmuiden? Lots to see and do. Lots of shelter. Better weather than Scotland, and not as far as the med. Also cheap flights to Glasgow if you need to return home for a few days.

East anglia gets less rain than anywhere in the UK

I would love a winter on the Broads

peaceful, spectacular, great birds, sheltered

lekky could make life very civilised

D

 

[spilt-my-tea]

Dylanwinter, "gets less rain than anywhere in the UK", this is one of the reasons why I returned to the UK, describing the weather by pointing out the amount of cra**y weather that we don't have rather than describing all the awesome weather that we don't get. gawd bless these isles...("great birds", am I to assume you mean the feathered variety?, 'cos I hope not)

but some great suggestions there, I love the idea of the Caledonian Canal and maybe doing a continuous cruise along it, maybe pop around the top bit of Scotland, kinda do a circle. Greenland really pulls me though, I like the idea even though the practice may scare the pants off of me, just as long as there's no floating ice, I drink ale for crying out loud....

yodave, IJmuiden sounds pretty sweet too, but being a badly reformed hippy it's a tad to close the the 'dam for my likeing.....who am I kidding, I'd moor up, go for a coffee and spend five months looking for my boat.

Toad-oftoadhall, dear chap!, glad to see you've stopped all that tomfoolery with those blasted motor car things....sorry, school days caught up with me there. Any dumbass thing I eventually decide to do will indeed be written up for my posterior (no cushions on board yet) and shared with you lot (the writings, not my posterior, this isn't the navy you know......*ducks*) so you can have a wee chuckle and learn from my mistakes, 'cos there will be learning/mistaking.

spiller-of-tea

 

[tokoloshe]

If you are looking at Greenland and high latitude sailing, you should have a look at thus web site.

http://www.morganscloud.com

And then winter on Tiree.

 

[obmij]

So are there any publications out there that would help me

This site has a wealth of information http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal

The pilot charts alone might be of some interest, found by clicking publications then they are on the drop down menu

 

[spilt-my-tea]

Thanks Tokoloshe, I hadn't come accross that site yet, I keep getting american sites prattling on about fridges and whatnot (no disrespect the the yanks, a fine bunch).

thanks again
spilt-my-tea

 

[spilt-my-tea]

far out!, way too much info to process right now and a big thanks to Obmij, another fine site I hadn't come across yet, I really need to stop falling into old habits when searching the 'net....*ahem*

Thanks again Obmij,

spilt-my-tea

 

[webcraft]

It's really too short a window to reliably get somewhere warm (eg Madeira / Canaries). While the end of October is fine for heading to the Canaries from Portugal a month is not long enough at that time of year to get down the Irish Sea, across the bay and down the Portuguese coast. And March is too early to come back.

Greenland is entirely impractical in the Winter, as indeed are most Northern latitudes - quite apart from ice there are only a handful of hours of daylight and the weather is not fit for a 26ft boat. The Caley Canal and an opportunistic trip to Orkney and back down the West Coast might be possible though.

I'm afraid that when it comes to going somewhere in a 26ft boat in October my advice wouldbe not to start from Scotland, but if you do I am sure it will be quite epic and I look forward to reading about it.

- W

 

[Fascadale]

I'm afraid that when it comes to going somewhere in a 26ft boat in October my advice wouldbe not to start from Scotland, but if you do I am sure it will be quite epic and I look forward to reading about it.

- W

+1 and I have a 26ft boat in Scotland

 

[Rossynant]

I have been thinking about either the west coast of Africa, Baltic and Greenland (if I'm gonna be cold I may as well be bl**dy cold, besides, it's why I'm installing a wood burning heater) but I can't find much info on the states of those seas in winter regarding temps, wind and even ice.

Greenland in winter? Surely you would not be sailing there... Baltic is not a place to sail in winter storms either.
Weather situation depends, last winter we had -35'C here, this year it's rather mild, no more than -20. But on F12 you can count every year

PS I should maybe say this: people from UK do not understand the word "winter", 'cause no such thing exist in British Isles climate. From my perspective "winter" means couple of months when everything is frozen stiff and covered with snow.
This is sailing in winter here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkHO2y-kP-E - and something with english transcript https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA8o1x7syMU

 

[Mistroma]

Greenland in winter? Surely you would not be sailing there... Baltic is not a place to sail in winter storms either.
Weather situation depends, last winter we had -35'C here, this year it's rather mild, no more than -20. But on F12 you can count every year

PS I should maybe say this: people from UK do not understand the word "winter", 'cause no such thing exist in British Isles climate. From my perspective "winter" means couple of months when everything is frozen stiff and covered with snow.
This is sailing in winter here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkHO2y-kP-E - and something with english transcript https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA8o1x7syMU

I live in a nice mild part of Scotland so appreciate the weather won't be in the same league as Poland. However, we still get 100+mph wind from time to time and odd bits of snow. Pictures from a couple of years ago show some, it was about 2 - 3 metres deep in parts of my garden and towards the road. Lowest I've seen is -24C but as I said, I'm in an area with good weather. I couldn't find any pictures of deep snow, they just looked white (surprise), only half decent ones were all in sheltered bits I could keep clear.

I hate to think what Poland is like in a bad year. Do you get 7-8 metres of snow with 120mph winds and -45C?

 

[Sybarite]

Thanks for the reply Uricanejack, unfortunately my start position and date can't be changed and whilst I had thought of the Med, I'm not too keen on the place (lived there for many years, it ain't cheap or pleasant in the winter) but I have been thinking about either the west coast of Africa, Baltic and Greenland (if I'm gonna be cold I may as well be bl**dy cold, besides, it's why I'm installing a wood burning heater) but I can't find much info on the states of those seas in winter regarding temps, wind and even ice.

Still trawling the 'net, still dreaming

I worked for a summer in Iceland. I saw a trawler sunk inside a harbour during a storm. I shudder to think what a winter storm would be like in the higher latitudes.

 

[Rossynant]

I hate to think what Poland is like in a bad year. Do you get 7-8 metres of snow with 120mph winds and -45C?

Not this bad At seashore over 1 metre snow would be unusual, we have less precipitation than UK, about twice less; but my garden here, just below the mountains usually look like on your picture all winter. Simply snow doesn't melt, it's now third month of white; 2 m deep snow happens some winters.
Lowest temperature last year was -38 and this is rather record low. Just that it keeps below 0 for most of winter, some -10 -20C.
Winds on Baltic also normally not this bad, there is land shelter, but storms of 10-12B are normal in winter and early spring.

P.S. For OP - Few years ago I sailed for Greenland in the end of June and this was too early - ice fields made it impossible to reach Ammassalik area... not to mention we got a bit shaken up in storms there

 

[Uricanejack]

Thanks for the reply Uricanejack, unfortunately my start position and date can't be changed and whilst I had thought of the Med, I'm not too keen on the place (lived there for many years, it ain't cheap or pleasant in the winter) but I have been thinking about either the west coast of Africa, Baltic and Greenland (if I'm gonna be cold I may as well be bl**dy cold, besides, it's why I'm installing a wood burning heater) but I can't find much info on the states of those seas in winter regarding temps, wind and even ice.

Still trawling the 'net, still dreaming

The states of those seas would be Greenland bitterly cold and aufull. Baltic solid. West North Africa warm and ok.

If you cant get away prior to the first of October the best advice I could give you is come up with another plan. Go skiing or by a cheep 26fter in Florida. Pretty much anything other than head of from Skye in October for six months sailing on a 26ft boat. Returning by 1st April?

Iceland, Greenland? I wouldn’t want to be the Denmark Straight in a battle ship during those six months. The Baltic will require a dog sled.

Its not impossible or suicidal. If you are determined to go. Make sure you check out your boat and rig
If your rig is in good condition and you have storm sail and either a 3rd reef or trysail.
It can be done safely.
You need to have a very flexible schedule. Heading of to get somewhere under pressure because you need to be there could be bad.

Id want to be south of Biscay before 1st October . Just my opinion or recollection some of the worst the North Atlantic can throw at you will be in October as the hurricane season dies out.
That said you can day sail from Skye down through the Kyle, Cana, Malaig, are god stop over’s. Loch Oilert(Cant remember the spelling) or Moidart., Tobermoray Oban down to Crinan and through to the Clyde just pick your days and weather. Lots of nice warm pubs.
From the Clyde my choice would be to sail down the east coast of Ireland. Because I never have and I like Irish beer better than Welsh Beer. Apologies to the Welsh but it’s a matter of personal taste. It would be wiser to stick to the east side of the Irish Sea possible stop over on IOM and put up with the Welsh beer and avoid a long passage across from the south of Ireland.
From Cove wait for the weather and cross to Scillies and south coast of England. From there are lots of warm pubs by the sea. And Southern Beer is quite excellent. Still prefer a good Scottish Heavy or Irish but an English bitter can be nice. And the Local ciders are great. Scrumpy a bit of an acquired taste.
You could cross over to Camaret, Brittany are but you need about a 48hr weather window. Id go up and cross over to the Channel Islands which can be done in less than 24hr.
From there Id stick to the coast and work my way south as weather permits I certainly would not opt to cross the bay at this time of year but coast hop down all the way until Gibraltar Don’t have any recommendations on where to stop other than Porto and Lisbon both are lovely Sines is a small nice port those are the only places I have been South of Brittany.
South of Gib apart from Ceuta id head for the Canaries go no further or you have a tough time returning as you will get into the trades down by Cape Verd.
By March its time to think about the return March can still be nasty in the Bay Area so crossing the bay?
Same with out to the Azores there is still a very strong possibility of some awful weather.

Considering the general nastiness of Biscay in October November give some consideration to the French canals and upon reaching south of France head west out through the Pillars of Hercules

 

[Spyro]

Sailing on an extended trip from Oct- Mar in Scotland is a crazy idea IMHO. Picking the odd days to get on the water is difficult enough.
But if you are intent on doing it heading for the Clyde would be the best idea.