Easterly winds on south coast?

blackrandomapple

blackrandomapple

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Hi all, As you can probably see from my post count im new here and im also fairly new to boating!!!

I have a question for you:

Ive been taking my boat (Speed boat) down to teignmouth on the south coast, uk.
I keep hearing everyone tell me not to go out on a easterly wind, But no one has ever really explained why!

So my question is: WHY?

Any help on this will be awesome as i was planning on taking the boat out on sat but its forecast easterly winds!! RRgghh.... We just cant win here at the moment with the great bristish weather!

Regards
 
Welcome to the forum , I think people may have advised not to go out in easterly winds is because the entrance can get a bit lumpy because the entrance there can be shallow and made worse when the tide is ebbing and so heaping up against easterly swell . Looks ok saturday though :) .
 
blackrandomapple said:
Hi all, As you can probably see from my post count im new here and im also fairly new to boating!!!

I have a question for you:

Ive been taking my boat (Speed boat) down to teignmouth on the south coast, uk.
I keep hearing everyone tell me not to go out on a easterly wind, But no one has ever really explained why!

So my question is: WHY?

Any help on this will be awesome as i was planning on taking the boat out on sat but its forecast easterly winds!! RRgghh.... We just cant win here at the moment with the great bristish weather!

Regards
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This w.end looks like a millpond, so I wouldnt worry about east/west etc.
It might be that the coastline protects you more from winds from the west, and so waves build up from the east, but I suggest how long and how strong matter alot.
I was once told, never leave harbour unless you are sure you can get back in. After that, you always have the choice to go back in, and if you are taking a spin within a few miles of base ( as opposed to going to Plymouth,say) you should be able to get ome quickly and safely. Some days just dont work out as planned.
 
Not sure which forecast you're looking at but you'll not find any easterlies at Teignmouth on Saturday. What little wind there will be on Saturday will be northerly with a touch of west in it, making anywhere around Teigmouth smooth as a babies bum!
 
A (very) rough guide.

A good clue to the likely sea state,especially valid at at weekends,is to have look round and see who is out and about.
Take 5 mins while undoing trailer straps etc and note the type and number of boats around.
Lots of little speedboats flyimg out ,lots of rowing dinghys,maybe few small boats moored up fishing ,in fact some sort of small floating stuff in all directions.
The fewer and larger the motor boats around the more likely the water is to be uncomfortable for a speed boat.
Whizzing in a fast speed boat is great fun,however it can be worrying when you have been happily going in one direction for an hour or so with the wind and tide in same direction and then you have to turn round and things suddenly and dramatically change,you may have to slow right down and a long slow creep back going crash bang with water coming over the windscreen and always in the back of your mind....is the fuel going to last.
Probably worth ignoring any yachts as they are no guide to weather conditions.MoBos being normal human beings avoid discomfort,where as yachties are "not all there" and like getting cold wet and uncomfortable .:)
 
Easterly winds are generally not good for Lyme Bay as they are on-shore and the long 'fetch' results in bigger waves. The land shelters the near coast from westerly winds, so the short 'fetch' is insufficient to make waves until further off the coast. F4 or greater tends to be uncomfortable for easterlies, and takes away the pleasure aspect of boating for us.

Teignmouth has an awkward entrance with the sand bar near The Ness, and you can often see some very unpleasant looking sea breaking over this.

The latest Inshore Water Forecast through the next 48 hours shows westerly winds, so Teignmouth should be fine. I am not sure of launching facilities as I do not need them myself, but Exmouth and Torquay may offer alternatives if Teignmouth is unsuitable.
 
NoviceRod said:
Teignmouth has an awkward entrance with the sand bar near The Ness, and you can often see some very unpleasant looking sea breaking over this.
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I'll vouch for that. My mother in law has a guest house in Teignmouth and when I'm forced to go down there for a visit, I often escape and watch boats coming in and out over the bar. Any kind of onshore wind against an ebb tide seems to set up a very awkward sea
 
Are Easterlies more common on the South Coast in April/May/June vs later in the season? I've searched the interweb for data but no luck. Thanks in advance?
 
Old Pretender said:
Are Easterlies more common on the South Coast in April/May/June vs later in the season? I've searched the interweb for data but no luck. Thanks in advance?
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Weather is all over the place nowadays and we seem to be getting more extremes imho. We had a lot of winds with east in them last summer, but who knows what this boating season will be like.
 
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