Ever sailed through a wind farm ?

[Cloona]

not really ever been an issue for me as I never go far but wind farms seem to going everywhere now ....

Do you just sail through them ? or around them ? and is it dangerous to sail through them in high winds ?

just wondering

 

[Resolution]

Good question which I would also like answered. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours updating North Sea charts prior to a trip to the Baltic this summer. There are several wind farms under construction and one precautionary area at least was over ten nautical miles long - and bang on our likely route! So is it round or through??

 

[Woodlouse]

As far as I'm know you are allowed free reign in wind farms provided you stay 50 metres away from each turbine. The only time you are required to keep clear of the whole area is when it is under construction.

I sailed through Thanet last summer and had a guard boat accost me on the other side to inform me that I had just sailed though a wind farm and that I shouldn't have done so. A friend of mine sails out of West Mersea, and apparently the guard boats hold similar opinions. Obviously it is worth checking the Notices to Mariners before sailing though areas with wind farms but it seems by and large the guard boats are quite content to push everyone out of the area whether they have a right to or not. Personally it is not a situation that I find particularly satisfying.

 

[LittleSister]

As far as I'm know you are allowed free reign in wind farms provided you stay 50 metres away from each turbine. The only time you are required to keep clear of the whole area is when it is under construction.

I sailed through Thanet last summer and had a guard boat accost me on the other side to inform me that I had just sailed though a wind farm and that I shouldn't have done so. A friend of mine sails out of West Mersea, and apparently the guard boats hold similar opinions. Obviously it is worth checking the Notices to Mariners before sailing though areas with wind farms but it seems by and large the guard boats are quite content to push everyone out of the area whether they have a right to or not. Personally it is not a situation that I find particularly satisfying.

Presumably they're still under construction, otherwise why would there be a guard boat?

 

[NUTMEG]

Sailed through the Gunfleet WF last year. Boy, those things are huge! No problems at all

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Went through the south end of Knock deep last year. Looks worse than it is. Guard boats want 500m around construction although the reality is they get nervous as soon as they see you. Reassure them that you are keeping clear and all will be well

 

[Marmalade]

Have sailed through the Kentish Flats farm a couple of times - no worries. Kept the regulation distance from the turbines.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Good question which I would also like answered. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours updating North Sea charts prior to a trip to the Baltic this summer. There are several wind farms under construction and one precautionary area at least was over ten nautical miles long - and bang on our likely route! So is it round or through??

If you mean that one between Sweden and Denmark then definitely round it.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

We crossed from Arklow (Eire) to Fishguard (Wales) mid september 2012 and decided to go south of Arklow bank..... a bit shallow through the middle!
http://s725.beta.photobucket.com/user/johnscottorn/media/ArklowBankwindfarm.mp4.html?sort=3&o=0


http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/widget.aspx

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=a...QW4z4G4Bg&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQsAQ&biw=1236&bih=809

 

[westhinder]

The wind farms off the Belgian coast are explicitely no-go areas. You have to go round them.

 

[Stork_III]

The wind farms off the Belgian coast are explicitely no-go areas. You have to go round them.

I thought I had read somewhere that the Thornton Bank Wind Farm was a permanent exclusion zone.

 

[Woodlouse]

Presumably they're still under construction, otherwise why would there be a guard boat?

Both are completed. Presumably they have guard boats to stop people trying to land on the turbines and things like that.

 

[charles_reed]

Perhaps it's one of those things that the RYA can advise us about?

 

[Cantata]

As far as I'm know you are allowed free reign in wind farms provided you stay 50 metres away from each turbine. The only time you are required to keep clear of the whole area is when it is under construction.

I sailed through Thanet last summer and had a guard boat accost me on the other side to inform me that I had just sailed though a wind farm and that I shouldn't have done so. A friend of mine sails out of West Mersea, and apparently the guard boats hold similar opinions. Obviously it is worth checking the Notices to Mariners before sailing though areas with wind farms but it seems by and large the guard boats are quite content to push everyone out of the area whether they have a right to or not. Personally it is not a situation that I find particularly satisfying.

You were not supposed to sail through the Thanet farm last year because it was still under construction.
A recent NtM announced that it's all finished, so it's now open for navigation, bearing in mind the 50m exclusion zone around each turbine.

 

[savageseadog]

What might be of more interest to a racing yachtsman is what effect it has on the wind. Deflection? Attenuation? Turbulance?

 

[wotayottie]

Perhaps it's one of those things that the RYA can advise us about?

I was involved with the RYA and the consultation over one of the first wind farms, and the design was altered to make sure that the masts of sailboats under 50 ft loa could not be touched by the turbine blades and so it would be safe for all but the biggest yachts to sail through the farm. I've no way of knowing whether this applies to all UK wind farms

 

[westhinder]

I thought I had read somewhere that the Thornton Bank Wind Farm was a permanent exclusion zone.

Indeed, they all are: Thornton, Bligh and Lodewijk Banks, six or seven concessions.

 

[nimbusgb]

What might be of more interest to a racing yachtsman is what effect it has on the wind. Deflection? Attenuation? Turbulance?

Downwind turbulence from turbines is a significant area of research. There is a gliding club threatened with closure due to the dangerous effects of vortices shed from a new installation near their site.

Reckon if I was racing I'd want to be upwind of all of that lot. The effect spreads far far downwind.

 

[NUTMEG]

Perhaps this should be a new thread but bear with me. If wind turbines use the wind energy, convert it to mechanical then electrical energy then they must reduce wind energy to leeward. School boy physics tells us that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, just it's form changes, ie chemical to kinetic in an I/C engine.

So, I would think that hundreds of turbines upwind should, must, reduce wind speeds.

Do they? Have I got this right?

Steve

 

[Cloona]

interesting how little experience about this there seems to be ..

my thoughts were much more about what it would be like dodging the things in a lively sea maybe a force 6 and with a strong tide - sometimes you end with getting pushed down onto things - ducking behind them and next thing you are not clearing the next one - etc etc ...