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epervier

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Today, I be mostly at anchor off the Solent in beautiful shine shine and light winds,the wash from the ferries is a tad annoying though /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

hope it stays the same for you on Monday
 
...and now faced with a forecast that says only nice weather tomorrow will be the very south...wonder how wrong they could get that...pain in the backside living in the middle of the country with two young kids...do I risk tomorrow..wind wind wind... hmm:)
 
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...and now faced with a forecast that says only nice weather tomorrow will be the very south...wonder how wrong they could get that...pain in the backside living in the middle of the country with two young kids...do I risk tomorrow..wind wind wind... hmm:)

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You could always have a look at some of the live sites before making decisions. Although down at the moment (something wrong with a bit of kit) Bramblemet provides a live feed from the post just off the Bramble Bank.

Also check out Metcheck for the Solent

This has proved more reliable than a lot of other sites for local info in our experience.
 
Wind is great stuff....makes sail boats go! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yeah I know, I am full of it too! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I don't know what you've got against a bit of wind??
 
This one gives a good idea as well:

http://www.cowes.co.uk/zonexml/video?url...p=0-164-157-363

Don't be guided by just the wind. In the Solent the direction and state of the tide can be equally important. If the wind has north or south in, especially on neaps there isn't much of a sea. Force 4 from the west on a falling spring tide will give you the infamous "solent chop" whereas a 5 from the east on a falling tide will give relatively calm conditions in the central solent. At the end of the day they are sheltered waters and timing can make conditions tolerable in most circumstance.
 
Lescargot, that's a really important point, Many thanks for that. I will study such things and get "better" at it.

Looking at tomorrows tide table on my iphone, it looks like Neap(ish) is that correct from your reading? However looks like a westerly..
Cheers
T
 
Just coming off neaps - as a very rough guide in the Solent, HW on springs is about midday/midnight and HW on neaps is about 6 am/pm.

The tide in the Solent turns west between 2 hours and 1 hours before HW until low water, it runs east from low water up until that hour or two before HW.

Low water tomorrow is somewhere about 1pm, so up until about midday you will have the westerly wind going the opposite way to the falling westerly tide (remember the wind direction is the direction it is from and the tide direction is the direction it is going to?) giving choppy conditions. After midday, the tide will turn the other way with the wind still coming from the same direction, which will give flatter conditions - the effects being greater in stronger winds or bigger tides.

If the wind is from the north or south, not only does the land give some shelter and and there is less distance for it to build up seas due to surface friction, it is also across the tide so has a lesser effect on the state of the sea.

Making sense?

There are other factors such as sea breezes, and localised variations in bays etc., just to add complications, but if you want to just time a flat run over to Cowes to build confidence for the family you can see there are some times better than others - time your journey to slack water or when wind and tide are in the same direction for more comfortable conditions.

Re read - got confused at one point - blame it on the Merlot!
 
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