French V UK Shipping Forecasts

Robin

Robin

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Just looked on the Meteo France website as a check for a possible Channel crossing tommorrow and saw how it has been updated since last year. Not only is there information on the 12-24hr timescale but today (Wednesday) they are also giving the outlook for the Channel areas as far ahead as next Monday. See here

What I also like is that they also rate their forecast with a confidence factor, with '5' being the highest. This is very helpful IMO.

They also have three different forecast results for their three Channel areas and haven't lumped the whole lot into a more generalised one for Dover Wight Portland Plymouth.

Why can't we have this?
 
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They also have three different forecast results for their three Channel areas and haven't lumped the whole lot into a more generalised one for Dover Wight Portland Plymouth.

Why can't we have this?

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Surely Dover Wight Portland Plymouth ARE separate areas - they only lump them together when the forecast is the same??
 
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Surely Dover Wight Portland Plymouth ARE separate areas - they only lump them together when the forecast is the same??

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And it very often is - even includes Thames & Humber most of the time.
Forcasts often include anything from F 2-3 to 6-7 later, rain 7 sunshine, ...

It would seem the Met Office likes to spread it's bets /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Their forcasts are more often than not so general and cover such a wide area as to render them useless.

When in the Channel I always check the French forecasts (or the Dutch & Belgian ones when sailing in the southern part of the North Sea).
 
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Surely Dover Wight Portland Plymouth ARE separate areas - they only lump them together when the forecast is the same??

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Sorry, my poor explanation! What I meant is that the UK forecast lumped them all together as one size fits all for today whereas the French one gives quite different predictions for their three Channel areas of Antifer, Casquets and Ouessant.

I find the Shipping Forecast by radio almost worthless these days because they do throw so many areas into one pot for the broadcast forecast, despite there often being 500 or 600mls east to west between one extreme and the other and up to 120mls north to south. Timing is the big difference and the timing of fronts and windshifts is not one size fits all areas, important to small boats but less so for supertankers who probably don't listen to it anyway. There was a time when they gave station reports on every broadcast too which at least gave some opportunity for interpretation.
 
I find the French meteo more informative as you have suggested. Their forecasts includes more detail about sea states - swell direction and height etc, localised sea conditions, winds to be expected around headlands and so on. I think our met has a lot of this stuff but it is on their credit card dial up service.

By the way tomorrow looks like a great day to cross. 20kts WNW if you are lucky!
 
Still thinking about tommorrow because S-SW6 crops up in the forecasts when you hunt around a bit. Whilst that is OK if we had to do it is not very user friendly if you don't have to! WNW 20kts as you say would be a fun quick trip.

I agree too about the other useful information on French forecasts, especially the inshore ones when the include swell, sea state and even the effect and timing of sea breezes.
 
I did not appreciate how dumbed down UK maritime forecasts were until last autumn when I sailed over to Ireland. Why don't we get current wind strengths from the Coast Guard during inshore forecasts!
 
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Why don't we get current wind strengths from the Coast Guard during inshore forecasts

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It would interfere with the radiochecks? Anyway nowadays their centrally heated log cabins no longer look out over water do they?
 
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Why can't we have this?

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but we do! just click on your link and save it as a favourite...

Vive La France
 
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but we do! just click on your link and save it as a favourite...

Vive La France

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That is where I clicked this morning to get to it! My point is that the UK forecast is the one read out by the Beeb, repeated by the CG and that by comparison is well short on content. We don't always have internet access on board and have to use what we get given over here. Over there I'm very much a fan of their inshore VHF forecasts which are rolling ones updated each time too and not just repeats of the am or pm ones.
 
Agreed. And look also at the forecasts posted up at French marinas - usually far more focused in area than the shipping forecast, and can cope with thing like on shore breezes!

Without a PC on board (and I havn't) it is difficult to get a meaningful forecast these days. The shipping forecast was a useful source until they made it too short, and as for the times, why they made the 0033 and the 0550 even closer together making it so hard to listen to them (even if the body is theoretically awake!). It's not as if what they have extended their broadcasting hours with is any good.

Really think the RYA should have a go at the BBC to get forecasts back to where they were, and secondly to improve the coastguard VHF forecasts.

Continental forecasts have been streets ahead of ours for years.
 
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Continental forecasts have been streets ahead of ours for years.

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I often wondered why Haslar marina posted a synoptic chart that was German in origin. Does the UK Met Office put some "commercial use" restriction on their output?
 
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It would interfere with the radiochecks?

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Well yes, I think Solent Coastguard only have one decent microphone to share between them judging by the fuzzy transmissions from the weather desk.

As to providing live weather info, they could peak at Chimet.co.uk or call up the real coastguards in the nearest CoastWatch hut.

p.s. thank you for your extensive pilotage notes for the Raz in the recent thread on the subject. The geographical features don't mean much to me at the moment but I will soon be able to scroll around an electronic chart of the area.
 
Because old boy we are british and best. We have nothing to learn or gain from copying any other country and if anyone produces incontroversial evidence to the contrary just get on your high horse and state "If its so good there why don't you go and live there!"

Just had a day enjoying the multitude of NHS receptionists and inefficient systems at a hospital yesterday. Why can't we learn from the French!
 
We've just had a few days off ... only pottering about the solent, but nearly cut it short when we looked at the 2 day forecast for today - gusts of 45 knots ... luckily I knew not to trust the metoffice inshore forecast and checked out a few other sources - so we had a superb sail back from Beaulieu today ... wind just behind the beam and an average of 7.4 knots through the water /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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