Is there more wind at sea?

[alan_d]

I'll second that.

Sailing on the enclosed areas of the Clyde is a bit similar to Windermere in that the land affects the wind significantly. Winds tend to blow up or down the Lochs and funel down valleys.

There are major topographical effects in the sea-lochs of the Scottish west coast.

Loch Sunart runs roughly E-W and the wind tends to funnel along it. If the gradient wind is roughly from the E or the W things are fairly straightforward, but when there is a lot of N or S in it things get complicated. Thus if I am sailing E in a SW gradient wind I have the wind behind me most of the time, but as I approach a major valley on the S side of the loch the wind strengthens and I have to beat into an easterly for a bit, then have a spell of reaching before returning to having the wind behind once more.

I explain it to myself by visualising how a similarly-shaped trench dug in the sand might fill as the tide came in.

 

[alant]

Friction.

I've heard it said that the wind is one force stronger at sea than in the marina. Is this true, why should it be stronger 'out there' than in an unsheltered marina? Does the wind get slowed down by travelling over or hitting the land?

Over sea the wind will be diverted by about 15 degrees & diverted by about 30 degrees over land, due to surface friction.
If the wind is blowing onto a coast, the wind near land will diverge & decrease in strength.
If the wind is blowing off the coast, the wind near land will converge & increase in strength.

Of course, if your in a marina like Brighton, it may be due to the bloody great wall sheltering you.