Lands End First Time & Sea State?

Tim Good

Tim Good

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I plan to deliver a new boat* from Falmouth to the Bristol Channel this weekend and have never done the passage before.

New boat + new passage = want to be conservative.

That said with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha due on Sunday then likely it will be next week. However, my question is how accurate do you feel the seastate prediction will be on things like Passage weather for example. I find it accurate everywhere else but I imagine that stretch along the Cornish Coast might be different.

Wave height 2-3m? From experience do you think that is likely to be a load of old cobblers or probably quite accurate?

View attachment 44519

View attachment 44520

* not new but in good condition. 43ft med/heavy displacement
 
northcave said:
I plan to deliver a new boat* from Falmouth to the Bristol Channel this weekend and have never done the passage before.

New boat + new passage = want to be conservative.

That said with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha due on Sunday then likely it will be next week. However, my question is how accurate do you feel the seastate prediction will be on things like Passage weather for example. I find it accurate everywhere else but I imagine that stretch along the Cornish Coast might be different.

Wave height 2-3m? From experience do you think that is likely to be a load of old cobblers or probably quite accurate?

View attachment 44519

View attachment 44520

* not new but in good condition. 43ft med/heavy displacement
Click to expand...

Your first time going past Longships, a foreboding place even in good conditions, will be an interesting experience.
If your not sure, have a look from one of the clifftops beforehand, don't simply rely on 'forecasts'.
Maybe check one of the surfing sites, like windguru as well.
Don't forget the Bristol Channel, is a funnel, so whats 'outside', can sometimes be magnified 'inside'.
 
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I'm confident that several others will offer views - some of them from blokes wot live there and work those waters.....

However, 'tuppence worth' from someone who's passed that way, in summer and winter, quite a few times. You can certainly expect a sizeable sea to be running, and this may well have wave-trains from more than one principal direction, with a resultant confused sea state in several areas. Add to that the considerable energy reflected back into the system by seas breaking, and one could reasonably expect 'challenging' sea conditions everywhere there is rocky, sticky-up bits of Cornwall and its many offliers.

There is no substitute for a good offing. I measure that in miles, not metres. This is one place where 'cutting corners' is a mug's game - as the many hundreds of wrecks around there testify. Most of them ran out of sea-room at an inconvenient time.....

You might anticipate stirred-up crud blocking diesel fuel filters at the most inconvenient place, so I'd encourage prior attention to the cleanliness of the diesel, a NEW filter, and a 'dress-rehearsal' for replacing another so you know exactly what, where and with what.

I've usually considered/planned Padstow as a weather haven in need - it's about the only one - and I've needed it. Do make an 'approach plan' while you're rested, not 'zausted. Do consider also the lee of the SE corner of Lundy Island.

ps I understand from Simon Keeling that there's more to follow after the passage of Big Bertha.....

Have a good trip.... :D
 
I do this trip at least twice a year and have been doing it for 20 years. With a forecast sea of 3m I would not go. Full stop. Forecasts are forecasts not guarantees and its just as likely to be worse than it is to be better.

I set off from Penzance about an hour after the lock gates close ( there are buoys to hang off and wait). This timing allows me to catch the counter flow through the inshore passage - I cant remember the last time I went outside the Longships but it is usually rougher if anything out there. And approaching an hour futher. The inshore passage is wide so no issues even at night or in fog though I would not recommend that approach for a first trip.

The north cornish coast is very exposed and even if you can take to the ground I would not do this run planning on stopping at places like st ives. OK if the weather allows but dont plan on it. In a deep fin I tend to stop if at all in Padstow and then go direct to Cardiff since Ilfracombe isnt really much use as a harbour to anchor over low water. Lundy can be a useful stopping off place in anything from south west to north west. I dont use Swansea because it adds miles and isnt a nice place to visit anyway. IMO.

A pal does it single handed from Falmouth to Cardiff but personally I would recomment at least 2 people. With two you can do a direct run - takes me about 26/28 hours Falmouth to Cardiff.

P.S. TRy to plan lands end and the north corniush coast in daylight. There are lots of pots without flags , some of which go under at high tide. Usually the entrance to padstow can be bad but thats more likely at neaps than springs.
 
Thanks.

I intended to do it all in one stint rather than go into Padstow. 2 crew and myself. Haven't been there either and we draw 2m. Ideally we'll head around LE around midday / 3pm depending when we go in the next week then keep a good 10nm off shore and continue to Lundy and await favourable tides down to Bristol.

Looks like we might be waiting until Tuesday / Wednesday at this rate.
 
oldbilbo said:
I'm confident that several others will offer views - some of them from blokes wot live there and work those waters.....

However, 'tuppence worth' from someone who's passed that way, in summer and winter, quite a few times. You can certainly expect a sizeable sea to be running, and this may well have wave-trains from more than one principal direction, with a resultant confused sea state in several areas. Add to that the considerable energy reflected back into the system by seas breaking, and one could reasonably expect 'challenging' sea conditions everywhere there is rocky, sticky-up bits of Cornwall and its many offliers.

There is no substitute for a good offing. I measure that in miles, not metres. This is one place where 'cutting corners' is a mug's game - as the many hundreds of wrecks around there testify. Most of them ran out of sea-room at an inconvenient time.....

You might anticipate stirred-up crud blocking diesel fuel filters at the most inconvenient place, so I'd encourage prior attention to the cleanliness of the diesel, a NEW filter, and a 'dress-rehearsal' for replacing another so you know exactly what, where and with what.

I've usually considered/planned Padstow as a weather haven in need - it's about the only one - and I've needed it. Do make an 'approach plan' while you're rested, not 'zausted. Do consider also the lee of the SE corner of Lundy Island.

ps I understand from Simon Keeling that there's more to follow after the passage of Big Bertha.....

Have a good trip.... :D
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Are you allowed to anchor near Lundy, since its a Marine Conservation Zone?

http://www.lundymcz.org.uk/conserve/sssi
 
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Interesting perspective above.

The rugged granite plateau that extends west from Lanzen itself, and which includes the Longships Reef group, Kettle's Bottom, Armed Knight and Sharks Fin sticky-up bits, is generally 10-15 metres CD.

Depths to the west of this 'shortcut' are around 60 metres CD - or four times as deep.

I've used the inshore passage more than a few times, but usually with a settled sea state and never with an onshore breeze. It is now forecast that the weakened ex-Bertha will pass over Northern France, so it maybe that the OP will be blessed with an offshore breeze and relatively benign seas.

It would be, however, a crafty move to telephone the National Coastwatch Institution Station on Cape Cornwall - http://www.nci.org.uk/capecornwall - and ask them what sea state, wind and viz. they have as an 'Actual'.....


longships-1.jpg


;)
 
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northcave said:
I plan to deliver a new boat* from Falmouth to the Bristol Channel this weekend and have never done the passage before.

New boat + new passage = want to be conservative.

That said with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha due on Sunday then likely it will be next week. However, my question is how accurate do you feel the seastate prediction will be on things like Passage weather for example. I find it accurate everywhere else but I imagine that stretch along the Cornish Coast might be different.

Wave height 2-3m? From experience do you think that is likely to be a load of old cobblers or probably quite accurate?

View attachment 44519

View attachment 44520

* not new but in good condition. 43ft med/heavy displacement
Click to expand...
The few hours approaching and rounding LE is almost always lumpy, but as you head up the Cornish coast (fairly well off shore) it eases off. If you are motoring off LE is not the place to find your engine filters blocked with stirred up muck.....
 
alant said:
Are you allowed to anchor near Lundy, since its a Marine Conservation Zone?

http://www.lundymcz.org.uk/conserve/sssi
Click to expand...

Most definitely, YES.

I was there a week ago and all the moorings seemed to be private ones (there used to be about 4 which were visitors moorings provided by Lundy). Most people were anchored. It was a bit tight for space as there were about 15 boats in the anchorage. One boat dragged, and was retrieved by a local trawler about a mile offshore :eek:.
 
Interesting points from several people.

I too have been round Lands End a number of times (can't remember how many) and in settled weather there's nothing to fear at all. If conditions are half decent I usually take the inshore passage, although the first couple of times I went round the outside. Going S-N its easy to catch the ebb down and then as the tide turns N you get the flood taking you up the N coast towards Bristol etc. In benign conditions I would suggest kedging in some bay that's convenient when the tide turns. Lundy is a possibility as other have said but otherwise just choose somewhere sheltered. You don't need an 'approved anchorage'; just look at the chart and the prevailing wind and work out where will be sheltered and with a shallow enough place to drop the hook.

Enjoy the trip and I hope that the weather is kind to you. In a blow, the Bristol Channel is one of my least favourite places to be.
 
I usually find that if I take the inshore passage as I mentioned, I am off padstow round about hw give or take an hour. Then I fight the ebb up the cornish coast where it is weakest aiming to take the flood past hartland and bull. Depending on how good time you are making, I have sometimes had to anchor for an hour or three in the range at combe before catching the tide up to cardiff. On other occasions I have just made it to lavernock for high water but thats been with 20 or more kn of wind up the chuff and a good spring tide. Lundy is extra miles out of the way.
 
Do you folk go inside the Runnelstone? Keep the old CG lookout windows in view. The rest of the trip I was advised, in 1972 to 'keep a handy berth off.....'
 
Looking at the forecast and having this week returned from Scilly in good conditions but still with a good swell running, I'd have to say, rather you than me, especially with a spring tide and the pretty poor forecast. Surely better to wait a while for better conditions?
 
longjohnsilver said:
Looking at the forecast and having this week returned from Scilly in good conditions but still with a good swell running, I'd have to say, rather you than me, especially with a spring tide and the pretty poor forecast. Surely better to wait a while for better conditions?
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Yeah we have resigned ourselves to waiting until at least mid week for it to calm down.
 
Just thought I'd follow up on this one. Set off from Newlyn in forecast 15-20kts. It was blowing 35 at Runnel but sea wasn't particularly bad. We pressed on and took a wide berth around Carn Base which was stick kicking up a good 1km west of the cardinal. By then it had calmed down and settled to a nice 25kts of wind the whole way back to Bristol. We averaged 7.5 kts.

And here is the approach to lands end before it settled:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152597096268162&l=5415013551760371868

One semi worrying moment was when a big water spout rose up from nowhere just of Lundy! the sky turned from clear black in a matter of minutes!

10411731_10152596862493162_1996900126500203361_n.j pg


10509583_10152596863178162_2620656334651701855_n.j pg


10553552_10152606102168162_1173514656122082002_n.j pg


10583954_10152606103078162_804142610653808964_n.jp g
\

10624629_10152606103353162_7947079655170365980_n.j pg
 
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