MOBO weather....

AIDY

AIDY

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Jan 2004
Messages
7,763
Location
Muckle Flugga
www.ybw.com
I always look at the weather before i venture out like most do. but the capabilities of a yacht is different to a Mobo in different weathers. I'm quite happy sailing cross channel with an experience crew in anything up to a 6 with a moderate sea and know i can cope with any worse weather for shorter periods.

But what sort of weather do you MOBO guys say No i'm staying in the pub today. is it the wind or the seastate or a combination of both.... I assume a flat sea and no wind is a must.
 
Wind's not so much of a problem - for instance, strong offshore winds can provide relatively flat seas. It's wave height that concerns me - which, of course, includes wind direction.

(Flat sea? What's one of them, then?)
 
I assume a flat sea and no wind is a must.

it sometimes is,

057-1.jpg




but then again it helps if you can see where you're going:-)
 
weather ?

Simple assessment of whats happening ie,Wind direction, speed, visibility, weather, sea state anything up to a force 6 is routine. I pay particular attention to what is GOING to occur as in deterioration or improvement. A gross unexpected deterioration usually causes hatches being battoned down, Barry White CD being turned up and the show must go on. A glass of cheap wine usually helps at this stage. Hopefully some day i will aquire an interceptor mobo then anythin uo to force 9 will be routine !!!!
 
Depends how far, the crew, the purpose of the trip. ALso depends on adjacent sea areas, and how likely the weather is to change. Also depends if the trip is upwind or downwind. And if its a 5 or more, boat handling at the destination may become a consideration especially if it's unfamiliar territory, mobos blow around with no keel.
On my boat, overfalls and silly bits of sea excepted, a 6 is really comfy downwind but a 4 can be a chore for extended periods upwind.
Came back from the CIs in a 6ft swell last week and it was fine, the wind was light and SW. If it had been NE and 4+ or even 3 it would have been grim.
Once the waves get big and it's windy in a mobo, beam seas are bad and you need to tack just like you do in a sailing boat, but by then most people would be in the pub.
Like everything with boating - it depends.........
 
MOBO weather

Hard to define.
This is what I went out in the last 5 days.
All in and about the Menai Straits.
Mon
5.5 m RIB
Force 3 to 5 wind against tide for a while, fairly lumpy but ok.
No sweat wind with on return trip.
Bit of a beggar retrieving boat.
Wed
8.5 m displacement vessel
Gale!
But did the bis.
Stuff coming over the wheelhouse etc
But only inside the Straits
Bit of a beggar berthing!

Tue
I know tue is before wed
Anyway

7m Rinker bowrider with an 8 litre lump!
Wind against out towards Puffin island
Short lumpy up to 2 metre chop
Ok on the way back 'Surfing'!

Thur
12.9 m twin screw displacement vessel
Wind all over the place at 25kts ish.

'Nelson' type hull just peed through everything

But then had to retrieve a RIB again in a really exposed spot.

Tide shunting along at 4 kts and wind helping with gusts to 35mph!!
What a barsteward!
Today.
Out of Conwy towards the Straits
25 ft Monteray.
Wind about a 4 and gusting abit more.

First of the ebb so no sweat.
Short cut over sanbank to Beaumaris (no less than 20ft recorded) speeds achieved 8 to 20kts depending on which way the lumpy bits were.

Back to Conwy, larger lumpy bits but surfed over most with some on the side.
Wind got to 5 and a bit but no prob cos , as said was surfing.
So there yer go
Depends a lot of the time if its wind against or not with a mobo
Specially planing ones.

Anyway
There are 3 types of wind for a Yachtsman I,m told.



























Too much
Not enough
Or
From the wrong direction!!!
 
See you finally got in then Kwackers.:)

As folk have said, it depends on many things. Mostly what you feel like.

My boat was happier in the big stuff off Cornwall, than the short stuff in the Irish sea.

F6, maybe more is ok, if not on the nose. Would not knowingly set out in it. Umm well I have once or twice!!
 
AIDY said:
I always look at the weather before i venture out like most do. but the capabilities of a yacht is different to a Mobo in different weathers. I'm quite happy sailing cross channel with an experience crew in anything up to a 6 with a moderate sea and know i can cope with any worse weather for shorter periods.

But what sort of weather do you MOBO guys say No i'm staying in the pub today. is it the wind or the seastate or a combination of both.... I assume a flat sea and no wind is a must.
Click to expand...

Our boat is 180 miles away so we do not head down there unless there are 4 days of decent (no more than F4, and very little rain) weather. We don't usually go out for a day but tend to go from Poole to the Solent or Weymouth for a few days. Plus at least one or two big trips a year. Once we get where we are going we like to go on all day walks (with appropriates stops at watering holes so need the good weather for that)We are constantly monitoring the weather all this time, ready to head back early if the weather looks as if it will change. This approach has kept Mrs RIN a happy crew member, but has meant this year we have hardly used the boat this. I think the weather this year has affected our boating more than in any other year.
And yes we are happy to go out in an F5 with the wind behind us. I know the books say that in a motorboat if you have tide and wind against you, that can flatten out the sea a bit but we have never makes a comfortable trip for us and after many trips back from the Solent to Poole we would normally wait for the SW to abate or come back in the evening when the wind has died down a bit.

I know boating is a religon for some who do it whatever the weather, we love it but want it to be fun and enjoyable, and I don't want my crew to get mutinous and decide they want to go looking in IKEA or craft shops or antique shops rather than going boating
 
AIDY said:
But what sort of weather do you MOBO guys say No i'm staying in the pub today. is it the wind or the seastate or a combination of both.... I assume a flat sea and no wind is a must.
Click to expand...

It depends who is aboard as crew. If just my son and me we have happily crossed Lyme Bay in a SW F6 - that was lumpy. If SWMBO or younger daughter are aboard it can't more than a F3/4 and a calm sea or they start to get a little "unsettled".

I will happily got out in anyhting that I think I can get back in again safely.
 
If the Skipper suggests setting off in anything more than a 4 there would be mutiny aboard our boat

I know that our old tub would plough its way through most weather up to an 8 but its horrible.

We got caught out just off Portsmouth one afternoon when the Coastguard came on with an "Imminent" 60 knot squall warning which hit us almost immediately. Thats about as scared as I have been. Luckily, it did not last for too long and all was calmish again by the time we arrived at Gosport.

I go boating for pleasure and there is no pleasure in arriving in port feeling like you have just done a full fast spin cycle in a washing machine - or perhaps I am just getting old

May
xx
 
Apart from the other factors already mentioned, the duration of the trip is also a factor as is the necessity of the trip. If it's only a short coastal hop rather than a long offshore passage, then we would plough through anything short of a gale and, if we really had to get back, say to get prebooked flights home, then, again, we'd go in virtually any weather. The size of the boat is also a big factor. You'd be crazy to take an open 25 footer out into a F7 head sea but, in a 50 footer with a well protected helm, it's probably perfectly safe
 
I d agree with Deleted User.. much depends on the reason and distance- and headland/overfalls to be crossed or averted.
If its just fun out on the boat, then there's less enthusiasm for going out unnecessarily just to loose a few tooth fillings, but I guess we tolerate more if its a question on getting the boat home again.
 
My view is that wind speed itself is almost irrelevent, it's sea state and direction that is all.
Quite happy to go out in a NW Force 8 from say Salcombe to Plymouth 'cos it's blowing off the land and so has little fetch to build up the sea.
Would find it very uncomfortable in a settled NE ly 3 blowing against a Spring flood tide, if I was going in the opposite direction to the above.
One evening, late last week, we were out around Bolt Hd with a 4-5 SW ly meeting the Spring ebb from the estuary - very nasty (mind concentrating) 3m+ waves some from S and some from SW. Wouldn't have chosen to go for even a mile against them even at 6-7kts. However, it was a pretty exciting and relatively comfortable ride back in, on the plane.
 
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