OK, Where is the Baddest/ Hardest Place to Mobo in the UK?

Kawasaki

Kawasaki

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Just following on from HLB's 'How many Harbours ' thread.
Set Me thinking.
Almost everywhere I have been the Locals tell tales of Difficulties, Terrors, Dangers, Tides , Sandbars etc etc !!

Furthest South I have been is Newquay (the Cornwall one) furthest up the West side, Oban, East would be the Deben.

Ooh!! Be carefull over 'Doom Bar'!

Ooh!! Watch it over the sand in Porthmadoc!

Ooh!! There aint no water up the Deben!

Ooh!! Don't go through The Calf of Man!

Ooh!! Yer just came over The Bar at low water!!!

Ooh!! Don't go there or here or anywhere unless it's less than F3 wind with tide!
Etc Etc Etc!!

It seems there are some dodgy places about the British Isles:eek:

So whats it like where You Mobo?

Hereabouts (Menai Straits) We have the 'Swellies' a narrow bit of water between Mainland North Wales and the Island of Anglesey.
Lots of sticky out rocks and currents up to 8 kts regularly:eek:

Plus at the Southern end of the Straits
Caernarfon Bar

Ooh! 'Don't go there unless its HW slack:eek:'

OK , not trying to be flippent or encouraging peeps to be Daft about Local Knowledge!
But you know what I mean
Everywhere but it seems like everywhere has its Local dodgy spot.

So where and what is Yours?

Be handy to know case One of Us wants to pop in!

They say that Corryvreckan Whirlypool place needs a lot of Respect.
Never been but from Pics and Vids:eek::eek:

So --- what's the snags etc in Your Area?

Lakesailor is excused;):)
 
Kawasaki said:
Just following on from HLB's 'How many Harbours ' thread.
Set Me thinking.
Almost everywhere I have been the Locals tell tales of Difficulties, Terrors, Dangers, Tides , Sandbars etc etc !!

Furthest South I have been is Newquay (the Cornwall one) furthest up the West side, Oban, East would be the Deben.

Ooh!! Be carefull over 'Doom Bar'!

Ooh!! Watch it over the sand in Porthmadoc!

Ooh!! There aint no water up the Deben!

Ooh!! Don't go through The Calf of Man!

Ooh!! Yer just came over The Bar at low water!!!

Ooh!! Don't go there or here or anywhere unless it's less than F3 wind with tide!
Etc Etc Etc!!

It seems there are some dodgy places about the British Isles:eek:

So whats it like where You Mobo?

Hereabouts (Menai Straits) We have the 'Swellies' a narrow bit of water between Mainland North Wales and the Island of Anglesey.
Lots of sticky out rocks and currents up to 8 kts regularly:eek:

Plus at the Southern end of the Straits
Caernarfon Bar

Ooh! 'Don't go there unless its HW slack:eek:'

OK , not trying to be flippent or encouraging peeps to be Daft about Local Knowledge!
But you know what I mean
Everywhere but it seems like everywhere has its Local dodgy spot.

So where and what is Yours?

Be handy to know case One of Us wants to pop in!

They say that Corryvreckan Whirlypool place needs a lot of Respect.
Never been but from Pics and Vids:eek::eek:

So --- what's the snags etc in Your Area?

Lakesailor is excused;):)
Click to expand...

Corbiere SW Jersey in westerly F8 had to go back to Helier and change the underwear S---
 
Flamborough Head can be a bit of a pig... .. ripped aerials off there...

Rattray Head can be bad...godt the damage pictures to prove it...

Gulf of Corrywerckan have sunk ships with it's whirlpools (never experienced of full flood)

Cape Wrath speaks for itself (turned around when forecast was 30ft mean wave height)

Pentland Firth is serious stuff (narrow, strong current and exposed to the atlantic).

Passed some sandbars around Chichester, Ramsgate and Thames estuary as well, but not in bad weather...(1-3M only).....just kept to the deeper parts (more than7M) and everyone happy, appart from a fellow countryman who felt in un-natural to be miles off-shore and iin just a cuple of meters of water... passed at high tide thoug...
 
I have had it tight a few times going between Malin head and Inishtrahull here in the North of Ireland. Lots of different tidal influences and depth changes coupled with a predominant Atlantic swell rolling in from the West. I was there 8 times last year and not once was it pleasant. On one occasion I was helping a friend bring a Botnia Targa back to Lough Swilly from Ballycastle. We averaged 40 knots until we just got past the mouth of the Foyle river then as per the norm it was down to 6 knots until we got round into the Swilly.

The other spot is the mouth of Strangford Lough, like any bar mouth with a bit of common sense you can avoid any hassle but given the right conditions it can be as tight as you want. I was coming home from the Clyde one afternoon and as we progressed south the weather was deteriorating badly. We had timed it to get to the mouth of the lough as the flood was ending but given conditions we had to slow and as a result hit the mouth of the lough in full ebb on a big spring tide. The wind was gusting to F8 from the SE which resulted in a very nasty bar mouth. This was in a 55 foot Trader and she got battered, wipers torn off, dinghy came off the fly bridge, we got home though!

Both are stunning places, of course I dont make life easy for myself because I am usually attempting to anchor right in the middle of it all! (for angling purposes)
 
I think Lancashire is the worse place to boat, even though I've lived there all my life, in 30 years of boating, last year was the first time I visited it by boat. Most places are a night mare to get into and once you've committed your self to go out, you can't come back.

The Bristol channel is horrid as well, huge tides and hardly any where to go, without constantly looking at the second finger on yer watch.


Yep, there are loads of places with bad over falls, but these are mostly miss able, or plow through able and mostly only last for a mile or two. Theres the Alderney Races which are "Interesting", Bardsey sound can be a bugger.

My admiralty chart of the north side of the IOM said. A dangerous place for small vessels. This includes mine sweepers and distroyers.!!

Like I said, bad places are where theres no where safe to go. Like Lancashire and the Bristol Channel.
 
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BC

Have to agree with Haydn that the Bristol Channel is pretty bad.
Very few places of refuge, 2nd highest tides in the world, nasty swell, and the funnel effect with weather can give some absolutely atrocious sea conditions.

Thats why we've gone down to Exmouth with our new little boat.

Mind you the exe is no great shakes, quite difficult passage up river especially when there's not much water.

In october saw a yottie stranded on Warren Sand at a hideous angle. He'd obviously tried to cut the corner and failed miserably. Watched him try and refloat which he did eventually.
Good entertainement like wathcing peeps put up caravan awnings.
Mind you I think he was lucky that we were on the rise to springs cos where he was he could have been there for a couple of weeks.
 
Excel in any sort of boat would seem to be an achievement judging by peoples general thoughts about LIBS this year
 
I cut my boating teeth in your neck of the woods kawasaki and it set me up for life. I have met many who say if you can boat around N. Wales you can boat anywhere. In many places you have to ask your self "is it worth the the hassle/danger" In your case the answer is absolutely yes. The stunning scenery guarantees that. You could do with fixing up the weather a bit though!
 
Bristol Channel

14+ mtr tides (Yes I do mean meters)
7+ knt currents
Serious mud banks that move
No where to go if you get it wrong
Cargo Ships
No Sea Start
Chocolate water
Altlantic swell

And we all love it !
 
In reply to the OP, IMO, The Channel Isles would be perhaps the most difficult due to big tides and a huge no. of hazards. Mind you, are they part of the UK?
I'd agree with others that the Bristol Channel would be the worst, closely followed by The Wash. Big tides in the former plus lots of sand & mud at both. Probably upset a few folk now!!

W.Coast of Scotland is also difficult in places but so very worth the trouble.
 
`lough neagh

Check out Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland where i mobo. You will get all you want 153 square miles of water 6 rivers running in 1 running out to the Atlantic and surrounded by mountains. The whether gets rough the short wave system is has is enough to disable some of the 100 ft+ commercial sand barges that operate there. The geography of this Lough lends its self to water towers (mini hurricains that roam at frightening speeds.(google it if you are a non believer). Have been out in a f8 here (sealine s25) got threw about like a wet bag got the canopys down trim tabs full down and putt putt putt slow but sure like a displacement mode home to change the shorts. TO whiskey lol not underwear. The only inhabited Island here has a live in warden who is an expert on this water way. (Goggle CONEY ISLAND LOUGH NEAGH or KINNEGO MARINA LOUGH NEAGH or LOUGH NEAGH RESCUE)
 
It's gotta be the Solent :).

Major traffic hazards: Kamikaze ferries; Sunsail corporate boy racers; VLCCs and Container vessels; Grey Funnel Line in Pompey if you dare go there. Then there's the suprisingly vicious Solent Chop, Bramble Bank and Black Rock to trap the unwary and, when you try to escape from it all, In anything over F5 from the S or SW, the Needles provides a pant-wetting white knuckle ride, particularly on the ebb. Then there's double high waters, young flood stands and the Sunday evening Hamble Scramble.

I tell you, the place is a nightmare. :)
 
MarieK said:
I have had it tight a few times going between Malin head and Inishtrahull here in the North of Ireland. Lots of different tidal influences and depth changes coupled with a predominant Atlantic swell rolling in from the West. I was there 8 times last year and not once was it pleasant. On one occasion I was helping a friend bring a Botnia Targa back to Lough Swilly from Ballycastle. We averaged 40 knots until we just got past the mouth of the Foyle river then as per the norm it was down to 6 knots until we got round into the Swilly.
Click to expand...

LOVELY place alright ... spare a thought for a 9 knot vessel ! Left Lough Swilly 1st October last at dawn & without a coffee .. anxious to get out of Fahan and to get the best of the tide through Inishtrahull sound. Intended making said coffee around Fort Dunree. A North Westerly into the Lough put paid to that aspiration and a couple of real pearlers in a Force 8 around Malin Head did for my wee tupperware of coffee - every grain was scattered to the far corners of the cabin, "The Great Coffee Container Disaster of 2009" will be forever remembered in Malin Head folklore .. :D .. and that was in a 25 ton ex-lifeboat!
 
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