Radio 4 Weather Forecast

[Sailfree]

Sailing in the Bay of Biscay this year I appreciated the Spanish authorities repeating the forecast local to the Spanish North Atlantic coast in english on the VHF but I only managed to undersytand a fraction of the French forecasts. My Sony LW radio only consistantly picked up Radio 4 in North Brittany and occassionally at points further South. I enquired about World Space receivers but they only play certain stations and not R4.
Are there better radios that can pick up R4 or any other alternatives -yes I know I should work on my French?
I did appreciate the forecasts in English available at some French marinas but that didn't help if we anchored.

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[Anonymous]

>>yes I know I should work on my French<<

You don't need to learn French to understand the French mets. You only need a dozen or so words and get used to how they are pronounced. The old Reeds Almancs used to give all the foreign terms, don't know about the new ones (the old ones also used to tell you how to splice, whip, anchor, repair sails and even how to deliver a baby - how things change!).

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[Sailfree]

I have tried but my pronunciation of the written words handicapped by a cockney accent (that stretches the vowels) bears little resemblance to the correct pronunciation in a French accent!

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[Anonymous]

Sure, but your cockney accent doesn't prevent you from understanding them. It's much easier than it seems, honest! Just get a written list of all the words and make a point of listening to French forecasts, which always go out **on time** and are generally of superior quality to UK ones. Don't forget that you will usually get more accurate forecasts from locals. It really isn't hard, I promise you, it's just getting round to doing it.

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