Round Britain... Where would you choose to start

It would be nice to round the UK but how much did it cost ?

The thought of having to leave the boat in a marina for 3 weeks at a time Plus the travel to and from home is going to cost. I reckon that you would need to budget 5k to 10k to get round with a 30ft boat.
 
LONG_KEELER said:
It would be nice to round the UK but how much did it cost ?

The thought of having to leave the boat in a marina for 3 weeks at a time Plus the travel to and from home is going to cost. I reckon that you would need to budget 5k to 10k to get round with a 30ft boat.
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Same question. And the train fares! Which is why I was planning a nonstop there and back. I might well do it again slowly, later, when I have retired and would not have to leave the boat.
 
We did it this year over 5 1/2 months and thoroughly enjoyed it. We did pop home for a weekend when we got fed up with being stuck in Troon! I haven't added it up properly but I reckon we spent about £5K on marinas as the weather was so poor up North
 
White_Belle said:
I'd be very interested to hear why those who think it's over-rated didn't enjoy their trip round?
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I haven't done it myself, nor do I intend to.
I know a fair few people who have, mostly via the Cale Canal.
Nearly all found the East Coast dull and were getting short of time by then.
In fact most had hoped to go around the top of Scotland, but didn't get the weather or progress they wanted.

Most people talk about 'sailing' around then get through extraordinary amounts of diesel.
IT seems to me that it starts off with thoughts that 'going around' would be some sort of 'achievement', but that quickly fades.
Here's people who have sailed around:
https://www.facebook.com/stickdaringroundUK/
In a cheap Laser!

Or Geoff Holt in his Challenger Trimaran, that was an achievement.

I also knew one or two people who did it in th two handed race, stopping 2 or 3 times, which makes taking a whole summer over it look a bit of a faff.

So if I had a summer to devote to this kind of thing and no desire to leave 'home waters', I'd think more about up the West Coast, around Scotland, Cale canal and back down the West Coast.

The whole thing is either a series of day sails with pressures and ports increasingly awkwardly spaced, or an exercise in sailing past all the interesting places.

So, where to start? I'd particularly avoid starting in the Solent and going clockwise.
But you need the boat very well sorted before you start, I don't know anyone who's every bought a used yacht and felt it was ready for such a trip?
So some months of shakedown and refit seem inevitable.
 
Starting point Medway

2018 Clockwise
Bavaria 320
98 days via Cale canal mostly day sails.


2019 Anti-clockwise
Bavaria 38
76 days via Cale canal more overnight sails to skip the dull bits so we could spend longer in Scotland.

2020 the decision to keep turning left or right will be taken on the day we leave based on the most favorable winds for the following week, with the goal to maximise time on the West Coast of Scotland and skip past the areas already seen.
 
I did it in 2001. It was a great trip, and I'll do it again one day. The east coast is less interesting than the west, but a contrast, and took me to places I would otherwise not have gone to. I did it all in one go with no trips home and it took 60 days. Some may think that's a faff, but that's just their opinion and can be ignored. It doesn't bother me that it can be done it in a few days. I did it to visit new places and see the scenery while not get beaten up by the weather in the process. I went round the top through Pentland Firth. This bit of water is easier to go through eastwards rather than westwards, so that's why I went clockwise. If you want to do it, go for it, and it will be an achievement to you when you have completed it regardless of what the naysayer says.
 
lw395 said:
I haven't done it myself, nor do I intend to.
I know a fair few people who have, mostly via the Cale Canal.
Nearly all found the East Coast dull and were getting short of time by then.
In fact most had hoped to go around the top of Scotland, but didn't get the weather or progress they wanted.

Most people talk about 'sailing' around then get through extraordinary amounts of diesel.
IT seems to me that it starts off with thoughts that 'going around' would be some sort of 'achievement', but that quickly fades.
Here's people who have sailed around:
https://www.facebook.com/stickdaringroundUK/
In a cheap Laser!

Or Geoff Holt in his Challenger Trimaran, that was an achievement.

I also knew one or two people who did it in th two handed race, stopping 2 or 3 times, which makes taking a whole summer over it look a bit of a faff.

So if I had a summer to devote to this kind of thing and no desire to leave 'home waters', I'd think more about up the West Coast, around Scotland, Cale canal and back down the West Coast.

The whole thing is either a series of day sails with pressures and ports increasingly awkwardly spaced, or an exercise in sailing past all the interesting places.

So, where to start? I'd particularly avoid starting in the Solent and going clockwise.
But you need the boat very well sorted before you start, I don't know anyone who's every bought a used yacht and felt it was ready for such a trip?
So some months of shakedown and refit seem inevitable.
Click to expand...
Spot on!
 
I have done from Poole westabouts to Orkney - the interesting bits :).

Have also done the Atlantic Coast of France in detail, and Southern Norway, East Denmark and Sweden.

Personally I would put a Baltic trip way ahead of an “around Southern Britain” (ie through the Canal) loop.

PS. Re the OPs question starting at Poole and going NW could therefore be an option.
Doing in stages can get expensive - leaving a boat for a week in Oban cost more than a month in Sweden, for example. And takes a very long time to get to some places in NW U.K. by public transport.
 
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lw395 said:
I haven't done it myself, nor do I intend to.
I know a fair few people who have, mostly via the Cale Canal.
Nearly all found the East Coast dull and were getting short of time by then.
In fact most had hoped to go around the top of Scotland, but didn't get the weather or progress they wanted.

Most people talk about 'sailing' around then get through extraordinary amounts of diesel.
IT seems to me that it starts off with thoughts that 'going around' would be some sort of 'achievement', but that quickly fades.
Here's people who have sailed around:
https://www.facebook.com/stickdaringroundUK/
In a cheap Laser!

Or Geoff Holt in his Challenger Trimaran, that was an achievement.

I also knew one or two people who did it in th two handed race, stopping 2 or 3 times, which makes taking a whole summer over it look a bit of a faff.

So if I had a summer to devote to this kind of thing and no desire to leave 'home waters', I'd think more about up the West Coast, around Scotland, Cale canal and back down the West Coast.

The whole thing is either a series of day sails with pressures and ports increasingly awkwardly spaced, or an exercise in sailing past all the interesting places.

So, where to start? I'd particularly avoid starting in the Solent and going clockwise.
But you need the boat very well sorted before you start, I don't know anyone who's every bought a used yacht and felt it was ready for such a trip?
So some months of shakedown and refit seem inevitable.
Click to expand...

A couple of points:
- Achievement, that’s down to the individual, everybody sets their own goals. For many people this trip will be their first taste of extended cruising and if they do that in a way they enjoy, they can legitimately call it an achievement. Not one for the record books, but a modest, personal achievement nonetheless.
- Burning lots of diesel, there is another thread about this, and the consensus seems to be that when you’re trying to do a trip within certain time limits, you have to accept you’re going to use the engine more than if you’re daysailing out of your homeport
- The East coast is dull, depends what you compare it with. Going clockwise, anything will be ‘dull’ after the splendour of the West coast of Scotland.
- Boat well sorted, yes, obviously, but nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn’t want for crossing the Channel or the North Sea. Any normal, well found boat can do it. I did it in the boat I had bought two years before, basically in the state I bought it in. I have to say it was in mint condition when I bought it.
- Up the West coast and down the same way to visit the Hebrides obviously makes sense for anyone living west of say Plymouth. Friends of mine did exactly that this summer (because they thought the East coast was dull) and they were disappointed at the amount of headwinds they had to endure on their way South in the Irish Sea. They would go full circle if they did it again.
 
lw395 said:
I haven't done it myself, nor do I intend to.
I know a fair few people who have, mostly via the Cale Canal.
Nearly all found the East Coast dull and were getting short of time by then.
In fact most had hoped to go around the top of Scotland, but didn't get the weather or progress they wanted.

Most people talk about 'sailing' around then get through extraordinary amounts of diesel.
IT seems to me that it starts off with thoughts that 'going around' would be some sort of 'achievement', but that quickly fades.
Here's people who have sailed around:
https://www.facebook.com/stickdaringroundUK/
In a cheap Laser!

Or Geoff Holt in his Challenger Trimaran, that was an achievement.

I also knew one or two people who did it in th two handed race, stopping 2 or 3 times, which makes taking a whole summer over it look a bit of a faff.

So if I had a summer to devote to this kind of thing and no desire to leave 'home waters', I'd think more about up the West Coast, around Scotland, Cale canal and back down the West Coast.

The whole thing is either a series of day sails with pressures and ports increasingly awkwardly spaced, or an exercise in sailing past all the interesting places.

So, where to start? I'd particularly avoid starting in the Solent and going clockwise.
But you need the boat very well sorted before you start, I don't know anyone who's every bought a used yacht and felt it was ready for such a trip?
So some months of shakedown and refit seem inevitable.
Click to expand...

That all seems entirely reasonable, so it's not attractive to you. I would suggest that doesn't mean it's over-rated, just not your thing.

Edit - it wasn't an achievement, to us it was just a holiday albeit a long one.
 
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westhinder said:
A couple of points:
- Achievement, that’s down to the individual, everybody sets their own goals. For many people this trip will be their first taste of extended cruising and if they do that in a way they enjoy, they can legitimately call it an achievement. Not one for the record books, but a modest, personal achievement nonetheless.
- Burning lots of diesel, there is another thread about this, and the consensus seems to be that when you’re trying to do a trip within certain time limits, you have to accept you’re going to use the engine more than if you’re daysailing out of your homeport
- The East coast is dull, depends what you compare it with. Going clockwise, anything will be ‘dull’ after the splendour of the West coast of Scotland.
- Boat well sorted, yes, obviously, but nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn’t want for crossing the Channel or the North Sea. Any normal, well found boat can do it. I did it in the boat I had bought two years before, basically in the state I bought it in. I have to say it was in mint condition when I bought it.
- Up the West coast and down the same way to visit the Hebrides obviously makes sense for anyone living west of say Plymouth. Friends of mine did exactly that this summer (because they thought the East coast was dull) and they were disappointed at the amount of headwinds they had to endure on their way South in the Irish Sea. They would go full circle if they did it again.
Click to expand...

I agree
 
westhinder said:
...they were disappointed at the amount of headwinds they had to endure on their way South in the Irish Sea. They would go full circle if they did it again.
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The weather pattern for the Irish Sea and northwards on the west is (amongst all the variation) more north or north east winds in May and early June, then south or south west from mid-July onwards. The west coast often (but not always) gets a good month from mid May to mid June.
 
White_Belle said:
That all seems entirely reasonable, so it's not attractive to you. I would suggest that doesn't mean it's over-rated, just not your thing.

Edit - it wasn't an achievement, to us it was just a holiday albeit a long one.
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Not just me, but several people who've done it and found the East Coast a chore and a disappointment.
Much more so than people I know who've been up the West Coast and back.
I think it would depend what ongoing intentions one had, if future plans might include a North Sea tour that might weigh against going right round?
Whereas if I was going to have many years based on the Clyde to explore the West Coast, a circuit becomes a little more attractive.

If I only had one long summer to cruise, then definitely up West of Ireland and back via Wales.
 
its a long bash from Ramsgate to Lands End agains the prevailing Westerly/SW.If I did it again I'd go anti clock wise
 
I did not need any special preparation to the boat except buy the Imray pilots for the coast & C series charts. I did buy a folio pack for the bit from port Ellen to Fort William, which I found handy. I did not have any chart plotter. the charts & Reeds were sufficient.
Any reasonably set up boat for coastal cruising, with comfortable berths, cooking, living arrangements etc. will do the job. If your boat is not up to that, then one needs to look the wider scheme of things, before thinking about round UK. When choosing the boat, one does not need to worry about types of keel etc. However, a reasonable performance makes things a lot easier& an engine in good order. I motored for 40% of the time. Average cruising speed overall was not much under 6Kts (not in the canal) in a 31 ft boat which is a great size & would serve 2 very well. I prefer SH, so have autopilot & Aeries.

I did 25 stops & the 2 trips each took approx 12 weeks. The second would have been quicker but I had to come home from Inverness for 2 weeks.

This raises a point about traveling & I found it far cheaper & more convenient to hire a car from Enterprise. Delivered to my door (in Essex) & when I got to Inverness they dropped me off at the boat when I returned the car. It was better for carrying all my gear & I did some shopping before I returned the car. If one has a crew then the cost is infinitely cheaper than public transport.

I did part of the Irish coast which I really liked.
I did 6 legs over 100 miles & went via the Cally canal. I did not anchor as I was single handed. I enjoyed the locks & talking to tourists at St Augustus, plus other boat owners along the route.

I went via the Channel Islands, because I went along the French coast - I am not interested in the Solent & the French side gives it a more "holiday" start to the trip. The wife visited me in StPP for 4 days which was fun.
I crossed over to Falmouth from St PP, but one could cross back at Cherbourg. There is a ferry from there & it is a cheap secure place to leave a boat.It is pleasant if waiting for weather, compared to places like, say, Milford haven, & cheaper than Falmouth.

Cost first time was & £3700-00 inc charts, pilots & the cost of the canal. (2012)The second trip (2014)came to £3851-00 because my wife came to Inverness for 2 days & stayed in a hotel & I included the hire car cost but did not include the cost of charts as I already had those.
 
Re the East Coast - my plan is to head over to Norway from Shetland, and work my way down their coast and then Denmark towards home - I think rather more interesting than our own East Coast = apologies to the East Coast sailors, as I'm certain there are loads of lovely spots, but the lure of the unknown beckons, and it all looks very pretty from what I've seen.
 
Daydream believer said:
I did 25 stops & the 2 trips each took approx 12 weeks.
Click to expand...

That neatly sums up the difference in preferences. 25 stops round the whole of the British Isles!

We did probably double that number of stops this summer, just between Islay and Lochinver, including a tiny subset of the Outer Hebrides.
The long legs on a round (parts of) Britain mean that you inevitably miss most of the best anchorages and islands, instead dashing from port to port.

But each to their own.
 
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