Summer cancelled. Any point having a boat in the UK anymore?

Glad to here someone somewhere has had a summer to remember this year but again we had a total washout as in 2007 & 2008.

We have just returned from a fortnight in the SW, rained every day for 14 days & when the sun did shine for a few hours it was because there were 35mph winds!

The local paper gave a few statistics, in 2007 July had 143mm of rain, in 2008 July again had 134mm of rain & to date (over the 14 days we were there) they recorded 82mm of rain.

I know it's luck etc but for us we had had enough by the 7th day & were totally fed up, resorting to daytrips out in the car & all the expense that entails when in reallity we were there to use the boat, if I wanted a caravan then I would have bought one!

So even the most comfortable boat in the world is no match for the english summer unless that is you love the wind & rain.
We have taken a leaf from a few others & will now treat the boat as a weekend retreat, our main holidays will be somewhere with a greater chance of sunshine, for the sake of our future as boat owners in the UK it better not rain next time we go!
 
I tend to agree with our Scottish friend, last month temps. (Scotland) around mid 20's, shedloads of daylight and stunning scenery (West Coast).
OK, it may not quite have been swimming in the sea warm, but surely it would have been rated as acceptable in relative terms, given the level of winter temps.

Personally would have loved to be boating in the weather I experienced.

I find excessive heat and humidity, oppressive and debilitating.

Maybe the bar is being set too high, by comparing the motherland to Med. like temps.
 
I wasn't really looking to compare with the Med. Just compare with the summers when it used to actually be sunny and warm and dry in the UK!

The forecast is reasonably good this weekend, but it's raining right now as I post.

Again.
 
Last summer in Australia (East Coast) had 6 months of gales and flooding, combined with the humidity, it turns the boat interiors into mould pits.

The Met. office shouldn't put so much weight behind those long range predictions, they do the same out here as well.
 
Yeah, having just sold mine, looking outside, glad I did really. It's not going to get much better this year I reckon. Only thing to do is get richer and move out of the UK, or at least the boat to the Med or something.

T
 
If you got rich/retire, you could stay where you are and pick out the good days to go boating, rather than relying on the weekends and annual leave for better weather.

Think most of the frustration comes from crappy weather on days off!
 
The Joy of Living in a Marina

Sat whatching TV yesterday afternoon and got a call to do some crewing for a guy with a 50ft Sailing boat. 3 mins later youngest son and I were on the boat. Ended up doing a 2 hr sail in 25 knot winds and 38 degrees sun off the straights of Gibraltar and achieved 10 knots. Then Sailed over to Spain, dropped the hook, had a swim and a 1hr chill out. Then uped anchor and back to the marina for dinner.

This med lifestyle gets better by the day.

Cheers

Paul
 
 
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