Wave Conditions Near Milford Haven

trapezeartist

trapezeartist

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We are planning to bring our boat up from Milford Haven to Portishead this week. On leaving Milford Haven I am wondering whether it is better to pass inshore of Turbot Bank and St Gowans Shoal or go the long way round the outside. The forecast is for 3.3m waves with a 16 second period. I'm not sure whether the inshore route will give us some shelter from the waves or just throw up nastier conditions. Any opinions?
 
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Have you checked with the ranges? Might make your decision for you.
 
Overfalls can be nasty close in to St Gowans. Definitely to be avoided in wind against tide situation.That whole bit of coast is Not a very forgiving place if anything goes wrong .Any doubts about the weather and personally I would go offshore.

Bear in mind there is a tidal eddy close inshore there.
 
I agree with the above, and as said, it also depends on whether the range is firing.

I saw you going out a few weeks ago I think, we were doing some jobs onboard the boat at Neyland marina and I popped my head out for a minute and noticed Tickety Boo going out, you had just gone over the cill by the time I noticed otherwise would have given you a wave, I was wondering whether you were heading for Portishead or just going out for a sail! How is she going? We were berthed opposite her for a few months last winter, never saw anyone onboard though.

Ian.
 
So the consensus is: go round the outside. I think we'll do that then. Ranges is apparently not a problem as I believe the defenders of our nation are now so good they don't need to practice during December.

Ian, yes you probably did see us going out the weekend before last. If you had hung around a while, you would have seen us come back too! The plan was to spend the night down at Dale to be on pole position for the next morning. We got to Dale, discovered the weather had taken a turn for the worse (:eek:) and headed back to Neyland. Nevertheless, as you've noticed, that was the most mileage Tickety Boo has done this year. We're trying again on Wednesday :).
 
Also check the tides and wind direction.
if theres a westerly combined with a spring tide, then, believe me , you wouldnt want to go around St Govans (even a looong way offshore)

As another poster has mentioned, check the Turbot bank buoy data, 3m waves = stay at home (seriously!)
 
been around a couple of times in big seas not very nice the seas are all over the place stay seaward of crow rock inside of the turbot bank then stay as close to st govans head as you can about 100metres the further you go out the wilder and more confused the seas. then when you think its all over you got the helwick bank.bit of advice stay home until you get a little bit of high pressure then the wind is on the nose. thats sailing !!
 
Well, we did it and we made it!

The seas were over 3m so the inshore route looked very hazardous; a lee shore and the spray on St Govans Head was going as high as the cliffs. Anyway, it seems that Castlemartin Ranges had a bit of ammunition left over so there was no choice but to go round the outside.

We left Neyland about 12.30 so most of the trip up the Bristol Channel was done in darkness, which made it interesting. Due to the brightness of the chartplotter screen, we couldn't read any of the other instruments, but being unfamiliar with all the controls we didn't dare try to change it in case we lost it entirely. Every time a wave slewed us around, we had to use the little heading icon to pull ourselves back onto the right course and heading. It was probably a good job we couldn't actually see what the sea was like around us.

Due to the difficulties we ended up motoring most of the way but we absolutely flew up the channel. With the help of the tide, we were hitting 10 knots on the surfs and averaging over 7 knots. Ironically we got past the Holms so early that we had to sail to and fro for two hours killing time until the tide was high enough to enter Portishead.

And after 12 hours in the turbo cycle of a washing machine, it was amazing to find the waves fall away to nearly nothing as we approached the Holms, then see a beautiful sunrise and have a gentle sunny sail up the last few miles to Tickety Boo's new home.

Lessons learned:
3m waves around the Pembroke Coast are for masochists only
Everything inside needs to be secured down much better than it was
Make sure you really know your instrumentation inside-out before starting
Bavarias are a lot tougher than the MAB lot would like to believe (the keel didn't fall off)
Glasses made of glass are not a good idea on a boat (I knew that already but she came with a very nice set of wine glasses and tumblers. I now have to go and buy an acrylic set)
 
Congratulations, sounds like a corker. It is wierd how the sea state changes, you get proper big waves up to the holms then the chop in channel kicks in. Personally I prefer the big waves, you can do something with them, with chop you just have to put up with it.

I'll look out for tickety boo in the marina tomorrow

Cheers

Russell
 
Russell, I'm pretty sure I spotted your boat in Portishead Marina. We are currently on D31. I think I walked past White Mischief somewhere along the main pontoon. The name stuck in my brain, which was a bit of a surprise having spent the previous few hours going through the turbo wash-cycle.
 
If you have walked onto the marina you have walked past my boat! We are on B1 right on the main walk way. We had a similar experience coming back from Swansea in the summer. After looking at the charts decided the nash passage looked like a good idea. It wasn't. I'd broken a gear selector cable on one engine too. It was the day that lad got washed off porthcawl pier, not one I shall forget in a hurry.

We are hoping to head over to Cardiff tomorrow, I know it will be against the tide but hey ho, it's only diesel.
 
Sailing in Bristol Channel

My daughter is studying/working in Carmarthern and we have been pondering buying a small yacht in Milford Haven.What puts me off is the BristolChannel is it all strong tides and overfalls!
 
Not too sure up at MH yet, haven't made it that far over, it's on our to do list though but...

Strong tides - yes - but we find you can usually do something, I think the tides are stronger the further east you go. There is a huge difference between neaps and springs. At Portishead on a neap you may only get a 5m range, on a spring you can get 13. Makes a huge difference to the speed of the tide.

Overfalls - some places, all well known, local knowledge and this forum would be able to help. Wish I'd asked before setting off!

Its a spectacular coast though, well worth it
 
trapezeartist said:
Well, we did it and we made it!

The seas were over 3m so the inshore route looked very hazardous; a lee shore and the spray on St Govans Head was going as high as the cliffs. Anyway, it seems that Castlemartin Ranges had a bit of ammunition left over so there was no choice but to go round the outside.

We left Neyland about 12.30 so most of the trip up the Bristol Channel was done in darkness, which made it interesting. Due to the brightness of the chartplotter screen, we couldn't read any of the other instruments, but being unfamiliar with all the controls we didn't dare try to change it in case we lost it entirely. Every time a wave slewed us around, we had to use the little heading icon to pull ourselves back onto the right course and heading. It was probably a good job we couldn't actually see what the sea was like around us.

Due to the difficulties we ended up motoring most of the way but we absolutely flew up the channel. With the help of the tide, we were hitting 10 knots on the surfs and averaging over 7 knots. Ironically we got past the Holms so early that we had to sail to and fro for two hours killing time until the tide was high enough to enter Portishead.

And after 12 hours in the turbo cycle of a washing machine, it was amazing to find the waves fall away to nearly nothing as we approached the Holms, then see a beautiful sunrise and have a gentle sunny sail up the last few miles to Tickety Boo's new home.

Lessons learned:
3m waves around the Pembroke Coast are for masochists only
Everything inside needs to be secured down much better than it was
Make sure you really know your instrumentation inside-out before starting
Bavarias are a lot tougher than the MAB lot would like to believe (the keel didn't fall off)
Glasses made of glass are not a good idea on a boat (I knew that already but she came with a very nice set of wine glasses and tumblers. I now have to go and buy an acrylic set)
Click to expand...

Glad you made it back to Portishead safely.

When we bought our current boat the trip from Neath to Swansea was wild, as you say, everything inside smashed and moved about, and that is with the boat fairly empty as we had only bought her. I dread to imagine what would happen now with crockery etc.

The weather wasnt to bad when we took her to Neyland, rainy but low winds.

We noticed that the Chartplotter light over powered the Clipper instruments, we made the clipper instruments brighter which helped but I guess it must be a fairly common problem. Especially with them quite close together.

Ian
 
I only looked at the glassware since getting back: to my amazement it all survived. As a general point, we had far too many things that weren't adequately bolted down. A question of experience.

The instrument lighting was similarly a lack of previous night sailing time. We didn't know how to turn the chartplotter on to night setting, nor how to turn the other instruments up. And when you're up to your arse in alligators, it's pretty tricky to start trying to drain the swamp. :eek: If we had tried to change the plotter and then lost the display, we would have been in a real mess.
 
If we had tried to change the plotter and then lost the display, we would have been in a real mess.[/QUOTE]

we only had a torch to shine on compass we lost all electrics. as you said when its black you cannot see anything. glad you made it ok, the washing machine sounds just about right.
mr bloto
 
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