Weather for Scillies

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eddystone

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What forecast would put you off making for the Scilly Islands? Having missed good opportunities in early/mid July I think the first week in September is my only chance for a first visit (from Plymouth). I think it will be more unsettled then than it has been in recent weeks. Would the possibility of occasional F7 put you off?
 
I've been there twice though by ferry not by boat, though I always intended to do the trip. Personally I'd only sail there if an extended settled period was forecast. There are very few locations giving shelter from any direction so you could be constantly on the move. A F7, however "occasional", would be a complete no for me.
 
September can of course be wonderful and I intend to be there for a week sometime that month.

St Mary's pool is certainly tenable in a F7 and is one of the best anchorages. It may not be totally pleasant, but safe enough with the wind from the most likely directions.

F7 in the isles would certainly not put me off.

I would not make the trip for a short stay with a poor forecast, simply because it would be unpleasant, but if it were going to blow through in a day or two, I wouldnt be concerned.
 
There are places capable of giving shelter from any direction, but one would have to be prepared to move if necessary. This could be a problem if a change in wind direction occurred at a time when, for example, the tide was too low to move across from St mary's to New Grimsby Sound. With modern forecasts this should be less likely, but I would want half decent conditions. I have been in New Grimsby with a NW 4-5 and it wasn't too bad, but anything more would be unpleasant.
 
ip485 said:
September can of course be wonderful and I intend to be there for a week sometime that month.

St Mary's pool is certainly tenable in a F7 and is one of the best anchorages. It may not be totally pleasant, but safe enough with the wind from the most likely directions.

F7 in the isles would certainly not put me off.

I would not make the trip for a short stay with a poor forecast, simply because it would be unpleasant, but if it were going to blow through in a day or two, I wouldnt be concerned.
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I presume you meant to say St helens Pool? If so, I agree with all you say.
 
I'd only add to bear in mind that this year is unusual in that there have been several reports of crowding in many locations. Even when we went a number of years ago, several of the main anchorages were full and it may be worse this year. If you need to move to a safer spot and there's nowhere available (and you don't find out until you arrive in the new location) it could get a bit difficult.
 
I returned to Penzance from the Scillies in a SW force 7 four years ago. The size of the waves off Lands End was scary in a 40 foot boat.
Now I am more cautious and I have only done the trip since in force 5 or below .
 
eddystone said:
What forecast would put you off making for the Scilly Islands? Having missed good opportunities in early/mid July I think the first week in September is my only chance for a first visit (from Plymouth). I think it will be more unsettled then than it has been in recent weeks. Would the possibility of occasional F7 put you off?
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Depends if you have to get back for a certain date - F7 in a scilly anchorage is an awful lot better than F7 off Lands End or the Lizard. But if you have plenty of time then you should be OK. Even the congestion will be better in september as many French and most Cloggies will have left by then.
 
Catalina36 said:
I'd only add to bear in mind that this year is unusual in that there have been several reports of crowding in many locations. Even when we went a number of years ago, several of the main anchorages were full and it may be worse this year. If you need to move to a safer spot and there's nowhere available (and you don't find out until you arrive in the new location) it could get a bit difficult.
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it’s been a reasonably steady season since restrictions were lifted but not overcrowded at all. When there are 70 anchored in porthcressa then I would say it’s getting busy and we haven’t seen numbers like that for over 20 years.
Now that there are restrictions if coming from France there’s only a couple of French boats left here that quite often come for the season and go back later on.
Deeper draught vessels will obviously find it more difficult to squeeze into anchorages that provide enough depth with space taken up by shallow draught vessels.

September can be a hit or miss month for weather but it’s generally fairly quiet on the visiting yacht front so space should not be a problem at all, even this year.
 
mainsail1 said:
I returned to Penzance from the Scillies in a SW force 7 four years ago. The size of the waves off Lands End was scary in a 40 foot boat.
Now I am more cautious and I have only done the trip since in force 5 or below .
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Would you have been better off heading east to Falmouth? Keeping off the Lizard of course.
 
fisherman said:
Would you have been better off heading east to Falmouth? Keeping off the Lizard of course.
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Probably, as the waves do seem to lump up closer to the coast, possibly due to the effect of tide, but to Falmouth was a bit too far that day as there were only two of us onboard. I might add that the Lizard the following day was unpleasantly rough for some reason.
 
Marine traffic has a few boats hunkered down in St Mary’s Harbour, New Grimsby and Old Grimsby this Morning with it blowing 35Kts
 
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