Weather forecasts

[Sybarite]

In the Med one VHF channel is dedicated to giving continuous recorded weather forecasts.

Why is this not available in Northern climes in order to avoid getting up at some unGodly hour to hear Radio 4 or saturating the coast guard with update requests?

 

[alant]

Which dedicated VHF Channel are you refering too?

 

[davidhand]

Yes they do it in "the States" it's a monotonous computer generated voice (sounds a bit like Henry Kissenger) but everyone calls him Igor. It's updated about every three hours.

 

[Cornishman]

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 you can listen to latest shipping forecast on demand

 

[Guest]

Although the Coastguard Service are kind and helpful I believe, like the fireman, they live in a closed world, similar to many public services in this country. In other words, they produce systems to suit themselves rather than the consumer.

The Thames Coastguard for instance, gives the forecast for the next day at 9.10pm. Just about the worst time for sailors. I have given up listening completely now.They often cock up informing us which aerial to hear the forecast as they often transmit which aerial the forecast is on from an aerial you cannot hear.If you get my meaning.

Radio them with information that a vessel is ignoring the colregs and could cause serious damage and they do not want to know but will tell you navigation warnings in sea areas taking about 2 weeks to get to.

Broadcasting continual weather forecasts is completely safe, logical and reasonable. Which is why we won't get them. I tune in to Radio4 Longwave lunchtime and at 1750 hrs. It's about time that the whole coastguard thing is handed over to the RNLI who seem to know seafaring needs rather than covering backsides.

Rant Over

 

[Gunfleet]

The saving grace of our heroes in the Thames Coastgard is the little comment you hear quite regularily on their broadcasts, ' But the weather here at Walton is so-and-so, visibility so-and-so'; in other words there's a human being in that office and he/she are is quite aware of the discrepancy between the broadcast forecast (which they don't produce but simply read for your benefit) and what the world looks like. This lacuna is not just a Thames thing. I quite remember sitting on a berth in Brighton marina with my son listening to a coastguard repeated weather forecast which was for 1 & 2 Northerlys in that area. Meanwhile the (long fetch southerly) seas were breaking over the 20-odd feet wall to the marina! And now as a complete aside, did any of you know there is no French word for 'fetch'? Weird.

 

[peterb]

The best comment I heard from Thames CG came after a forecast full of 6s, 7s and 8s. "And here at Walton we have westerly 2, clear sky and smooth sea. We only read 'em, we don't write 'em!"

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by peterb on 08/12/2002 12:52 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Sybarite]

Re: Fetch

The French mainly use the same word: 'fetch'; alternatively ' la course (du vent) ' or, more precisely, 'la zone de génération (des vagues).

To fetch to windwind is 'gagner au vent'.

 

[Sybarite]

I'm referring back about 12 years when I kept my boat in Toulon. It existed then and I assume it still does but I haven't checked. I honestly cannot remember which channel it was but it gave an overall West Med forecast and then it was broken down into about four zones.

I miss it now that I am based in S. Brittany.

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Fetch

You're right, but it's not a French word and there is no French equivalent, which is why there is a page long description and illustration in the cours de Glenans. There's a great deal of fun to be had from maritime dictionaries (I know, what a saddo, but it is December and my boat is not just out of the water but mastless). For example the French word for jib is foc. Now I've always disliked the etymology of focs'l as forecastle. For God's sake how long ago did ships have fore castles? But the idea that some members of the crew slept under the foc sail makes a lot more sense to me.

 

[HMCG]

Vic
Sorry you feel the way you do about Coastguards. Unfortunately we cannot please everyone. The reason that the forecast is put out at after 9pm is because that is the time designated to that station. Every station around the UK has a dedicated time slot open for broadcasts. We all have to have these seperate times due to the fact that if we all transmitted at the same time all you would hear would be garbled rubbish due to mutual interference. You must also remember that some stations are also broadcasting on MF as well as VHF.

Some say that BT did a better job of the MSI service but their coverage was very poor in comparison to the MCA coverage.

At the end of the day you can call up at any time and request the forecast from any station. The new forecast for the day is received at about 1730 and 0530 so any time around then they should be able to help. Another suggestion would be to get a NAVTEX receiver which can pick up 490.

I cannot comment on the colregs issue as I don't have the full story.

As for the RNLI taking over....that may be possible. At the moment HM Coastguard is seen by coastguard services the world over as the best at search and rescue. In the Uk we train staff from all over the world in our methods. We didn't get there by accident.....You should be pleased with what you have...it could be much worse, even under the RNLI.

Safer lives, safer ships, cleaner seas.

 

[Plum]

I would like to praise our UK Coastguards, especially the Thames Coastguard who I listen to most, for the excellent service. Yes, I would rather have a continuous recording of the weather forecast on a dedicated VHF channel, but the four-hourly broadcast, updated twice per day, is good and resonably accurate.

If there is one area for improvement on weatherforecasts, it is the "following three days" forecast which is very difficult to interpret for the specific area one is in.

 

[Gunfleet]

You can get continual weather forecasts, including inshore and sea areas forecasts read by robot on the 'weather' channel on the world space radios. If you listen for an hour your forecast will come round. Of course, whether you want to listen to a mechanical voice for an hour or not is another matter!

 

[aod]

I have to say that your experiences with HM coastguard appear to seriously contradict mine.

I have never had anything other than a very polite, very professional and extremely competent response from them. Having said that I have only ever bothered them for something important like perilous damage which resulted in a shipping danger, or to lodge a passage plan when delivering a yacht some distance in very poor weather.

To monitor the VHF and listen to yottie after yottie after yottie either doing a radio check or asking for the weather forecast either from a marina or when sailing from the Hamble to Cowes is a bit of an poor indictment of the competence out there.

If you want to know the weather forecast and can't listen to it because the broadcast time conflicts with your third order at the bar then get a NAVTEX and a digital barometer which should cover you for pretty well everything or alternatively spend some dosh and use the mobile.

 

[Guest]

It was good of you to respond. My wife who uses the computer, and an occasional sailor with me in the Estuary has given me a bit of a rollicking after reading you're E. Mail.

Apologies are in order as my retort has understandibly come over as direct criticism of individuals in the Service. As other contributors have mentioned, they, like myself have always been shown helful and courteous advice from the HMCG.

If it was technically possible, I think it would be easier if boatusers listened to a designated recorded forecast channel rather than the other way round ? You could then publish the times when new forecasts are available. If you logged reports of sailors who do not adhere to the colregs it would soon be clear who they are by repetition. Action could then be taken, possibly by the local authority where the boat is moored.

My apologies again.

p.s. Could you please confirm that you will still save me in the future ? Otherwise I will be changing my name to Claymore.

 

[HMCG]

Not to worry. I realise that just one bad experience with us can taint someone for life (I won't mention any names...) The issue of a constantly recorded weather forecast has been looked at but again for various reasons it was not deemed viable in the UK. In future it may become possible using digital transmissions to do this but at the moment it is not something which would be regarded as viable.

I am not sure if many of you are aware but you can get the exact same forecasts from the met office online at http://www.meto.gov.uk/datafiles/inshore.html

As others have noted, HM Coastguard is only responsible for transmitting the forecasts not for the actual creation of them. We know as well as you that the information is rubbish but unfortunately we are not at liberty to change them.


Safer lives, safer ships, cleaner seas.