Weather opinions sought

[lustyd]

This coming weekend - will the wind turn and calm? I'm thinking of sailing towards Poole which will be by far the longest trip me and the boat will have made thus far (Outside the harbour ).
The forecast is a reasonable NE wind on Thursday to go west but I would prefer not to get stuck. There's always a risk to these things, and I have until Tuesday to return so I think I'll be safe with a nice westerly to bring me home
any opinions gratefully received!
Cheers
Dave

 

[Aries]

Winds this coming weekend

This coming weekend - will the wind turn and calm? I'm thinking of sailing towards Poole which will be by far the longest trip me and the boat will have made thus far (Outside the harbour ).
The forecast is a reasonable NE wind on Thursday to go west but I would prefer not to get stuck. There's always a risk to these things, and I have until Tuesday to return so I think I'll be safe with a nice westerly to bring me home
any opinions gratefully received!
Cheers
Dave

Still early days. I never trust more than three days ahead, but the following is the forecast for Solent MRSC, which covers the area:
http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/solent_mrsc
Keep a watch on tis oer the next few days.

 

[lustyd]

Well that's not what I wanted at all, stupid weather! I'll have to find another website that says it'll all be OK.

Thanks for the link, maybe I'll wait before heading over to Poole
Dave

 

[Seajet]

As long as you are careful with the weather at Hurst Narrows you should be fine ( not this particular w/e, in general ).

You'll probably find the North Channel best, which means hard to starboard as soon as out of the Solent, and beware the set South onto the shingles; fine if you keep speed up and are aware of it.

Turn S a bit into the bay once N Head Buoy ( large green conical ) is rounded to Port, then it's a bee line for Studland - often by eye-ball but it's easy, and good practice, to keep position by hand bearing fixes from points on the shore - bino's are extremely useful, ones with a built in compass doubly so.

Keep an eye out for lobster pots especially around off Hengistbury Head.

If you have to use Poole Town Quay, don't leave your boat untended fortoo long, anywhere else is preferable.

If you have time, the River frome and Wareham is a delightful trip.

The fuel barge also does water, tinned food, beer & wine.

Remember if the weather should turn, there is a good rail link; leave the boat ! If that should happen feel free to contact me.

Have a good trip.

 

[lustyd]

Well, I didn't make it to Poole. I realised rather too late that I could have done though Thursday I went from Emsworth to Cowes, Friday I went from Cowes to Lymington. This is where I made the mistake, I thought it was about 6pm when I got to Lymington after a long sunny sail. It turns out I had only been going 3 hours and it was lunchtime! Today I returned to the East, making it back to Cowes in 1 1/2 hours and to Haslar in around 4 hours. Had I continued to Poole yesterday I could have had an easy sail to Lymington or Cowes today (I heard Yarmouth was fully booked due to an event) and easily made it home for Tuesday. many lessons have been learned including how well the boat sails in stronger winds as well as how wet she gets when the bow takes a dive
Thanks all for your replies
Cheers
Dave

 

[Seajet]

With the forecast mentioning 'occasional F6', and reality being a distinct force higher than advertised ( I was out yesterday in what was supposed to be F3-4 while it was most definitely 4-5 ) I think you did the right thing; Hurst Narrows in a F6+ is not a fun place to be.

 

[lustyd]

Oddly Hurst looked OK yesterday given that the wind was behind me and the tide was with me. If I'd had a watch on I would have gone onward but sadly I thought it was too late to make the distance and didn't fancy poole at midnight solo sailing

Where did you get to Seajet?