Weather reports

[Master_under_Dog]

Yet another trip to Burnham for a sail has proved abortive. I am not yet sufficiently confident of being able to hoist and lower sails, pick up moorings etc single handed in anything above a force 5, and even that can be a bit hairy as Jessie tends to dance around a lot between current and wind. She needs to be pushing forward at around 3 knots before she will maintain a course into the wind. Doesn't give me much time before we hit the bank or another boat. Yesterday, by the time I had done a couple of jobs aboard, the wind was gusting a good deal stronger, by my estimate, than was forecast (force 4/5). So I was reluctant to cast off because of the difficulty of getting back on to the mooring.

But I have noticed that there are often discrepancies between the BBC's various weather forecasts and the XC Weather site which I also look at. The inshore weather forecasts from the Coastguard usually prove fairly accurate but today, the threatened strong winds did not materialise, but I had abandoned any plans of sailing on the strength of the forecast anyway.

What forecasts do others rely on, and which have proven most accurate over a period of time?

Michael

 

[DanTribe]

I have found Windguru as accurate as most and far better than many.
http://www.windguru.com/int/

You will have to search around for Burnham, it always seems to default to Hawai.

Dan

 

[Superflid]

http://www.metcheck.com

 

[MoodySabre]

There was more wind in the Blackwater this afternoon than Windguru showed for West Mersea. 7 knots was more like 12 or 14. Probably more in line with the inshore waters forecast. For coastal sailing the wind is often affected more by on-shore sea breezes which can get up to F4 regardless of the general prevailing wind shown in the forecasts.

Is Masterunderdog looking for crew for a delivery trip to Burnham? From where?

 

[Gargleblaster]

Master Under Dog I notice your home is in Bracknell - you should have perfect knowledge on wind and weather living so close, just from Osmosis.

I did a winter series with the Brandy Hole Yacht Club one year. What was interesting about that was that some reaches of the Crouch consistently have a lot of wind and others seem to have very little depending on what the wind direction was. It's also often the case that as you get near the Outer Crouch buoy the wind in the Estuary really picks up through convergence. I think the weather reports at best can only give an average and if you look at them they only tell you what you can expect somewhere within five or ten miles of the location you are enquiring about.

I used to find that http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/m...&NOREGION=0
that is a German site out of Heidelberg University was quite accurate, although I feel in the last two years it has become less so.

 

[MoodySabre]

Ignore last comment - have read MUD's post again.

 

[Master_under_Dog]

Thank you all very much. The Met Office moved from Bracknell to Exeter several years ago but even when they were here I often found myself saying "Look out of the window why don't you!" or something like that.

To clarify, Jessie is on a swinging mooring at Burnham Yacht Harbour and I am learning to sail her singlehanded. The trip from Bracknell takes two hours so I find it very frustrating if when I get to Burnham the wind is not as forecast. Jessie can handle a force 5 once the sails are up but I need plenty of searoom to hoist the main and in anything over force 4 it is extremely difficult to keep her head to wind while I do it. Same thing getting the main down, when I have to go to the mast. And picking up the mooring is also difficult. I'm getting there but the number of days when I have been able to practice in more handleable circumstances have been limited.

Thanks again for your recommendations.

Michael

 

[MoodySabre]

I presume you know about Burnham Yacht Harbour weather station .

Perhaps you need to find an easier routine for picking up your mooring. Using a mooring hook from the cockpit can be very easy using one of these hooks.
The hook is attached to a line that can run from the bow so onceyou are attached you can motor up and just go forward to take up the slack. Alternatively it can be on a short line that has a loop on the other end. The loop is threaded on a line that runs from bow to stern, fixed at both ends. Once attached you then walk the short line forward. I used to use one of these all the time when on a swinging mooring - one snatch and attached, start breathing again and sort it out at your leisure.

If the wind was blowing the boat round (rather than the tide) then I'd put the main up on the mooring.

Good luck with it - I realise that the words "sea room" and "Burnham" don't fit easily into the same sentence!

 

[Gargleblaster]

I've got a high volume 27 footer with only an 8HP engine that can't push it forward against anything over F5. Trying to pick up a mooring in an F7 blowing the same way as a spring tide in mid ebb can be a bit of a trial. Particularly when you have just picked up and secured one strop and you drop your boathook over the side and then have to chase it down the river and come back and try to secure the boat again when you have retrieved it.

I always go forward to the bow single handed to pick up my buoy whatever the conditions. My two strops are 12 feet long and this helps. I try and slightly overshoot the buoy so the wind and/or tide will push me back onto it and try and make sure the buoy is to leeward of the boat on my overshoot, so the wind presses the bow onto the buoy. This tends to give me enough time to pick up a strop lead it through my bow roller and secure it before I run out of strop. I then pick up the second strop and use that to pull the bow right into the buoy.

I've tried to pick up a strop from the cockpit as Moody Sabre suggests but have ended up hanging off the buoy stern first without the strength to pull the bow around in conditions of strong wind and/or tide. The first rule I learnt about securing to a buoy was always to approach the buoy from the direction all your neighbours are lying - I know that is grandmother sucking eggs stuff but I thought I'd mention it.

[On a good day I can get to Paglesham from South Bucks in 1.25 hours on a bad day on the M25 it can take 4 hours. If the weather is too bad to go sailing I'm perfectly happy to sit on the boat drinking cups of tea and reading a book. So far conditions have never been bad enough to prevent me getting out to the boat in the dinghy, although I have waited three days on one occasion for the weather to improve before I would take the risk of going in].

 

[Master_under_Dog]

Rog

Thank you. I find the Burnham weather station excellent for knowing what is happening at that moment. But of course things can change quite a lot before I get there, which is what happened on Wednesday.

I have been contemplating one of those hooky things but my real problem has been getting to the buoy and staying there long enough to grab a strop. I have a pick up buoy tied to one of the strops which has proved useful in that I get two targets, so to speak. And I can lean over and touch the mooring buoy so it's not a problem of grabbing hold so long as I am close enough.

Jessie swings between wind and tide but tends to respond more to the tide in anything under force 5. I tried, once, to put the main up on the mooring but on that occasion couldn't get her vaguely near head to wind and the friction was too great to get the sail up. (I intend to sort out the mast when she is pulled from the water in November).

I am most grateful for your advice.

Michael

 

[Master_under_Dog]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Jessie has seemed a substitute for the shed on occasions but like you I am content to sit, read a book and watch the world go by (excellent racing to watch at Burnham last Wednesday evening).

I shall try running a bit past the buoy and did this once by accident. The lee bow came down on the buoy which seemed to hold her there almost static but I wasn't sure what was happening below the waterline and worried about the mooring chain sawing through the GRP. Refresher lessons in the gentle art of sucking eggs are always welcome!

I hope not to get trapped on board for three days! But having fallen in once from the dinghy I am very cautious about getting in and out of it when the water is choppy and the tide running strongly. The harbourmaster at Burnham is willing, at slack times, to come out in the launch even though the taxi service normally only operates at weekends.

Anyway I see the forecast for the weekend is fairly benign so my plan is to take a trip to the Crouch Outer and back tomorrow, and if it is really nice I might even go to inspect the Swallow Tail buoy.

Michael

 

[Master_under_Dog]

Well I found the Swallowtail buoy but it wasn't quite the shape that my brand new chart said it should be. Or is this a conical that's been knocked about a bit?

Good sail back up the Crouch once the wind filled in again, in tacking contest with yacht Spindrift. Good fun but exhausting.

Michael