Which pilot books for west Scotland and Irish Sea?

We sail out of Whitehaven in Cumbria so the Irish Sea is our main cruising area.

For IOM I recommend the “Sailing Directions, Tidal Streams & Anchorages of the Isle of Man” you can get it from http://www.msandcc.org/?page_id=329 for detailed local knowledge its unbeatable.

For the Irish Sea you cannot beat "Imray Irish Sea Pilot" by David Rainsbury.

Once you are through St Georges Channel than it has to be CCC.
 
dewent said:
For the Irish Sea you cannot beat "Imray Irish Sea Pilot" by David Rainsbury.
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I beg to differ. The Irish Sea Pilot is poorly written, badly organised and sloppily edited.

By poorly written" I mean that places are missed out (Carnlough and Ravenglass, for example, and those are just two I knew of and was looking for) and details for many others are extremely poor. Far too many "phone the harbour master for details" - which is what the author should have done.

By "badly organised" I mean that it goes from Milford Haven up to the North Channel, then from Howth up to Rathline, then from Carnsore to Dublin. Who on earth thought that having Dun Laoghire and Howth fifty pages apart was a good idea?

And by badly edited I mean that the chartlets are dropped in at random, away from the related text and at in least one case duplicated.

All sortable by increasing the detail of the northern half of the Irish Sea to match that of the south, reorganising sensibly (clockwise?) and using a proper editor rather than giving it to a GCSE pupil on work experience. I bought this for a delivery and was so unimpressed that I gave it away, unused.

And ... relax.
 
claymore said:
You really need to be more direct and stop pussy-footing......
;-)
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I know, I know, I'm just too nice for my own good.

Actually, the bits which are properly covered in the Irish Sea Pilot are well and clearly written. If Imray would give Mr Rainsford a wad of cash to go round the northern half of the Irish Sea, researching and writing it up in the same detail as he does the southern half, I'm sure he could do a good and useful pilot. What's there at the moment just feels like a rushed production.
 
Thanks everyone for this wealth of information. Fantastic forum this, and I have a lot to read now - looking forward to leaving our home marina on June 1, 2014.
Brgds
Leif
 
If you need any work doing on your boat on the way south make a note of Ardfern Yacht Centre. Highly skilled workforce.
No connection - just moor there
Edit: there is a financial connection but just one way !
 
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Storyline said:
If you need any work doing on your boat on the way south make a note of Ardfern Yacht Centre. Highly skilled workforce.
No connection - just moor there
Edit: there is a financial connection but just one way !
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I shall surely make a note of that. Most likely our boat will need something fixed once we have been cruising for 3-4 months. And we will be nearby anyway as we have a firm intention of visiting Islay and Jura to sample the local produce!;)
 
Leif-J said:
I shall surely make a note of that. Most likely our boat will need something fixed once we have been cruising for 3-4 months. And we will be nearby anyway as we have a firm intention of visiting Islay and Jura to sample the local produce!;)
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If you do call in, please give us a shout, we may be around. Ardfern is a lovely spot to visit anyway and also has a well stocked chandlery so only your pocket will regret a visit ;)
 
claymore said:
My boat is in Loch Craignish, close to Ardfern.
.....
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Another reason to visit Ardfern. I have not yet met said gentleman but he has a certain, ahem, reputation. Suffice it to say that from what I have read, should you meet up with himself and his sailing buddies you will discover the meaning of craic and be left with a headache in the morning as a reminder ;)
 
rbmatthews said:
We use the CCC Sailing Directions which seem to have covered most eventualities so far.

A few writeups of trips we have done on the west coast are at http://shetlandf4.wordpress.com/trip-logs/ if they are of interest. More in preparation, as they say ...

Rob.
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Thanks Rob, very inspiring. And I kind of recall some of our camping trips in the area when reading your weather reports! :)
Looking forward so much to doing it from the seaside next summer.
 
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