Wondering the practicality og a round UK trip next year

srm

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Did this trip twice this year, both ways, but always stopped at an anchorage mid way - Kyle of Tongue for example.
Once spent three comfortable days anchored in the bay off Talamine as continuing to beat westward was not my idea of fun. If you have time the old dock (partly collapsed) on the east side of the Kyle of Tongue below Skullomie has an interesting entrance but is fairly shallow inside - I went in with a catamaran.
Loch Eribol has a few anchorages, I usually went down to Ard Neackie and anchored on the south side off the old lime kilns.
 

Concerto

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Did somebody mention anchoring? 😉
Did this trip twice this year, both ways, but always stopped at an anchorage mid way - Kyle of Tongue for example.
Oops SRM beat me to it
I regularly had been sailing 70 to 80 miles and thought it was going to be as fast as the other times. I admit I got it wrong and should have done it in 2 legs. However, pushing limits is something I am known for and not taking the easy routes, hence why I sailed the full round Britain.
 

Concerto

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Just slogged through the entire thread which was worth it to distill the really interesting and helpful stuff.

I have been toying with the idea of a ‘circumnavigation’ in our mobo. We sail as well and have often considered a yacht but because we also like going inland we have stuck with a mobo. My idea is to take as much time as it takes (so in retirement) and to take inland excursions as we go eg. up the Thames as far as we can get and likely into the Shannon in Ireland etc).

We have no interest in ‘ticking any boxes’ and it would be quite different to what has been discussed here although we would still do the same coastal cruising but with the benefit a a little more speed - not planing as we tend to ’plod’ along between 6 - 9 knots to keep fuel consumption reasonable and often to enjoy the passage. Day passages would be the order of the day so we would need to check that we can make harbours / anchorages each night and fuel availability would be an important factor but others have done it so presumably not a problem that can’t be overcome.

It is unlikely that we would go round the top and we would actually like to do the Caledonian canal. We are east coast based (south of Lowestoft) and might even consider getting to the end of the Caledonian canal and turning round to go back the way we came - perhaps taking the detour to Ireland on one leg and doing the English coast on the other. Staying at a location we like for a season would also be an option so cruising the west coast of Scotland would be a real consideration.

Just outline thoughts at the moment and complicated by the fact that we are still considering a yacht! 😉
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Not sure if you have seen the 2 articles in Motorboat and Yachting on going round Britain in under a month.

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How our crazy charity challenge began

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How we overcame east coast troubles
 

Whaup367

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Not sure if you have seen the 2 articles in Motorboat and Yachting on going round Britain in under a month.

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How our crazy charity challenge began

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How we overcame east coast troubles

How do the economics of this work? The fuel burn looks quite substantial (several hundred litres/day/boat) but the GoFundMe shows about £10K raised (on a quoted target of £5K). I guess if the intention is to do the trip for itself anyway, then using it to promote a charity is a bonus.
Is the main idea to raise awareness rather than money, perhaps amongst a particular demographic?

(Not criticising; curious).
 

Greg2

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Not sure if you have seen the 2 articles in Motorboat and Yachting on going round Britain in under a month.

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How our crazy charity challenge began

Boating around Britain in 26 days: How we overcame east coast troubles

Yes, I have seen these thank you, and I have watched many of the videos online.

I am not criticising them as it was quite a trip and each to their own but I see no attraction in burning a shedload of fuel to do a circumnavigation and see very little along the way. I was chatting to a couple who were visiting our marina on their very nice Vancouver Pilothouse 34 at the weekend and they were telling me that they don’t have a permanent berth and that they cruise during the season and find a place for winter lay-up wherever they end up. I quite like the sound of that as it fits with my notion of wending our way slowly round and simply staying for a while in places we like. A key element for us would be not working to any timescale but the downside may be berthing costs as a season of visitor rates, even interspersed with nights at anchor, could be a tad pricey.
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Greg2

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How do the economics of this work? The fuel burn looks quite substantial (several hundred litres/day/boat) but the GoFundMe shows about £10K raised (on a quoted target of £5K). I guess if the intention is to do the trip for itself anyway, then using it to promote a charity is a bonus.
Is the main idea to raise awareness rather than money, perhaps amongst a particular demographic?

(Not criticising; curious).

I did wonder that myself. No question that they were great boats to do it in, being very capable and seaworthy, but with semi-displacement hulls they wouldn’t have been the most efficient at higher speeds.
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Supertramp

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Once spent three comfortable days anchored in the bay off Talamine as continuing to beat westward was not my idea of fun. If you have time the old dock (partly collapsed) on the east side of the Kyle of Tongue below Skullomie has an interesting entrance but is fairly shallow inside - I went in with a catamaran.
Loch Eribol has a few anchorages, I usually went down to Ard Neackie and anchored on the south side off the old lime kilns.
We once called into the tiny harbour on the West side of Sandside Bay opposite the then live Dounreay plant. Not for the faint hearted and a hefty surge as a westerly gale blew through. Its an exposed coast but no worse than many other stretches of the UK coastline.
 

SaltyC

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I regularly had been sailing 70 to 80 miles and thought it was going to be as fast as the other times. I admit I got it wrong and should have done it in 2 legs. However, pushing limits is something I am known for and not taking the easy routes, hence why I sailed the full round Britain.
Concerto, the proverbial happens! The best laid plans go overboard when the wind hasn't read the forecast, the tides haven't looked at the tidal atlas and things take longer.
Personally, with respect to all, I have has more problems with headlands, tidal gates and uncooperative weather systems North of the M4 than South.
 
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