Merry Christmas!

Seasons Greetings fellow mariners, I hope your day is gong well and Santa has been kind to you. Am I going to be equally kind? 

Bearing in mind most of you will have been busy playing with your new toys or getting so full it became uncomfortable and didn’t look out for question of the week -  Not a chance!

If you are aiming at Coastal skipper and YM you might find this more up your street. If you are just starting out - have a go, you should at least be able to understand the passage planning bit and possibly the weather bits and some of the tidal stuff. Write down your answers before you look for answers, let’s see what you’ve got.

Today’s question is all about weather and tides. 

Your intended passage is from Portishead Marina to Cardiff Marina for a late lunch and an evening  night passage return.

When doing your passage plan, you checked the tides and weather forecast. You have the following information for the area. 

Tidal information, today is springs  HW 1024  12.9m.     LW  1653  0.3      HW  2332  13.6m 

Shipping forecast Lundy for the period 0600 Tuesday 12 December 2023 to 0600 Wednesday 13 December 2023 (UTC)

WIND
Northerly backing northwesterly, 3 to 5.
SEA STATE
Slight or moderate, occasionally smooth in east.
WEATHER
Showers.
VISIBILITY
Good.

Inshore weather forecast 

24 hour forecast:
WIND
Northerly 3 or 4 increasing 5 or 6, backing northwesterly 5 to 7 later.
SEA STATE
Smooth or slight becoming slight or moderate.
WEATHER
Fair then rain or drizzle, showers later.
VISIBILITY
Good, occasionally moderate.

Barometric pressure 1036  expected 1038 by 1800.

I thought about asking the following, 

What does backing mean?

What wave height would you anticipate with a smooth, slight and moderate sea states?

What time would you anticipate showers?

The route you have decided on takes you over an area with a drying height of 4.5m at around 2030. Your vessel has a draught of 2.2m. What will your clearance be over the drying height

when you arrive at that point?

When thinking about visibility, what does moderate mean?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Oh, and the question……….  Did you book a table?

 
 

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