Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

I have just taken a look at the 7 day wind forcast on WindGuru and it is forecasting 4 days of light winds next week! I think that this might be the very first time since I set out 4 weeks ago that there have been several consecutive days of light winds in the forecast. I mustn’t get excited thogh… forecasters have a wicked sense of humour and it might end up blowing a hooley next week but I will allow myself a little hope I think.

Ireland - Bangor / Ballyholme  [Options]

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GFS 24.06.2008 12 UTC Tu 24. Tu 24. Tu 24. Tu 24. We 25. We 25. We 25. We 25. We 25. We 25. Th 26. Th 26. Th 26. Th 26. Th 26. Th 26. Fr 27. Fr 27. Fr 27. Fr 27. Fr 27. Fr 27. Sa 28. 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h Wind speed (Bft) 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 1 3 3 3 2 2 4 4 3 Wind direction Temperature (°C) 13 13 12 12 14 14 14 15 14 13 10 13 14 13 12 12 13 14 16 14 14 15 14 Cloud cover (%) - 100 100 100 100 100 100 92 84 99 100 100 99 100 100 100 99 100 97 97 99 100 92 Rain (mm/3h) - 0.3 1.4 1.5 1.3 0.5         1.9   0.5 4.4 6.7 0.9       0.5 2.4 0.8   Windguru rating                     GFS 24.06.2008 12 UTC Sa 28. Sa 28. Sa 28. Sa 28. Sa 28. Su 29. Su 29. Su 29. Su 29. Su 29. Su 29. Mo 30. Mo 30. Mo 30. Mo 30. Mo 30. Mo 30. Tu 01. Tu 01. Tu 01. Tu 01. Tu 01. Tu 01. 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h 07h 10h 13h 16h 19h 22h Wind speed (Bft) 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 Wind direction Temperature (°C) 17 17 16 15 14 12 13 15 15 14 12 9 13 15 15 14 14 11 15 17 18 17 16 Cloud cover (%) 53 63 97 98 100 96 75 81 63 79 100 14 45 44 87 93 100 78 68 45 67 58 59 Rain (mm/3h)       0.3 0.4     0.3 1.6 1.4 0.5                         Windguru rating                                                Lat: 54.67, Lon: -5.64, Timezone: IST (UTC+1) 04:52 - 21:58  [Detail / Map] [Tides] [Archive] [Link]

I am having a spot of trouble finding suitable places for me to stand and collect, or rather I should say that Sally is having trouble because whilst I am out on the boat Sally is at home researching and trying to find places for me to collect at.

So, if you know any of the ports I am due to stop at and know of a shopping centre or supermarket that might give permission for me to do a day’s collecting then please let me know. It must be on private property (no public spaces as a licence is needed) and I must be able to get owner or manager permission prior to the day.

Clearly, with the weather as it is it will be difficult to say exactly which day I will be there so a degree of flexibility is needed. But if you know of somewhere please let me know at paul@roundbritain.org.uk . If you are willing to approach the manager/owner and ask on my behalf then so much the better as it often is better done either face to face or locally I have found… but please let me know first before approaching them as I wouldn’t want there to be a clash.

Finally, when I do arrive at your port if you could either run me to and from the collecting venue or give me directions on how to get there on public transport from the marina or harbour I would really appreciate that too.

This is all to enable me to collect as much for the RNLI on this trip as possible and ideally I would collect at every stop.

The current forecast for the rest of this week is not good. F4-6 generally with moderate to rough seas and I am looking for F3 with slight seas! There may be a chance on Friday or Saturday so I will keep an eye on how things develop and hope that we get a bit more high pressure.

Is the "Azores High" going to come north this year or will it stay south as it did last year and deny us any real settled spells this summer? It is stays south then I could still be on this trip at the end of August!