City of London Training Site

What do these terms mean?

Imminent.

Deepening.

Veering.

Filling.

Fair.

Slowly.

Good.

Moderate.

Soon.

Imminent.

Backing.

Rising slowly.

Near Gale.

Fresh Breeze.

Rather quickly.

Falling very rapidly.

Steadily.

Later.

Where is Gibralter Point and what is its significance?

Where would you hear these terms indoors.

When might you hear these terms indoors.

Why might you hear these terms indoors.

http://www.freewebs.com/kjtraining/meteorology.htm


The author was enroute (2003) in "Idle Spirit", an OVNI37 out of Christchurch, via the Solent for Brighton, Dover and onward to Lowestoft. There I would  disembark. The others would forge on for the fjords of Norway, later the canals of Sweden and then waters of the Baltic, before returning along the coast of Europe to Christchurch. The skipper was trialling the boat for long passages and the crew for compatibility. For me, it was a  chance to get in a combination of night hours, navigation, course planning, team-building, cooking and impress my young brother with my wealth of knowledge of Le Manche, the Dover Straits and the complexities of the outer Thames estuary.

In the previous year, I'd notched up almost 200 hours on a Brixham trawler which prowled the outer estuary and the Gull stream, training young people [mostly] from deprived areas of London and the banks of the estuary. So I was very comfortable at watching my rear to confirm which huge container ship was about to run us over, the latest count of wind generators off Whitstable and whether we could throw a lighted match at the Richard Montgomery and blow the whole Thames estuary into the Skaggerak or even the Kattegat. (Trust me! you need something to frighten the sshhtt out of some of the coves we had to deal with on the Kenya Jacaranda).

Later in 2003, the boat I was now on was destined for The ARC, that wonderful, initiating adventure for budding Atlantic wanna-bes with considerably more money than sense in many cases. In fairness to my younger sibling, he's made of sterner stuff, but would use the ARC as a handy excuse for swinging down via the Azores to the Canaries then cross to St. Lucia. On the return he hoped to follow the Gulf Stream to Nova Scotia. I would join in Baltimore to follow the overhead air routes I knew so well to Ireland, where I might just dis-embark, while the "Idle Spirit" sailed ever onwards to its home port, Christchurch.

It would have been a handy 20-day voyage culminating in an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean ticket in less than a month to complement the Yachtmaster Theory I'd bagged the previous year. The best laid plans ..........

Setting out at 0800 of an early June morning, we had an excellent forecast under our belts and a 'Full-English' wafting from the galley as we preened down Christchurch Harbour for Mudeford and the open sea. Well all right! We would be sneaking up the coast to Hurst Point  and entering the formality of the snobbiest reach of water I've ever skimmed across,  over the next four hours or so with a following wind and tide and a good breakfast to fortify ourselves. You have to take the rough with the smooth in such situations, don't you?

Our forecast for usable westerlies would move us along the coast at an average 6kts. We'd be in Brighton by 1900 to relax for the evening over a nice dinner and a bottle, or two, or three? We intended to use HW+6 to shoot the rapids at Hurst Castle and be off Hamstead an hour later. HW-5 would have us rounding the Gurnard and Prince Consort North Cardinals. HW-4 would us have flowing along in a good knot of tide with 10-15kts in the rigging and a nice stabard reach all the way to Nab for HW-3. The forecast F4 SW wind would work well with the tide and we would join the main ocean beofe the slack off Portsmouth at HW-2.  The next four hours would be interesting and a stronger wind would be advantage but we had SW F4 forecast for the day. Any lift in the wind would be much later.  when we were safely tucked up in our cots at Brighton.

With great respect for some of my best mates have been forecasters meteorology is well described as an in-exact science. This is no reflection on the people who do meteorology some of whom have been my best mates but trying to predict weather is sometimes like manipulating mercury with a fork. This was to be one of those days, from a metrological point of view but we were not to know that as we tucked into a Full English as the Needles slipped by to stabard about nine o'clock.

 ... when there is low pressure South of your position?

  ....  high pressure over Ireland and you are in the North Sea ?

   ...   when a low pressure area is centred 200 miles North West of your position?

  ... High pressure over France and you are in the channel?