Trough the Caledonian channel mid marts

[le]

Hi

A short Question from Denmark.

I'm going to sail my newly bought sailingboat (Bavaria Match 38) home to
Denmark, Holbaek - mid marts 2008. It is lying close to Glasgow.
I'm aware that the channel south of Glasgow - the Crinan channel, might not
open until the last weekend of marts.

My question is:
Is there any thing specific I would have to be aware of, due to the
transport trough the Caledonian Channel ?
I thought there might be a few people in here with experience from this
channel.

Thanks..
Lars Elmkjær, Denmark

[toad]

On 1 Dec, 17:53, "le" <g...@dr.dr> wrote:
> Hi
>
> A short Question from Denmark.
>
> I'm going to sail my newly bought sailingboat (Bavaria Match 38) home to
> Denmark, Holbaek - mid marts 2008. It is lying close to Glasgow.
> I'm aware that the channel south of Glasgow - the Crinan channel, might not
> open until the last weekend of marts.
>
> My question is:
> Is there any thing specific I would have to be aware of, due to the
> transport trough the Caledonian Channel ?
> I thought there might be a few people in here with experience from this
> channel.

Nothing at all to report. Hoseason's and Blakes both hire boats to
holiday makers, so navigation and sailing is trivial. It's a doddle
(and breathtakingly beautiful).

Of course that time of year there's going to be mixed weather so I
hope you're not limited by time and can pick your weather. (Especially
for going round the Mull of Kintyre.)

Enjoy!

[Duncan Heenan]

> On 1 Dec, 17:53, "le" <g...@dr.dr> wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> A short Question from Denmark.
>>
>> I'm going to sail my newly bought sailingboat (Bavaria Match 38) home to
>> Denmark, Holbaek - mid marts 2008. It is lying close to Glasgow.
>> I'm aware that the channel south of Glasgow - the Crinan channel, might
>> not
>> open until the last weekend of marts.
>>
>> My question is:
>> Is there any thing specific I would have to be aware of, due to the
>> transport trough the Caledonian Channel ?
>> I thought there might be a few people in here with experience from this
>> channel.
>
> Nothing at all to report. Hoseason's and Blakes both hire boats to
> holiday makers, so navigation and sailing is trivial. It's a doddle
> (and breathtakingly beautiful).
>
> Of course that time of year there's going to be mixed weather so I
> hope you're not limited by time and can pick your weather. (Especially
> for going round the Mull of Kintyre.)
>
> Enjoy!

Er...if he'sgoing through the Crinnan, doesn't that cut out the need to go
round the Mull of Kintyre?

[le]

Thanks everyone

Especially for all the links you send.
I didn't understand the thing about the "ditch crawler " perhaps it is
internal of some kind.

I can understand that I have too contact the people operating the bridge, to
see if everything operates.

what kind of weather is normal for marts in that area?

[Duncan Heenan]

> Thanks everyone
>
> Especially for all the links you send.
> I didn't understand the thing about the "ditch crawler " perhaps it is
> internal of some kind.
>
> I can understand that I have too contact the people operating the bridge,
> to see if everything operates.
>
> what kind of weather is normal for marts in that area?
In March it will be cold, probably some snow. It will also rain a lot and
there could be some strong winds. At sea listen on Channel 16 on VHF and the
Coastguard will give regular weather forecasts. If a gale is forecast do not
sail until it has passed, as those waters can be dangerous in rough weather.

[toad]

On 1 Dec, 22:56, "le" <g...@dr.dr> wrote:

> Is the tide so strong so it would be difficult to obtain speed even with the
> endgine running?

At neaps no problem. Springs? Depends how big you engine is. Pladda
narrows runs up to 7kts. (I once went through against the tide at
close to springs and IIRC the strongest part of the tide was pretty
localized so if you can do even 7.5kts it might be worth a punt.)

[toad]

On 1 Dec, 22:41, "le" <g...@dr.dr> wrote:

> what kind of weather is normal for marts in that area?

I've been going to Scotland more or less every year since I was about
8, and always go in the Sring because I'm convinced they get less rain
then and there's fewer people around.

Weather could be anything. Last Spring I saw two solid days of
frequent 45kt squalls at the begining of the week and 2 days later was
in shorts and T-Shirt in a flat calm. Pretty much every year seems to
be like that. The year before that we had a day of F10 which did
serious damage and really was unsailable. (IMHO)

The good news is that you're going north and the stronger winds are
likely to be SW giving you a fantastic ride. Also a large chunk of
your journey is sheltered so even if it really blows up the sea state
could potentially be fine.

You do need to have enough slack (spare time) in your shedule to be
able to hide in a sheltered place for a few days if you have to. If
you can't arrange that frankly you shouldn't be doing the trip.

So weather-wise, you'll get a bit of everything!

[toad]

On 1 Dec, 22:51, "Duncan Heenan" <duncanhee...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:

> In March it will be cold, probably some snow. It will also rain a lot

I'm convinced it rains less up there in Spring than any other time and
I've only seen (light) snow once in March. (Apart form the mountains
of course which are lovely and white.)

> If a gale is forecast do not
> sail until it has passed, as those waters can be dangerous in rough weather.

Interesting. I've always considered a big advantage of the West Coast
to be the fact that no matter how hard it blows (and it does) you can
almost always find somewhere sheltered to sail even if you are reefed
right down. Did you try sailing in stronger winds? Perhaps it wouldn't
have been as much a struggle as you fear?

> At sea listen on Channel 16 on VHF

Again interesting. I've found VHF very unreliable up there due to the
mountains. IMHO a combination of VHF, Mobile Phone & BBC Radio is the
best hope of weather info but even then sometimes you really are
incommunicado.

[toad]

On 1 Dec, 23:36, Martin <m...@address.invalid> wrote:

> The chances of that in March are not high.

You can get great weather even that early and the Gulf Stream helps.
Tiree is the sunniest place in the UK. Mind you, I wouldn't bet on
wearing shorts all week!

[Ronald Raygun]

> As a jock you'll know this but

Hoots, mon. I don't think I've been called that before.