Ever listened to the shipping forecasts on the radio?
Discussion
I knew where some of the areas were, but I'm surprised that is hasn't been superseded by the internet or some sort of satellite downlink. Having to sit and listen to all of the areas that don't interest you until the area you need comes on doesn't make sense now that we have phones and apps. I'm sure someone is going to say it's not so easy when at sea, but I'm sure there's still a better way. But then the same applies to broadcast television. I just don't get why anyone watches it for anything that isn't live sport or current events.
I used to sail a small yacht myself around parts of the north west coast of Scotland 25-30 odd years ago.
On a small, "cheap" boat there was no other way to check on forecasts in those days as mobile phones/data did not exist in practical terms and there was no coverage in the areas I sailed in anyway.
There were forecasts issued by the coastguard on the VHF radio, but not that much from memory in the earlier days, and my VHF radio was not that great at picking things up anyway. When you tucked up a remote high sided sea loch it does not help.
There was a thing called "Navtex" that would send radio signals to a small digital display (think toy LCD screen from the early 80s) but ours never really worked properly.
Although I was inshore sailing only, you were really quite exposed in those days as there were not many boats about, nor habitation in the nicer places to sail/anchor up for the night.
I have very fond memories of staying up late, listening to the great Ronald Binge
, and then the forecasts.
Then getting up again at stupid o'clock to get the morning forecast (Medley of sea shanties before this one) one to see what had changed - ie was I safe to move on or not that day, which direction to sail to make the most of the wind (I was on holiday, I didn't care that much), and how quickly I needed to get somewhere to be safe from the next lot of bad weather and which direction it was coming from so I could select the most protected anchorage.
Really can't see why they have it all nowadays with the access we have to mobiles and satellite information, but still love hearing it.
There is a huge amount of information in the overall forecast that you can use to create your own weather chart of the UK, TV weatherperson stylee. Never quite managed to do that myself though.
On a small, "cheap" boat there was no other way to check on forecasts in those days as mobile phones/data did not exist in practical terms and there was no coverage in the areas I sailed in anyway.
There were forecasts issued by the coastguard on the VHF radio, but not that much from memory in the earlier days, and my VHF radio was not that great at picking things up anyway. When you tucked up a remote high sided sea loch it does not help.
There was a thing called "Navtex" that would send radio signals to a small digital display (think toy LCD screen from the early 80s) but ours never really worked properly.
Although I was inshore sailing only, you were really quite exposed in those days as there were not many boats about, nor habitation in the nicer places to sail/anchor up for the night.
I have very fond memories of staying up late, listening to the great Ronald Binge
, and then the forecasts.Then getting up again at stupid o'clock to get the morning forecast (Medley of sea shanties before this one) one to see what had changed - ie was I safe to move on or not that day, which direction to sail to make the most of the wind (I was on holiday, I didn't care that much), and how quickly I needed to get somewhere to be safe from the next lot of bad weather and which direction it was coming from so I could select the most protected anchorage.
Really can't see why they have it all nowadays with the access we have to mobiles and satellite information, but still love hearing it.
There is a huge amount of information in the overall forecast that you can use to create your own weather chart of the UK, TV weatherperson stylee. Never quite managed to do that myself though.
Portofino said:
Its great for going to sleep to.
The sleeping forecasthttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0cjyk2w?partne...
gazza285 said:
They certainly haven't stopped, I hear it regularly at half past five in the morning.
Twice a day and thrice on weekends.It's a friend to shift workers, and mariners alike.
Driving home from the operating theatre I will put on R4 and wind down to it.
I have a friend with a terrier called Malin, his previous one was called Bailey.
A bastion. Comforting.
s2kjock said:
I used to sail a small yacht myself around parts of the north west coast of Scotland 25-30 odd years ago.
On a small, "cheap" boat there was no other way to check on forecasts in those days as mobile phones/data did not exist in practical terms and there was no coverage in the areas I sailed in anyway.
There were forecasts issued by the coastguard on the VHF radio, but not that much from memory in the earlier days, and my VHF radio was not that great at picking things up anyway. When you tucked up a remote high sided sea loch it does not help.
There was a thing called "Navtex" that would send radio signals to a small digital display (think toy LCD screen from the early 80s) but ours never really worked properly.
Although I was inshore sailing only, you were really quite exposed in those days as there were not many boats about, nor habitation in the nicer places to sail/anchor up for the night.
I have very fond memories of staying up late, listening to the great Ronald Binge, and then the forecasts.
Then getting up again at stupid o'clock to get the morning forecast (Medley of sea shanties before this one) one to see what had changed - ie was I safe to move on or not that day, which direction to sail to make the most of the wind (I was on holiday, I didn't care that much), and how quickly I needed to get somewhere to be safe from the next lot of bad weather and which direction it was coming from so I could select the most protected anchorage.
Really can't see why they have it all nowadays with the access we have to mobiles and satellite information, but still love hearing it.
There is a huge amount of information in the overall forecast that you can use to create your own weather chart of the UK, TV weatherperson stylee. Never quite managed to do that myself though.
Inshore waters forecast. On a small, "cheap" boat there was no other way to check on forecasts in those days as mobile phones/data did not exist in practical terms and there was no coverage in the areas I sailed in anyway.
There were forecasts issued by the coastguard on the VHF radio, but not that much from memory in the earlier days, and my VHF radio was not that great at picking things up anyway. When you tucked up a remote high sided sea loch it does not help.
There was a thing called "Navtex" that would send radio signals to a small digital display (think toy LCD screen from the early 80s) but ours never really worked properly.
Although I was inshore sailing only, you were really quite exposed in those days as there were not many boats about, nor habitation in the nicer places to sail/anchor up for the night.
I have very fond memories of staying up late, listening to the great Ronald Binge
, and then the forecasts.Then getting up again at stupid o'clock to get the morning forecast (Medley of sea shanties before this one) one to see what had changed - ie was I safe to move on or not that day, which direction to sail to make the most of the wind (I was on holiday, I didn't care that much), and how quickly I needed to get somewhere to be safe from the next lot of bad weather and which direction it was coming from so I could select the most protected anchorage.
Really can't see why they have it all nowadays with the access we have to mobiles and satellite information, but still love hearing it.
There is a huge amount of information in the overall forecast that you can use to create your own weather chart of the UK, TV weatherperson stylee. Never quite managed to do that myself though.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff