UK - Life Below Zero

[Pete7]

Its a tad cold in England at the moment, quite surprisingly we are seeing harbours freezing over.

UK weather: Sea freezes over at Isle of Wight harbour - BBC News

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Its a tad cold in England at the moment, quite surprisingly we are seeing harbours freezing over.

UK weather: Sea freezes over at Isle of Wight harbour - BBC News

i was going to fit my new solar panels in the next few days but have been wondering how to get them across the river to the cat,looks like i might be able to just slide them across

[boatman61]

Remember Poole Harbour freezing in large parts back in the 80's.. that's when I started carrying a large flask of hot water to pour down the neck off my wet suit every so often..
14hr days in and on the water with my Whaler helping map out Poole Bay's oil field.. ahh to be young again..

[Pete7]

So the UK ice flows are now moving into the salt water creek at the bottom of our garden. This is worrying, if it freezes over completely then the Polar Bears will come down onto the ice in search of seals and the obvious risk to people.

I might need to buy a gun and some ammo

[Pete7]

Sadly the storm last night has done some damage with 60 boats destroyed in Holyhead.

[Dockhead]

They're calling it the "Beast from the East", and it's the strongest winter weather I've ever seen in the UK. It's nothing compared to normal winter weather in Scandinavia or Russia or elsewhere on the Continent, but the South of England is just not set up for this kind of weather. People spent the night on the London-Weymouth train last night, without heat, when it got stuck and lost power. Many roads are closed and many flights are cancelled.

I'm on board in Cowes and it's tedious with constant 20 to 30 knots of wind out of the ENE and below freezing temps. And my hydronic heater is broken! Fortunately my boat is fully insulated on the inside, and with a fully cored hull, so it's reasonably toasty with 4kW of electric heat on and the forward cabins blocked off.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Sadly the storm last night has done some damage with 60 boats destroyed in Holyhead.

Here I was thinking it was only dumb Americans who couldn't be bothered to remove roller furling headsails before a big storm....

Looks a bit nasty there, hope you all stay warm and safe!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Here I was thinking it was only dumb Americans who couldn't be bothered to remove roller furling headsails before a big storm....

Looks a bit nasty there, hope you all stay warm and safe!

No.. thats a habit universal.. usually though it because they are not furled tight and tied off properly for the winter.. sloppy seamanship.

[weavis]

It does make me feel a little sad when I see nice boats get distressed.

It also causes irritation when people dont prepare the boat for the adverse weather properly. They expect the insurance to cover all losses.

oh well.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

and it's the strongest winter weather I've ever seen in the UK. .

Not just the UK, pretty crazy all around the north Atlantic.

Load of day boats got taken out here in Faro when a tornado went through on Wednesday.

Arctic is way off normal temperature for this time of year.

[boatman61]

Portugal is going through its normal Winter/Spring weather.. beach damage along the coast of the Algarve..
West coast with the 7 to 12 metre sea's and coastal damage.. a Pilot died the other day at Lisbon when crossing to a ship and lost his footing.. they searched for two hours but could not find him because of the high sea's..
5 Brits got the Darwin Award in Madeira a couple of days back when they ducked under police barriers to photograph 16 to 20metre sea's.. never to be seen again.
Same old same old..

[conachair]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Portugal is going through its normal Winter/Spring weather.. beach damage along the coast of the Algarve..
West coast with the 7 to 12 metre sea's and coastal damage.. a Pilot died the other day at Lisbon when crossing to a ship and lost his footing.. they searched for two hours but could not find him because of the high sea's..
5 Brits got the Darwin Award in Madeira a couple of days back when they ducked under police barriers to photograph 16 to 20metre sea's.. never to be seen again.
Same old same old..

Not every winter, and usually doesn't hang around this long. Bit worse than usual but certainly not unheard of.
Jet stream has been pointing at Morocco for a while with no desire to move in the near future.

Actric ain't same old for sure ...

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Sadly the storm last night has done some damage with 60 boats destroyed in Holyhead.

That looks serious. Any other marinas like that? It doesn't seem to be over yet...

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Sadly the storm last night has done some damage with 60 boats destroyed in Holyhead.

You picked an exciting time to move aboard, mate! Hope your situation is more protected than in the picture.

Ann

[Pete7]

Ann, now that the water and gas pipes have been replaced we have been able to move home. The sea ice from spray building up on the pontoons and decks was just too dangerous to be constantly moving around on.

Pete