A day out off Deal

[CELOCANT]

Yesterday the CELOCANT went afloat on Dave Lawence’s boat ‘Gary Anne’. I was invited as a guest by some old customers who thought I had lost my sea legs. Inshore waters forecast was a bit grim with north-east 4 to 5 going 6 to 7 and gale force 8 later. However, XC weather.co.uk gave the wind only slightly increasing throughout the day … and that’s what it did.

Weather forecasts have cost me thousands of pounds in lost wages when I was chartering. Nobody wanted to drive down from wherever on a dodgy forecast, although it was left up to me to say if the trip was on. Needless to say the weather forecast was the most important bit of TV that I used to watch. You could guarantee ITV would be different than BBC and the local TV stations different still. In the ‘old’ days I had to phone up the inshore weather forecast (which cost about 35p) and that was fairly accurate. It always puzzled me why a better wind prediction for Dover could not be broadcast … lets face it Dover is the busiest port in England and I’m sure most of the travellers from there would be interested – or maybe that was the reason why they did not! I once listened to an expert from the Met-Office being interviewed on the radio. He was asked why the predictions vary so much, he answered that the same information was given to all the forecasters, but they were advised to differ it slightly so it was not repetitive … my wife had to restrain me from throwing the radio out off the window … and she has never forgiven me on the expletives.

However, I digress. We fished a sand bank a couple of miles off Deal for bass. Bait was some prime yellowtails and peeler crab, with a few commons for good measure. I had tried to get some prawns the evening before, but perhaps they had smelt the coming north-east gale and moved out a bit, as there were none to be found. It was a pleasant days sport and we managed a few bass and decent sized smooth hounds. A thornback ray took a liking to a yellow tail on the full flood tide and the angler was happy for the next one to snap his line (it’s supposed to be sport … not hard work).

All in all a nice day out, and I caught the sun. As for the weather, XC was spot on, that evening the wind did blow; however, we managed to get the day in before it did. Just think, if I had the internet when I was working how much more money I could have earned. Oh well ‘no regrets’ … at least my blood pressure has returned to normal!

[Davefish]

Nice report glad you had a good day. Pity you couldnt get a few prawns, I am keep hearing how good a boat bait they are over here and would have liked to hear what you caught on them.
I think you did well to get a whole days fishing in before the wind got up to much- I had a wander round the rocks with my bucket in the eveening and one gust blew my glasses off.
As you say the wind predictions on the internet are much better these days. I have to say I dont think the MET office have moved with the times by producing a shipping forecast for the next 24 hours. We frequently get blown off the breakwater when a force 7 or above is forecast when everyone knows its not going to arrive for at least 12 hours and thats a real wind up.
DaveA

[CELOCANT]

I think the problem with understanding the shipping forecast is the definition of ‘soon’ and ‘later’ with strong wind warnings. I suppose with the Breakwater it’s all down to H&S and the insurance company specifying no passengers over a certain wind force that has been predicted. Very frustrating ….