UK Circumnavigation - which way round ?

Circumnavigation of the UK
Sailing round Britain, whether fully crewed, short-handed or single-handed, is an aspiration held by many. 

Sailing round Britain and Ireland is one of those dream passages often discussed in yacht club bars far and wide. It is a long way around; almost 2000nm if we pass around the Shetlands, St Kilda (to the west of the Outer Hebrides) and around Ireland as well.

Below is the best guide available, from Adlard Coles Nautical Publications, available via Amazon.

The distance is equivalent to sailing from Plymouth to Gibraltar and back again or from Plymouth across the Atlantic to Newfoundland, so it’s something that should be taken seriously. 

Time and opportunity make it difficult for crews to plan and a more realistic route may be to pass through the Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and the islands of Orkney, which reduces the distance considerably. The passage of the Caledonian Canal, though considered by many as ‘cheating’ can also cut off a sizeable chunk.

Muckle Flugga is the most northerly lighthouse in Britain at 60°51’N, nearly 30 miles north of Bergen in Norway. 

It is 290 miles further north than Cape Horn is south and, although the Southern Ocean produces some impressive storms, the North Atlantic isn’t far behind in size or ferocity.

It is also possible to shorten the route by passing east of the Outer Hebrides and taking a short cut through the North Channel into the Irish Sea, leaving the west coast of Ireland to another time. This shortens the route by around 500 nm, but still leaves an impressive 1500 miles to sail – 250 sailing hours at 6kn or over 30 days, if sailing for eight hours a day.

This fella did it in this boat !!

Whatever the route, a wide variety of weather will be met on the way round. Routeing charts indicate that the winds will be mainly between southwest and northwest to the west of Britain and Ireland, but the main influence in the weather is from depressions passing to the northwest. As the depressions pass, the wind is likely to vary from S or even SSE on the approach of the low pressure, veering as the low passes to the NW.

The best time to go ??

In the North Sea the weather tends to swing between influence from the depressions passing to the NW of Scotland, to Continental influence tending to bring more settled conditions. The winds in the North Sea are therefore more variable through the summer months (June, July and August).

 You meet all sorts....

Although the chance of NE through E to SE is lower than any other directions, the chance of variable winds is greater. In addition, the average wind strength will be lighter than on the west coast. However, this is based on averages away from the land and coastal sailing will bring about local changes in wind direction and strengths. The three summer months of June July and August are when local sea breezes are most likely to occur making cruising a great pleasure with light coastal winds and settled anchorages; unless of course it is one of those summers when there seems to be a never ending supply of depressions arriving from the Atlantic.....here is the aftermath..

Which WAY To go?

There are great arguments for either a clockwise or anticlockwise route. Traditionally, races have been run clockwise and the advantage for this is the prevailing southwesterly wind to help for the long stretches west of Ireland and along the coast of Scotland.  This gets the more exposed parts of the voyage done at the beginning of the route (assuming a departure from the south coast of England), when the pressure of time is not so acute.

One disadvantage of the clockwise passage is the southerly route through the North Sea where distances are long and harbours few and far between.

Not everyone makes it....is that a Flying Dutchman ???

Plan it well and do it, is the advice. For the route through the Scottish Islands there is the opportunity to take shelter and short cuts can be taken with the option to miss the west coast of Ireland and to save it for another year.

Few coasts are straight and low lying and wherever there is a headland or high ground jutting out into the sea there will be an area where winds are likely to be accelerated and tides will run strongly. Passage plans should be made to go around these headlands under the most favourable conditions, which can result in a wait for a weather window.

And there are plenty of unexpected high points......!!