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Posted: 11-10-2013 23:54 Post subject:

Sea Ruby has anchored, SW of the Mumbles. It seems she has missed the tide, and now cannot enter Port Talbot until tomorrow morning.

Posted: 12-10-2013 11:46 Post subject:

Sea Ruby is getting under way to enter port Talbot. HW is 1226.

Fehn Cartagena is apparently en route from Rotterdam to Rostok, but she's not showing in AIS, for some reason.

Posted: 12-10-2013 12:50 Post subject:

Sea Ruby enters Port Talbot...

1330: SR in the lock from the River Afan to the docks...

1345: SR berthed in docks.

Posted: 12-10-2013 13:54 Post subject:

Islay Trader is still shuttling up and down the Thames, between Tilbury and the Beckton sewage works...

1405: But this time it seems she's going to moor at Port Erith.

Posted: 12-10-2013 16:35 Post subject:

Minka C has left Salerno bound for Livorno, also on Italy's west coast but much further north. She has passed the isle of Capri, and is now about 10 miles west of the island.

Fehn Cartagena has reappeared on AIS. She's now passing Terschelling in the Frisian Islands, heading east. She's bound through the Kiel Canal to Rostock, in Germany.

Posted: 13-10-2013 09:13 Post subject:

A bizarre endeavour:

Seasick man aims to swim from Land's End to John O'Groats
A man who suffers from seasickness is attempting to become the first person to swim from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
By David Barrett
9:00PM BST 12 Oct 2013

Sean Conway, 32, is already two thirds of the way through the 1,000-mile challenge, which requires him to swim the equivalent of one English Channel crossing every day.
After setting off from the tip of Cornwall on June 30 Mr Conway has now passed the mouth of Loch Torridon and is heading towards Cape Wrath - the most north-westerly point on mainland Britain.

But yesterday, 105 days after setting off on the record-breaking swim, he issued an urgent appeal for funds to keep his support team afloat, after over-running his original schedule by several weeks.
“Delays have been caused by bad weather, unpredictable tides and unforeseen logistical issues,” Mr Conway wrote on his blog.

“Most people laughed me off at the early stages saying I was going to die and it wouldn’t be possible, so finding good advice was hard to come by.
“Well, I’m now in Scotland with only 150 miles to go and with John O’Groats very much in sight, but I need help financially to get me a new skipper, feed the crew, buy fuel for the boat.”

Mr Conway, from Leckhampton, in Gloucestershire, who is raising money for the charity War Child, took on the swim despite suffering from seasickness.
He said donors who helped him raise the remaining £1,500 would be rewarded with his second-hand goggles, swimming hats and wetsuits.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10374801/Seasick-man-aims-to-swim-from-Lands-End-to-John-OGroats.html

“Delays have been caused by bad weather, unpredictable tides and unforeseen logistical issues..”

I'd like more details of these 'unpredictable tides'. Tides are very predictable, for the most part, as they are caused by the gravitational effects of sun and moon. Weather conditions such as atmospheric pressure can alter the predictions to a certain degree, but only rarely to dramatic proportions. (The east coast floods in 1953 were caused by a combination of high spring tides, low pressure, and northerly gales.)

Not only are tide tables available to give tide heights, but the UK Hydrographic Office also publishes a series of easy-to-use Tidal Stream Atlases. (In a few places, local knowledge may be needed for details that are too small to be described in a Tidal Stream Atlas, but that's partly what the support team is for.)

It seems to me that the preparation for this venture was inadequate.

Posted: 13-10-2013 10:27 Post subject:

Penlee LB is just returning to Newlyn after what seems to have been an exercise run to Lamorna.

Patricia is on passage from Milford Haven to Swansea, currently south of Worms head.

Balmoral is heading for Funchal, Madeira, currently off NW Spain.

Fehn Cartagen has just entered the Elbe, heading for the Kiel Canal and then Rostock.

Minka C is just south of Elba, and heading NW, bound for Livorno.
(Complete this well-known palindrome: "Able was I, ere ......." Wink

)

1033: The Penlee LB did not return to station, but headed straight out again, around the island off Mousehole, and then N towards Penzance...

1040: ..but turns back into Newlyn again.

Posted: 13-10-2013 10:52 Post subject:

Another LB, 16-27, leaves Falmouth, on passge to Padstow. It should be a quiet trip - the winds are light, from the west.

(She arrived in Falmouth yesterday afternoon, from Brixham.)

Posted: 13-10-2013 11:50 Post subject:

I was waiting for 16-27 to pass the Lizard, but no sign of it. Was there another AIS freeze?

I found it a few miles east of the Lizard, but heading slowly NE!

...and now she has stopped! Technical trouble, or what?

1152: Now she is heading west - towards the Lizard LB station...

1205: ..a bit of manoeuvring off the slipway...

1220: Suddenly she shot of to the SE, and then turned south...

1225: She continued her turn, and she's now passing the Lizard, heading west... (I wonder what that earlier business was, off the Lizard LB station?)

Posted: 13-10-2013 12:51 Post subject:

Dropping off drugs?

Posted: 13-10-2013 13:01 Post subject:

She continued as if for Lands End at 20 knots, but then slowed to about 5 knots - now she has altered course towards Newlyn/Penzance.

I suspect mechanical problems...

Posted: 13-10-2013 14:16 Post subject:

I'm baffled! LB 16-27 got into Mounts Bay, just north of Mousehole, then turned and started following the coast round towards Lands End at 20 knots.

Posted: 13-10-2013 14:18 Post subject:

Being pursued by a Customs & Excise cutter no doubt.

Posted: 13-10-2013 14:38 Post subject:

LB 16-27 has now passed Lands End, and the Sennen Cove LB station, without any more little detours.

1451: Passing Cape Cornwall (St Just).

Posted: 13-10-2013 15:06 Post subject:

Meanwhile, Fehn Cartagena entered the Kiel Canal nearly 2 hours ago.
Now she is at Hochdonn.

1532: Minka C arrives at Livorno, as LB 16-27 passes north of Ilfracombe.