Scotland

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Scotland Cruising Guide

An online cruising guide for yachts sailing around Scotland.

Scotland
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Scotland
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Flag
Capital: Edinburgh
Language: English, Scots Gaelic
Currency: GBP
Timezone: GMT (GMT+1 from April to October)
More notes about the country
Small info.png Latest News
Content - news items, etc.

This Cruising Wiki cannot hope to cover all the sailing areas in the United Kingdom but we will attempt to list ports and information of particular interest to cruisers.

Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England. It is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands; the main groups of islands being The Outer Hebridies and The Inner Hebridies on the west coast, The Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands on the north coast. The coastline of Scotland is varied and consists of flooded glaciated valleys running deep inland on the West Coast, large river estuaries (Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth, Solway Firth, Cromarty Firth, Moray Firth, Beauly Firth) and long coastlines on the North and East. In general the waters are deep close to the shore with notable exceptions in the river estuaries where extensive tidal drying areas exist.

Climate & Weather

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable. It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic, and as such has much milder winters (but cooler, wetter summers) than areas on similar latitudes, for example Copenhagen, Moscow, or the Kamchatka Peninsula on the opposite side of Eurasia. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the coldest ever UK temperature of -27.2 °C (-16.96 °F) recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, on 11 February 1895.[66] Winter maximums average 6 °C (42.8 °F) in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18 °C (64.4 °F). The highest temperature recorded was 32.9 °C (91.22 °F) at Greycrook, Scottish Borders on 9 August 2003.

Sources of weather forecasting: -

The primary source of weather information is from TheUnited Kingdom Meteorological Office. This is an online weather resource that provides detailed weather information for land, coast and sea areas around the UK. The Met Office issues the Shipping Forecast, Inshore Waters Forecast and actual weather reports which are updated throughout the day. The shipping forecast and inshore waters forecast issued by the Met Office is transmitted by the Coastguard on VHF radio and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 LW and FM. The Met Office web site should be consulted for Radio 4 Shipping Forecast transmission times and the Marine Coastguard Agency for Coastguard shipping forecast transmission times. The Coastguard announces on VHF Channel 16 the working channel that weather information will be transmitted on. The Met Office shipping forecast is also transmitted by Navtex.


Charts

Source of Navigational Data

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office provides both digital and paper charts for British waters. These charts are not free and can be purchased from a worldwide network of Admiralty Chart Agents. A list of chart agents is available from the Hydrographic Office web site.

The UKHO also produce Leisure Folios which cover all the main cruising areas and are an economic alternative to purchasing standard paper charts. Publication NP109 is the North West Europe catalogue and is a useful reference for selecting relevant charts for the intended cruising area.

In addition to the UKHO, charts can be obtained from Imray's British Isles and North West Europe portfolio. The 2000 Series and C Series charts from Imray are folios of charts which are very good value and contain chartlets at different scales on one sheet.

The coast of Scotland is fully covered with digital charts. In recent years Antares Charts provide detailed surveys of lesser surveyed areas for the cruising yachtsman and produce augmented UKHO charts with the detailed information. The Antares digital charts are very useful for close in shore navigation at some of the more spectacular areas. Coverage is limited but the Antares digital chart catalogue should Antares digital chart be consulted if the cruiser wants to explore some of the more challenging areas.

Principle Routing Charts

Large area 1:500,000 and 1:750,000 scale charts, from the UKHO, which cover the coast of Scotland are noted below. These charts are usefull for planning routes but can not be used for coatsal navigation as the scale will not show detailed navigational information.

  1. Chart 2635 Scotland West Coast
  2. Chart 219 Western Approaches To Orkney and Shetland Island
  3. Chart 2182B North Sea Central Sheet
  4. Chart 2182C North Sea Northern Sheet

Other charts for routing are availble from Imray and can be selected from the Imray Chart Catalogue.

Pilotage Information

Pilotage Information for the cruising yachtsman/woman in Scottish waters is better served from sources outwith the UKHO, which tend to provide pilotage data for larger vessels. The Clyde Crusing Club (CCC) produced a series of Sailing Directions which are considered comprehensive, definitive and relevant for the cruising sailor. The CCC Sailing Directions have been amalgamated with the Imray Crusining Guides for Scotland. The following Sailing Directions are available: -

  1. Crusing Scotland - The Clyde to Cape Wrath
  2. Firth of Clyde - Including Solway Firth and North Channel
  3. to Ardnamurchan
  4. Ardnamurchan to cape Wrath
  5. Outer Hebrides
  6. North and Northeast Scotland and Orkney Islands
  7. Shetland Islands

The North and East Coast of Scotland pilotage data is well served by Martin Lawrence's excellent 'The Yachtsmans Pilot North and East Scotland', published by Imray.

A digital reference for harbours and ports can be found at Visit My Harbour, where tidal data, facilities and chartlets are available for many ports in Scotland.

Tidal Data

The UKHO also provides Comprehensive tidal data digitaly and in paper format for ranges, heights, current and direction. Tidal data is also readily available online from many sources such as Marina and Harbour websites.

Special Navigation Notes

Any navigation notes here.

Local Radio Nets

Also see World Cruiser's Nets.

Arrival/Departure procedures

See United Kingdom.

Customs and Immigration

See United Kingdom, Customs and United Kingdom, Immigration.

Health and Security

Submit any health warnings/information and any security details here.

Ports & Popular Stops

Marinas & Yacht Clubs

Use this section only if there are few marinas not covered in pages under Ports and Islands above. Remove if not applicable.

Anchorages

List anchorages except the ones covered under Offshore Islands below. If there is more then 2 paragraphs for a given anchorage, create a dedicated page for it (Port/Stop Template).

List small anchorages and provide 1-2 paragraph description. We use headings for these so that other pages can link to them. Remove if not applicable.

Offshore Islands

Transportation

List transportation to other countries, etc.

Routes/Passages To/From

List popular passages/routes, timing, etc.

Cruiser's Friends

Contact details of "Cruiser's Friends" that can be contacted for local information or assistance.

Forum Discussions

List links to discussion threads on partnering forums. (see link for requirements)

External Links

References & Publications

Books, Guides, etc. Use the Reference template or not at your discretion. For example:

{{Reference|Rod Heikel|Greek Waters Pilot Imray||Laurie and Wilson, Cambridgeshire|9780852889718}}, expands to
Rod Heikell, Greek Waters Pilot Imray, Laurie and Wilson, Cambridgeshire, ISBN 9780852889718
  • Author, Title, Publisher, ISBN ISBN number
  • Author, Title, Publisher, ISBN ISBN number

Personal Notes

Personal experiences?

If you provide a lot of info and this page is almost complete, change to {{page useable}}.



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