Cowes Port Handbook 2014-2015 April 2014 | Page 38

COWES PORT HANDBOOK 2014 - 2015

Weather
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IIn the UK, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible
for the provision of Maritime Safety Information (MSI) to ships at sea,
which includes both weather information and navigational warnings.

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Solent Coastguard

A full Maritime Safety Information service is available on NAVTEX (518
and 490 kHz).
Solent & Portland Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC)
broadcasts on: Channels VHF 23, VHF 84, and VHF 86.
MSI is broadcast in local time such that the ‘clock time’ that the
broadcasts will be received at will remain the same throughout the year:
0130 - B
0430 - C
0730 - A
1030 - C
1330 - B
1630 - C

1930 - A

2230 - C
Routine A - Full Maritime Safety Information broadcast, including new
inshore forecast and outlook, gale warnings, shipping forecast, navigation
warnings (WZ), SUBFACTS and GUNFACTS where appropriate, three
day fisherman’s forecast when and where appropriate.
Routine B - New inshore forecast plus previous outlook, gale warnings.
Routine C - Repetition of inshore forecast and gale warnings as per
previous Routine A or B broadcast plus new strong wind warning (SWW).

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BBC Shipping Forecast (Local sea area - Wight)

Weather bulletins for shipping are broadcast daily on BBC Radio 4 at the
following times:
0048, 0520, 1201 and 1754 local time (LW 198 kHz)
0048 and 0520 (FM 92-95)
The bulletin includes an inshore waters forecast at 0048 and 0520.

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Weather information is also available from marinas, harbour offices,
Radio Solent, Isle of Wight Radio and the Bramblemet weather station.
Radio Solent
DAB radio, FM 96.1 and FM 103.8
www.bbc.co.uk/radiosolent
Isle of Wight Radio
FM 107 & FM 102
www.iwradio.co.uk
Bramblemet
An online weather information system, recording weather conditions in
the Central Solent, both in real-time and historically.
www.bramblemet.co.uk
Full Cowes Tide Tables from April 2014 to March 2015 are printed
at the back of this Handbook. A tide gauge and five day weather
forecast is available on www.COWES.co.uk.
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COWES.co.uk