United Kingdom : Profile

Facts

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland incorporates the three countries of England, Scotland and Wales, the six counties of Ulster in Northern Ireland as well as several smaller island groups such as the Scillies, Orkneys and Shetlands. The Isle of Man, situated in the Irish Sea, has a special status and enjoys a certain degree of autonomy. The Channel Islands enjoy even greater autonomy, and are therefore treated separately.
With hardly anywhere over fifty miles from the sea, the British Isles has always been a maritime nation and produced some of the greatest sailors and navigators in history, a tradition which has continued into the modern age, when British cruising yachts were among the first to penetrate the furthest corners of the world. Sailing is a national pastime in Britain and the proportion of yachts per head of population is among the highest in the world.
The most popular cruising areas are the Solent and Isle of Wight, the south west counties of Devon and Cornwall, East Anglia and the west coast of Scotland. The British Isles provide a vast cruising ground with plenty of variety, the greatest drawback being the weather, which rarely ensures enjoyable cruising conditions for more than a few days at a time. Most visiting yachts limit their cruising to the south coast, where there is an abundance of yachting facilities, but also an abundance of local craft, resulting in crowded harbours. There are many cruising attractions and more space to be found elsewhere.
Mooring facilities vary both in quality and availability. In some of the fishing and commercial harbours these can be very basic. Not all yacht clubs have their own moorings, but when they do a place can usually be found for a visiting member of an overseas club. There are some 150 purpose-built marinas scattered about the coasts of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. All marinas operate on VHF Channel 80, which is monitored during normal working hours. Most marinas keep a number of berths for visiting yachts.
The most comprehensive range of repair facilities is to be found in the area between Southampton and Portsmouth where the biggest names in the British yachting industry are concentrated. It has been said that whatever cannot be fixed there probably cannot be fixed anywhere else in the world.

The climate is mild and temperate, being greatly influenced by the Atlantic and Gulf Stream. Rainfall is heavier on the western coasts. The spring, from March to May, can be cool and wet, while summer, from June to September, can be warm. The weather is very changeable, mostly due to low pressure systems that track east across the Atlantic bringing strong SW winds, usually of gale force. Occasionally there are long spells of pleasant weather when a system of high pressure remains stationary over the British Isles. In the summer months when the jet stream is more northerly the Atlantic lows track usually between Scotland and Iceland, giving the worst of the weather to the north, especially Northern Ireland and Scotland. In the winter the jet stream sinks south and then low systems track in across England, especially the southwest: Cornwall and the English Channel being worst affected, but also south Wales. Overall, prevailing winds are usually westerly in summer, and easterly/northern in winter. Strong tides make navigation around the British Isles particularly difficult.

In Scotland, the weather is very changeable, two days are never the same, but it rarely goes below freezing between March and November, May and June are often the best months with temperatures up to 24°C. The occasional summer gales rarely last longer than two days.

Weather forecasts are available on www.metoffice.gov.uk Click on "leisure", then "marine", then "inshore waters forecast". It gives a good reliable forecast for all UK waters. Issued at 05.00hrs and 17.00hrs. This forecast is repeated on VHF channel 16 every 4 hours by local coastguard stations along with navigational warnings.

Main Ports

National "Yachtline" 0845 723 1110

Use this number to report a vessel's arrival/departure to Customs.

HM Customs And Excise Offices

Avonmouth, Custom House, Clayton Street, Avonmouth, Bristol BS11 9AH (also Barnstaple, Bridgewater, Bristol, Burnham on Sea and Highbridge, Clevedon, Lydney, Minehead, Porlock, Sharpness, Watchet, Weston Super Mare)

Berwick, Custom House, 18 Quay Walls, Berwick upon Tweed TD5 1HB

Brighton, Martello House, 315 Portland Road, Hove East Sussex BN3 5SZ

Cardiff, Portcullis House, 21 Cowbridge Road East Cardiff, South Glamorgan CF1 9SS (also Barry)

Chatham, Anchorage House, High Street, Chatham, Kent ME4 4NW (also Faversham)

Douglas IOM, Custom House, North Quay, Douglas, Isle of Man

Dover, Priory Court, St Johns Road, Dover, Kent CT17 9SH (also Folkestone, Ramsgate, Rye, Whitstable)

Falmouth, Custom House, Arwenack Street, Falmouth TR11 3SB (also Padstow and Par, Fowey, Penzance)

Felixstowe, Custom House, View Point Road, Felixstowe IP11 8RF (also Ipswich, Woodbridge)

Great Yarmouth, Havenbridge House, North Quay, Great Yarmouth NR30 1HZ (also Lowestoft)

Harwich, Custom House, Main Road, Harwich CO12 3PG (also Brightlingsea, Walton on the Naze)

Holyhead, Customs Offices, Platform 1, Railway Station, Holyhead L65 1PD (also Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Chester)

Hull, Custom House, King George Dock, Hull HU9 5PW (also Brough, Silloth, Whitehaven, Workington)

Immingham, Custom House Immingham Dock, Immingham DN40 2NA (also Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Trent)

Kings Lynn, Alexandra Dock, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2ET (also Boston, Wells, Wisbech)

Liverpool, Royal Seaforth Dock, Liverpool L21 1JD (also Barrow, Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port, Fleetwood, Glasson Dock, Heysham, Hoylake, Preston, Runcorn, Southport)

Newhaven, Custom House, Harbour Terminal, Newhaven, Sussex BN9 0BD

North Shields, Tyne Commission Quay, The Fjord Line Building, Albert Edward Dock, North Shields, Tyne and Wear NE29 6EB (also Amble, Blyth, Maryport, Seaham Harbour, Sunderland)

Pembroke, Pembroke Dock, Custom House, The Dockyard, Pembroke Dock SA71 6TW (also Aberystwyth, Fishguard, Milford Haven)

Plymouth, Custom House, Parade, Plymouth PL1 2JP (also Dartmouth, Salcombe)

Poole, Portcullis House, New Harbour Road, Hamworthy, Poole, Dorset BH15 4AJ (also Weymouth)

Portsmouth, Norman House, Kettering Terrace, Portsmouth PO2 7AE (also Itchenor, Littlehampton)

Sheerness, Customs Office, Garrison Point, Sheerness ME12 1RS

Southampton, Compass House, Ordnance Survey Site, Romsey Road, Maybush, Southampton SO16 4HP (also Beaulieu, Cowes, Christchurch, Hamble, Lymington, Yarmouth)

St Mary's Isles of Scilly, Custom House Hugh Town, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly TR21 0PS

Swansea, Custom House, Pier Head, Kings Dock Swansea SA1 8RY

Teesport, Eustace House, Teesport, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS6 7SA (also Bridlington, Hartlepool, Scarborough, Whitby)

Teignmouth, Custom House, Teignmouth TQ14 8ES (also Brixham, Exmouth, Torquay)

Tilbury Dock, Custom House, Tilbury Dock, Tilbury RM18 7EJ (also Colchester, Bradwell, Burnham on Crouch, London Port, Maldon, West Mersea)

Scotland: Falcon House, Inchinnan Road, Paisley PA3 2RE (Greenock, Ayr, Oban, Ullapool, Highlands and Islands, Orkney, Shetland, Inverness, Montrose, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Dundee, Firth of Forth, Port Edgar)

Northern Ireland: Carne House, 20 Corrie Place, Belfast BT3 9HY (also Ardglass, Coleraine, Kilkeel, Larne, Londonderry, Portavogie, Warrenpoint)

East Coast: Amble , Great Yarmouth , Hartlepool , Harwich/River Orwell * , Humber Estuary * , Ipswich * , King's Lynn , London * , Lowestoft * , Queenborough/River Medway , River Blackwater , River Tyne , Southend-On-Sea , Whitby