Bad day, Rough conditions...
- 8 December 2011 15:23141536Anyone looking out the window right now wont need me to tell them what kind of an awful day we're having. Despite the horrible conditions, lets face it you wouldnt put a cat out on a day like today, yet through all this miserable rough wet windy weather the guys on the Ferries and in the Harbour keep going..
Here we see the crew on the Pride of Kent gingerly battling to make their way into the safety of the harbour. Visibility is bad but I managed to get some forced shots through the gloom an hour ago...the sea is very rough indeed.
email: dover7@msn.com - 8 December 2011 15:54141537those photos make it all look very grim, i always feel most sorry for the staff on the berths in weather like that.
- 8 December 2011 15:56141538Definitely a day to be on dry land, although even on dry land conditions are abysmal. These ambulance guys off on an emergency call a few moments ago...you can see the sea raging behind..
email: dover7@msn.com - 8 December 2011 17:12141545Hope it calms down for my crossing on Saturday !!Been nice knowing you :)
- 8 December 2011 17:13141546A good day to be indoors
Audere est facere. - 8 December 2011 17:34141547p & o and d.f.d.s have announced delays to their sailings, not a big surprise.
- 8 December 2011 17:49141553Delays is the key word Howard, they still keep going in all but the extremest weather to the credit of the all involved.Audere est facere.
- 8 December 2011 17:52141555indeed martin the port always somehow manages to carry on whatever the circumstances - all credit to the staff.
- 8 December 2011 18:39141563Very strong gusts here right now...not quite as bad as Scotland perhaps but nevertheless quite rough, yet the ships are carrying on..heading out into the raging conditions...just been watching a couple of them go out. Hope those crossing right now are strong sailors.
Good luck on saturday Scotchie...not sure about wind strength but it looks better on the charts, sunny but cold.email: dover7@msn.com - 8 December 2011 18:45141565let's hope the lifeboat is not called upon tonight.
- 8 December 2011 19:38141575When I worked in the docks for what was then Townsend Thoresen in the 80's, I used to keep a day trip ticket in reserve, as we had to apply for them a few days in advance. If rough weather came up like this it was great fun to have a trip on one of the smaller ferries. The FE1 was quite horrendous, better than a ride in a theme park ! I remember the captains announcement advising passengers to remain seated. Sometimes we had to wait a couple of extra hours to enter port but as long as the bar stayed open ( at crew prices ) we never complained.
- 9 December 2011 11:52141658Ah good story there Andy...sounds a fascinating pursuit if you are a hardy sailor and dont mind all that rolling..that brings to mind my oul days out on the Oirish Sea, only as a passenger I hasten to add, but I spent many a death defying trip onboard the bone shaking eye rolling Priness Maud wondering if I would ever catch sight of dry land again. The distances between harbour point A and harbour point B are much further out there so the terrors are all the more...9 hours even 11 hours for 4 hour crossing wasnt unheard of.
I know I often mention the oul Princess Maud but I have to see a psychiatrict three times a week now on account of it !!
One of the guys put a picture up on here of it one time I had to immediately hide behind the sofa!!lol 
Seriously though I should have made a copy of the ship at the time as its unfindable now on some past thread.
Weather much better and benign today out there on the channel so its looking better for Scotchies crossing.email: dover7@msn.com - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
9 December 2011 12:00141660paulb,11 hours thats nothing,try an 18 hour round trip to zeebruge on a rough day,forse 10 winds for 36 hours water breaking over the bridge all on a small ferry [fe8]. - 9 December 2011 12:06141663http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/BRPrincessMaud.html
http://www.sealink-holyhead.com/railway/ships/princess_maud/home.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 9 December 2011 12:52141670interesting stuff tom, quite a history to the "princess maud".
- 9 December 2011 12:57141671Gawd Tom you are great with the links...how do you do it!
Thats the very culprit herself, now languishing in Greece I see under the name of Venus..Venus!!...as John Wayne said in The Searchers...that'll be the day!
My relations too-ing and fro-ing to England used to tremble in fear if she was the one on the ticket.
Ah now Brian you're showing off now so y'are !!lol...18 hours to Zeebrugge We ate Force 10's for breakfast in the Oirish Sea...although we brought up our breakfasts at the same time!!
email: dover7@msn.com
