There are plenty of reasons to give Portland Bill a wide berth, not least the strong tides and uncomfortable sea state that can be whipped up. Yet the fact remains that this notorious headland is one of the first major hurdles of the Fastnet Race. Plan your approach and timing right and you stand to take a leap on your competition, get it wrong and you risk playing catchup.

But Portland Bill is just one of several key areas of the Fastnet race. Tidal experts Tidetech have recently announced the results of the detailed analysis of the currents over the entire course. As an example of the level of detail that is now possible they have provided a free link to the Portland Bill analysis.

And if that isn’t stimulating enough, take a look at the video (also provided by Tidetech) on my blog as a reminder as to why you don’t want to be close to shore at the wrong time, in the wrong conditions.

Fastnet Tidal Analysis

Avoiding the old Bill