BBC Shipping Forecast Hits New Highs (and Lows)

There is something timeless about the BBC Shipping Forecast read from a script four times a day on Radio 4, since I can remember (40 Years this week). Not being too maritime myself, it is interesting that the tone and pace of the Shipping Forecast is the same today as it was when I was growing up in Scotland. Obviously the purpose is important for those responsible for craft in some of the most inhospitable seas in the world.

There is something romantic and very familiar about the 31 sections of watter that make up the area covered by the forecast. Fisher, German Bight, Cromarty, Trafalgar and the like.

And although references to "north veering north-east, three or less" and "smooth or slight" might mean nothing to land-based listeners, they are hugely significant to sailors who tune in to Radio 4.

"What we're interested in is the wind force direction and how quickly it's going to change," says Captain Paul Wood, who regularly sails cross-Channel ferries for P&O.

"The forecast will tell us what we're getting, but we can also find out what's causing that problem for us.

If it says 'low Finistere', I know where that is. And if it says 'moving deep and north-east to Forties', I can immediately get a mental picture of where it's going and what the weather will do.

"I know the sea areas like the back of my hand and they make perfect sense to us."

Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer describes the forecast as "baffling".

"It scans poetically. It's got a rhythm of its own. It's eccentric, it's unique, it's English.

"It's slightly mysterious because nobody really knows where these places are. It takes you into a faraway place that you can't really comprehend unless you're one of these people bobbing up and down in the Channel."

Like these guys.

Listen for yourself