EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT The Shipping Forecast
I find BBC Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast deeply romantic. Am I weird?
Not according to Mike Cohen of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations.
Well, if Mike thinks it’s OK…
He has likened the lure of place names such as North Utsire and South Utsire to finding ‘here be dragons’ on a map.
Anyone else seduced?
New Yorkers.
Really? You wouldn’t think our stateside cousins had much use for the wind speeds around Plymouth.
They’re not sailing by it, they’re sleeping to it, according to a recent New York Times article.
What’s the lowdown?
It waxed lyrical about the soporific effects of a five-hour YouTube loop of the broadcasts – normally only three minutes long.
What do they love so much?
‘Rhythmic phrases’ such as ‘Wight,
Portland, Biscay’, and ‘good, occasionally poor, becoming very poor at times in Plymouth’ are sending the city that never sleeps… to sleep.
I reckon I could help explain some of those names.
Really?
Sole is obviously a good fishing spot. As is Fisher. Dogger is doubtless better if you’re into…
Can we interject before you offend any more mariners? The 31 sea areas around the British Isles are named after geographical features, including sandbanks and estuaries. However, when Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy in 2002 it caused a lot of upset.
OK, thanks for the geography lesson. I also love ‘good, occasionally poor, becoming very poor at times’. I might put that on a T-shirt.
Gen Z designer Zoe Bread (a big deal on TikTok, where she has 845k followers) has already cornered the Shipping Forecast merch market with her ‘I only listen to the Shipping Forecast’ T-shirt.
Gen Z is inspired by nautical navigation?
The zoebread.com website calls the design ‘The perfect T-shirt if you own a lighthouse’ – so yes.
Got it. Everyone’s into the Shipping Forecast.
Apart from ships.
Pardon?
Last month, maritime bodies announced a campaign to tell mariners they must pick up their weather warnings elsewhere once the government shuts down long wave radio.
Wait – isn’t the Shipping Forecast on long wave radio? They can’t cancel the Shipping Forecast!
Relax. The death of long wave (programming stops this year) only means that it’s likely to go down to two broadcasts a day instead of the current four.
As long as it’s still available as a lifestyle trend. Don’t sailors have some kind of sea sat-nav these days, anyway?
Iridium SafetyCastSM, which can broadcast weather warnings anywhere in the world, is a new satellite service now approved for use in our maritime area.
Not very sexy, that. Lacks the poetic mystery of the Shipping Forecast.
We’ll make sure the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is apprised of your objections.
You do that. It’s surprising that more wellness gurus haven’t cottoned on to ‘shipping chic’.
They have, and New York – for once – is slightly late to the party.
Who else then?
Calm – an anti-anxiety app with more than four million users, posting bedtime stories read by the likes of Harry Styles and Matthew McConaughey – tweeted a response to the
New York Times article.
Saying?
IT FEELS LIKE ANYONE REALLY COOL IS ON THIS ‘SHIPPING CHIC’ THING
The Calm app already has the legendary BBC presenter Peter Jefferson – who read the broadcasts for more than 40 years – delivering the Shipping Forecast to insomniacs.
It feels a bit like anyone really cool is on to this thing.
They are. Now the Shipping Forecast, issued by Anna Pursglove on behalf of YOU magazine and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on Saturday 11 March. There are warnings of gales in Rockall, Malin…