Forecasts of force-nine winds have led to Condor Ferries cancelling a series of sailings from Jersey to St Malo, Guernsey, Poole and Portsmouth today and tomorrow.
The cancellations included the first scheduled fast-ferry services on the Condor Rapide and Condor Liberation since the recent easing of travel restrictions.
Tomorrow’s Rapide crossing to St Malo has been withdrawn and replaced with a new sailing today, ahead of the worst of the conditions. Meanwhile, the Liberation sailing to Poole tomorrow has also been scrapped, with customers offered alternative services on Saturday and Monday.
Commodore Clipper services to Guernsey and Portsmouth have been cancelled for both today and tomorrow, with the next scheduled Clipper sailing now due on Saturday.
The cancellations are a blow to those Islanders who had made plans to visit family in the UK for the first time in several months, following the reintroduction of the Island’s risk-classification scheme for the UK and Crown Dependencies on 26 April.
The shipping forecast issued by Jersey Met yesterday for the 24-hour period starting at midday today predicted winds of up to force nine, with the sea state ‘moderate to rather rough’ at first and becoming ‘rough to very rough’ overnight, and perhaps ‘high’ – which denotes wave heights of six to nine metres – in the mid-Channel area tomorrow
morning.
