Bookwhatisactuallyrunningtoday,fromwhorunsit.

This is what I lie awake about at three in the morning before a trip. My travel insurance has a weather clause but it pays only if the whole trip is cancelled, never one day of it, so I have stopped counting on it. What I do now is put the boat on day two or three and keep the last two days completely empty. It cost me nothing and it already saved a day in Madeira in May, where the Tuesday was 22 knots and the Thursday was flat.

We lost three days out of six one week in Lofoten and changed how we plan because of it. Boat days now go in the first half of the trip, always. I check a wind app against the local port page, and when the two disagree that is useful in itself. Ask what wind speed the skipper stops at. I have been told 15 knots and I have been told 25, and it depends entirely on the hull. We also hold back about 200 euro of the budget until the last two days so we can take the good day when it turns up.

The spare day advice only works if you have days. I get Friday night to Sunday night. A spare day is half my trip. So I book the boat for Saturday morning and accept that some weekends I pay for a coffee at the harbour and go home. Twice out of Palermo this year. Annoying, and I still think it is the right way round.