Finisterre
Monday, 4 February, 2002, 12:22 GMT
R.I.P. Finisterre
Finisterre shipping forecast sea area
a familiar friend taken away from us after a lifetime of service
A renowned friend of sailors, Finisterre was one of a new breed of post-war sea areas to figure in every one of the Met Office's four daily weather forecasts. Born in 1949 of Latin extraction (finis terre translates as "end of earth") and one of the biggest of the sea area family, she immediately took up station off the northwest shoulder of Galicia.
In finer times, colleagues remember her fondly as being both "moderate" (visibility of two to five nautical miles) and "good" (five nautical miles). However, in sadder times Finisterre was "occasionally poor" (with visibility down to 1,000m). Friends have also remarked on her unsettling episodes of "veering" (changing of the wind in a clockwise direction).
Some have tried to explain this away as a result of the grief she felt at the loss of her brother Heligoland - who was lost in a battle with the Germans in 1956. Even the birth of German Bight - a precocious and popular new member of the sea area family - could not raise her spirits. Ironically, Finisterre was to lose her fight for life in similar circumstances to Heligoland. She was rubbed out by international agreement, since one of Spain's meteorogical areas confusingly bears the same name.
Finisterre is survived by siblings Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, Trafalgar, Sole, Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isles, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.
The funeral will be held at sea and will double as a christening for baby sea area FitzRoy – named after the grandpa of all shipping forecast areas, Met Office founder and HMS Beagle captain, Admiral Robert FitzRoy.
