Storm Austen ferry cancellations: amber warning, Scillonian and most Condor sailings off on Friday, Wightlink braces for a shutdown
The Met Office raised Storm Austen to an amber wind warning on Wednesday morning, and the ferry companies followed. The Scillonian III will not sail to Scilly on Friday 23 October. Condor has cancelled every Poole and St Malo sailing to and from Guernsey that day, and DFDS's Jersey sailings were already off. Wightlink now expects significant disruption to its car ferries and FastCat, with possible spells on Friday when nothing sails, and asks passengers to move to Thursday. In the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man Steam Packet has seven of Friday's eight sailings at risk. The amber warning covers Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and the Isles of Scilly from 03:00 to 10:00 on Friday, with gusts of 60 to 70 mph and perhaps 80 mph on exposed headlands. Below is every route as each operator's own page showed it between 17:40 and 18:30 BST on Wednesday. We will check again on Thursday and on Friday morning.
Friday 23 October in brief: amber in the south-west, Scilly, Jersey and most of Guernsey cancelled
The yellow warning now covers the whole south coast from Cornwall to Kent, and south Wales including Pembrokeshire. The amber warning sits over Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Scilly. Those are the ports for the Isle of Wight, Scilly, the Channel Islands, France and Rosslare.
Route by route: Friday's status on each operator's own page
As shown between 17:40 and 18:30 BST on Wednesday 21 October. "Running" means the operator was still showing Friday's sailings as on time or planned.
| Route | Operator | Friday 23 Oct |
|---|---|---|
| Penzance–St Mary's | Isles of Scilly Steamship (Scillonian III) | Cancelled. Passengers moved to Saturday 24, which is still under review |
| Portsmouth–Jersey | DFDS | Cancelled both ways (also Wed, Thu, Sat). Extra sailing on Sunday |
| St Malo–Jersey | DFDS | Cancelled: 15:00 from St Malo, 16:55 from Jersey |
| Poole–Guernsey–St Malo | Condor Ferries | Cancelled: all six Friday sailings of the Voyager |
| Portsmouth–Guernsey | Condor Ferries | Guernsey 08:15 to Portsmouth cancelled. Portsmouth to Guernsey moved to 22:00, arriving 08:00 Saturday |
| Portsmouth–Fishbourne, Portsmouth–Ryde, Lymington–Yarmouth | Wightlink | Significant disruption expected on car ferries and FastCat, possibly spells with no sailings. Free move to Thursday or another day |
| Southampton–East Cowes, Southampton–West Cowes (Red Jet) | Red Funnel | No storm notice yet. Vehicle ferry running to timetable on Wednesday |
| Southsea–Ryde hovercraft | Hovertravel | "Services are disrupted" on Wednesday; tickets accepted on Wightlink's FastCat. No Friday notice |
| Portsmouth–Caen, Plymouth–Roscoff | Brittany Ferries | Running. Caen 08:00, 15:00 and 23:00 and Roscoff 12:00 on time |
| Portsmouth–St Malo | Brittany Ferries | Running, delayed: 20:15 sailing due in at 08:45 instead of 08:15 |
| Heysham, Liverpool and Larne–Douglas | Isle of Man Steam Packet | At risk: 7 of 8 sailings, decisions from 17:00 Thursday |
| Fishguard–Rosslare, Holyhead–Dublin | Stena Line | Friday not published yet. Thursday on time |
| Pembroke Dock–Rosslare | Irish Ferries | Running. All four Friday sailings shown on time |
Isle of Wight: three operators, one warning from Hampshire to the island
The island, Portsmouth, Southampton and the whole of Hampshire are inside the yellow warning. Wightlink has stepped up its warning; Red Funnel had still posted nothing about the storm on Wednesday evening.
Channel Islands: Jersey cut off from Portsmouth until Sunday, Guernsey's Friday sailings cancelled too
DFDS runs Jersey's links with Portsmouth and St Malo, and Condor runs Guernsey's. On Tuesday they were making very different calls. By Wednesday evening both had cancelled most of Friday.
| Day | Portsmouth–Jersey (DFDS) | St Malo–Jersey (DFDS) |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 21 Oct | Cancelled 09:00 out, 20:00 back | Cancelled 17:10 out, 19:05 back |
| Thu 22 Oct | Cancelled 09:00 out, 20:00 back | No sailing listed |
| Fri 23 Oct | Cancelled 09:00 out, 20:00 back | Cancelled 15:00 out, 16:55 back |
| Sat 24 Oct | Cancelled 09:00 out, 20:00 back | Under review: 07:30 out, 09:25 back |
| Sun 25 Oct | Extra sailing 09:00 out, 20:00 back | Under review: 06:30 out, 08:25 back |
| Mon 26 Oct | On time 09:00 out, 20:00 back | Extra sailing 17:10 out, 19:05 back |
DFDS last updated its Jersey page at 07:15 on Wednesday. Nothing changed from Tuesday. It says the cancellations are "due to adverse weather conditions and strong winds forecast across the Channel" and that the extra sailings, added for the busy half-term period, remain subject to the weather. Its customer care line is 0344 848 6090.
| Day | Condor: Guernsey with Poole and St Malo (Voyager) | Condor: Guernsey with Portsmouth (Islander) |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 21 Oct | Cancelled: Guernsey–Jersey, Jersey–Guernsey, St Malo–Guernsey, Guernsey–St Malo | On time |
| Thu 22 Oct | On time: St Malo 12:00, Guernsey 14:00 | Guernsey 08:15 on time. Portsmouth 19:45 cancelled |
| Fri 23 Oct | Cancelled: all six sailings to and from Poole and St Malo | Guernsey 08:15 cancelled. Portsmouth 19:45 moved to 22:00 |
| Sat 24 Oct | On time: St Malo 08:15, Guernsey 10:15 to Poole, Poole 14:30, Guernsey 18:30 to St Malo | Guernsey–Portsmouth 23:59 moved to 08:00 Sunday; St Malo sailings retimed |
Condor's sailing updates page, read at 18:05 BST on Wednesday. Its booking website was down for maintenance at the time: Condor says bookings can be made or changed through its contact centre on 0345 609 1024.
Scilly, Bristol Channel and Pembrokeshire: the western end of the storm
Austen arrives from the south-west, so Cornwall, Scilly and the Pembrokeshire ports feel it first, from late on Thursday.
Across the Irish Sea, Stena Line's Fishguard–Rosslare and Irish Ferries' Pembroke Dock–Rosslare leave from Pembrokeshire, which is inside the yellow warning. Irish Ferries was showing all four of Friday's Pembroke Dock–Rosslare sailings on time on Wednesday evening. Stena had not published Friday yet, and its Thursday sailings were on time. Holyhead, on Anglesey, is outside the warning area, although the Met Office warning is about land areas and says nothing about conditions out on the Irish Sea.
On the north Devon coast, MS Oldenburg's season to Lundy ends with a sailing on Friday 23 October, according to the Landmark Trust's published timetable. We could not reach its live sailing notices. In Pembrokeshire, the little boats from Tenby to Caldey Island run until 31 October, Monday to Saturday, and are sold only on the day because the crossing depends so much on the sea.
Isle of Man: Friday's sailings at risk, and the weekend too
The Isle of Man is not in the Met Office warnings, but the Steam Packet has flagged almost every sailing from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon. Each one is decided separately, at a set time.
| Friday 23 October | Ship | Status | Decision by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:15 Heysham → Douglas | Ben-my-Chree | Scheduled | – |
| 06:45 Douglas → Larne | Manannan | At risk | 17:00 Thursday |
| 10:45 Larne → Douglas | Manannan | At risk | 17:00 Thursday |
| 08:00 Douglas → Heysham | Ben-my-Chree | At risk | 06:00 Friday |
| 13:45 Heysham → Douglas | Ben-my-Chree | At risk | 06:00 Friday |
| 15:00 Douglas → Liverpool | Manannan | At risk | 13:00 Friday |
| 19:15 Liverpool → Douglas | Manannan | At risk | 13:00 Friday |
| 19:30 Douglas → Heysham | Ben-my-Chree | At risk | 17:00 Friday |
On Saturday, all six sailings are also marked at risk: the 02:00 from Heysham, the 08:00 from Douglas to Heysham, the 10:00 from Douglas to Liverpool, the 13:45 from Heysham, the 19:15 from Liverpool and the 19:30 from Douglas. On Sunday, five of six are at risk; only the 19:30 Douglas–Heysham is shown as scheduled. That fits the Met Office's outlook of another low bringing strong winds to northern parts of the UK over the weekend.
The Steam Packet says passengers on these sailings can change their booking free of charge in their online account, or through its reservations team on 01624 661 661 or 08722 992 992. Its page was last updated at 16:41 on Wednesday.
Chain ferries and harbour crossings inside the warning area
These short crossings are run by councils, harbour trusts and small companies. Each decides on the morning itself, so check its own page before you drive to the slipway.
Where to check live, and when the next updates are due
Operators contact booked passengers by text or email first. The web pages can lag behind, so look at your phone before the website.
- Met Office: Storm Austen named (20 October 2026, 10:45 BST), Amber warning issued as Storm Austen approaches (21 October, 10:47 BST) and the warnings themselves on the UK warnings page (amber and yellow wind warnings, last updated 09:41 BST on 21 October; areas and times in UK time).
- Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel live status pages, read on 21 October 2026; Red Funnel travel updates for the weekend works.
- Isles of Scilly Steamship Group: Scillonian III operational updates for 21–24 and 26 October 2026, and Skybus weather advisories for 21, 22 and 23 October.
- DFDS: Important Travel Update, Portsmouth–Jersey & St Malo–Jersey, 21–26 October (updated 21 October, 07:15).
- Condor Ferries, Brittany Ferries, Stena Line (FerryCheck), Irish Ferries and Isle of Man Steam Packet sailing status pages, read on 21 October 2026 between 17:40 and 18:30 BST.
- Landmark Trust: Lundy sailing timetable 2026.
By The uk.ferje.info team — We keep the route pages for Britain's ferries, from chain ferries and river crossings to island boats, and check timetables, fares and service notices against each operator's own pages.