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fast tides ?


markco

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allright fellas read a few times on here about the speed of the tide just wondered how you know how fast there going to be ?is there information out there avalible to determin this or am i wrong in thinking the bigger the tide the quicker it is and even then how do you know how fast, any info for a newbie would be much appreciated .thanks mark.

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Marko, marine charts for your area should give you an indication of tide strength and direction. There may also be publications for your area with more comprehensive inshore tidal data than shown on the charts.

 

Generally speaking currents will be much stronger around headlands and in areas where water is funnelled (eg entrance to estuaries). In my area (Dorset) we have a double low tide west of Swanage and a double high tide east of Swanage. This is due to geographical features of the area.

 

The strength of the tide will also change throughout the tide cycle - in general the mid tide cycle is the strongest part. However in some cases it may be the last hour or two of the ebb or flood where the tide is at its strongest.

 

Spring tides will give currents around double the speed of neaps.

 

Which area do you plan to paddle?

 

I use electronic charts which contains tide times and current data - plus I have Peter Bruce's tidal info books for my area (Solent and Portland - St Albans Head).

 

http://www.memory-map.co.uk/acatalog/maps_uk_atsea.html

Kaskazi Dorado - Yellow

Location: East Dorset
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Also, try a google search for tide directions and strengh in the are you want. I did this for Hythe Kent, and was surprised at the tidal flow times.

We tend to think when beach fishing that the tide goes one way during the flood, and back again on the ebb. How wrong can you be!

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What you need is a Tidal Race book for your area. This gives you the direction of run, and speed in knots (usually given in Thick arrows for Maximum Knots for Spring and Thin arrows for Minimum Knots for Neap), for every hour from Low to High and Back down to Low again, for both Spring and Neap tides.

This will enable you to plan your trips and to use the run of tide to your advantage, rather than be paddling against it. Most good chandlers should sell Tidal Race books, should be around a tenner.

Enjoy.

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What you need is a Tidal Race book for your area. This gives you the direction of run, and speed in knots (usually given in Thick arrows for Maximum Knots for Spring and Thin arrows for Minimum Knots for Neap), for every hour from Low to High and Back down to Low again, for both Spring and Neap tides.

This will enable you to plan your trips and to use the run of tide to your advantage, rather than be paddling against it. Most good chandlers should sell Tidal Race books, should be around a tenner.

Enjoy.

thanks for the good advice guys much appreciated.

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The 2008 version of TidePlotter has a new feature that shows the direction and strength of the tide at each hour for a given location. It's a bit clucky but does the job and at £10 a pop for a year, cheaper for 3 years I think its total value. Comes with a version that works on Windows Mobile to.

 

JRT

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The 2008 version of TidePlotter has a new feature that shows the direction and strength of the tide at each hour for a given location. It's a bit clucky but does the job and at £10 a pop for a year, cheaper for 3 years I think its total value. Comes with a version that works on Windows Mobile to.

 

JRT

thanks jtr looked in to that and it looks a great bit of kit .

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