Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on September 01, 2005 at 08:14:14 from 82.7.160.56 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: No watch, no tidetables posted by Jock on September 01, 2005 at 07:00:51:
John does have a tide table (P62) "Daddy gave ne a tide table but it won't be much good if we don't know the time"
The tides there are quite confusing even if you do have a tide table and a clock. The huge areas such as the Red Sea and Northern Sea which fill up only after half tide mean that the regular increase and then decreas of tidal currents during each six hour period doen't work properly - they tend to accelerate after half tide.
There is also the question of spring and neap tides. They arrive close to springs - HW 1415 - and leave at neaps - HW 0900. We wnt through the north-east passage when HW was 1803 (approaching neaps) and there wasn't a lot of water for a much smaller dinghy than FIREFLY.
But I have no difficulty with the general situation described in SW. We go there again and again and poke round in a dinghy in the little creeks just as they did. The bird life is fabulous - avocets and egrets last weekend, the starry night sky is wider and clearer than in most parts of southern England, even though Harwich, Felixstowe Dock, Walton asnd Clacton are all only a few miles away. SW brings out this atmosphere, even though AR had to include a children's adventure as well!