IMRAY or Reeds Almanac?
27 April 2026 · 22 min · 895 views · Brest, France
Man holds 2026 cruising and nautical almanacs aboard boat
What this video covers
Leon Schulz compares the Reeds Nautical Almanac and the Imray Cruising Almanac side by side in Brest, using a planned passage south through Raz de Sein to Audierne as a live worked example.▶ 0:27 The Imray almanac is physically larger in height and width but thinner, with a strong emphasis on charts over text; the Reeds is thicker, text-heavy, and closely mirrors RYA course material.▶ 2:27 For tidal stream interpretation at Raz de Sein, the Reeds uses red/blue spring-neap day markers and a tidal curve, while the Imray uses French tidal coefficients (mean spring = 95, mean neap = 45) printed in a separate annual tide-tables booklet — a distinction Schulz finds more intuitive for gauging whether conditions exceed mean spring.▶ 11:10 On 19 April the coefficient of 104 indicates currents exceeding 4.2 knots through Raz de Sein.▶ 10:56 For secondary-port calculations at Audierne, the Imray simplifies the time and height differences compared to the Reeds interpolation tables.▶ 13:49 The Imray's tidal atlases are consolidated at the back of the book and printed larger (four diagrams per page versus six), making them easier to locate.▶ 6:21 The Reeds includes marina facilities, airline contacts, and phone numbers useful to British sailors; the Imray omits most of that, treating Google as the substitute.▶ 16:49 Imray's annual tide booklet can be bought separately, making the main almanac reusable for two or three years.▶ 9:49 Sailors trained through RYA courses will find the Reeds immediately familiar, since RYA syllabuses are built around it.▶ 21:09
Boats in this video
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