Tides Part 4: Handle Currents in Style
2 August 2023 · 33 min · 1K views
What this video covers
Tidal current planning for coastal and offshore sailing is the focus, covering how to read, calculate, and exploit tidal streams rather than fight them. Leon Schulz explains why apps such as the Imray Tidal Planner and iBoat by TimeZero are limited for planning — they show current at a single moment rather than across a full tidal cycle — and argues that paper tidal atlas charts from Reeds are more useful for passage planning.1:26 Using the English Channel and Channel Islands as the primary example, he walks through how to find High Water Dover from Reeds, identify the correct tidal atlas chart for a given hour, and decode the two-number code (e.g., 41,73 meaning 4.1 knots at mean neaps and 7.3 knots at mean springs).3:52 On 12 September, with a Dover range of 6.6 meters exceeding mean springs, the calculated current off the Alderney Race reaches approximately 8 knots.13:53 He demonstrates the wind-over-tide hazard with footage from the Needles and the Corryvreckan, and from Brunsbüttel toward Cuxhaven, showing the characteristically short, steep wave period.16:51 For an English Channel crossing of 60 nautical miles at 6 knots, he shows why letting a chartplotter continuously counter-steer against current is slower than the manual vector method: sum all east- and west-going currents over the 10-hour passage, draw a single corrected heading, and aim slightly west of Cherbourg to arrive with the flood rather than against it.25:24 PredictWind's comfort factor — assessing vertical acceleration and slamming — is recommended for passage planning, with the caveat that flat-bottomed, short-keel boats reach discomfort thresholds far sooner than deep-keel traditional designs.20:02
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