I’ve found life a bit more complicated than sound bites. In
the cost estimating community people used to say "In God we trust, all
others provide data." I never liked the phrase because it had a
sense of cynicism and disrespect. But there is some truth with it and I
like the trusting God part. Although sound bites sound good, they tend to
obfuscate the real world.
The cruising guide, written by "the expert on the Great
Loop" says you have to time your transit of the Delaware Bay with the
tides. He then goes on about how awful it could be if you don't.
The Great Loop blogg is full of people extolling the need to do your homework
and time your passage with the tides. One guy did a bit of rant against
those who didn't know the difference between tides and currents. Someone
else, claimed to be the Delaware Bay expert, said you should embark 2hrs before
slack water of the tide you want to ride. But none of this talk seems to
fit the facts.
The transit is about 70 miles. Our boat travels at about 7mph
(excuse the lack of nautical). Without current we need about 10 hrs to do
the trip. Tides transition in the Mid-Atlantic region approximately every
60hr 20min intervals and they do so progressively. Downstream starts the
transition and slowly reverses the flow as it spreads upstream. Upstream
could be in a flood state while downstream is in an ebb. This makes it
all very complicated if not impossible to time "riding the tide.”
Sure you can start out riding the tide but it will likely transition at some
point and you'll be fighting it.
Wind, in my mind, is the bigger issue since the tides we saw were only about 2kts max, not the docktale 5kts we’d been told. It generates the waves, which if it opposes the current will generate bigger waves. And on the Delaware which is very shallow, those waves will be a short frequency with a high amplitude that could bring any boat to a stop. I think this is what people mean when talking about "timing the tide". There is something to this sound bite but you really need to look at the wind predictions in addition to the tides to get a more complete picture.
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