The cruising almanac

[Pete_k]

I have recently chosen this one more or less on price and the fact that you get two years worth of tidal info, however in my naivety I assumed it contained what it said on the boxed cover but have found it lacking in the tidal info department. It says on the box that it covers from Faroes to Gibraltar but the tide tables only go as far as Lisbon, which is a tad short of Gib and no good on a recent visit to Faro and Culatra, neither do they have any coverage for the west coast of Ireland somewhere I was planning to go this summer and will have to investigate other means of sourcing the tide tables for that area when I thought I already had it. They have the area covered with the usual pilotage info but no tide info, to my mind it is misleading to use the word almanac when it is basically a pilotage book with a few tide tables thrown in.

I shall be sticking with Reeds in future.


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[AndrewB]

Reeds does give Gib but the times of high water are the same as Lisbon, to within 15 minutes. Almost all intermediate ports are secondary on Lisbon, and high tides are within 15 minutes. Lows can be a little more apart. So you don't lose a lot without Gib, where the tidal range is in any case quite small, at most 1 meter.

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[charles_reed]

I bought for $29.29 from pangolin.co.nz a little 5-harmonic programme which genuinely covers the whole world and runs on DOS if you want.
You can print out from it month tidal forecasts.
Despite being only 5-harmonic and not the full 13, it's accurate to within 20 minutes and 100mm.

You can download it and use it for free for a month if you like.

His HF-Propagation programme is one of the best on the market.

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[bedouin]

I also went for the CA one this year, but I have yet to use it in anger.

They seem to print fewer tide tables than Reeds, but all the standard ports seem to be there. I think the information for secondary port corrections is also a bit lacking.

The pilotage notes seem a great improvement over Reeds, but other than that it does not have the same level of detail - so I will retain the 2002 Reeds on board and cross-reference this season.

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[Pete_k]

There are tide tables for 40 standard ports and as I said none for the west coast of Ireland. For the area I was planning to go to the secondary ports have Galway as the standard port with the usual tidal differences noted but then they have failed to supply the tide tables for Galway. I have not been right through the almanac to see how many other areas are similarly affected.
I know we should only need the tide table for Dover to be able to work it all out but I bought the almanac to save all that bother after all!

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[ianwright]

If you (or anyone else) have had problems with any information from the Cruising Assn then please let them know. They are very keen to get this sort of thing right, and really do listen to feedback.
Contact them via http://www.cruising.org.uk/address.htm



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[brianhumber]

Have bought a world wide prediction programme and print out as required to take on board.
Have not needed to buy an almanac for several years - why pay for the same info every year

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[NigeCh]

Does it print out chartlets?

and pilotage information as well as tide times?

I think no.

The cost of buying almanacs every year, IMO, is money well spent even if they are always (informationwise but not tide tables) a year out of date.

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[NigeCh]

PS ... Harmonics

Prior to WxTide32 being castigated for filching the european harmonics there resides on a computer a download from UKHO giving those harmonics and all ports listed on EasyTide - They are used from time to time as they are easier to use than EasyTide which doesn't tell you what the tide times are on say August 20 at Bayona.

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[bedouin]

I checked up last night and I see what you mean - they do seem to have forgotten the table for Galway!

Have you brought this to their attention - they should certainly rectify the omission

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[peterb]

Too late, Ian. It's already being worked on for next year.

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[ianwright]

I'd be worried if it wasn't.

IanW.

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[brianhumber]

Re: Does it print out chartlets?

I agree no chartlets etc but I have never used these for Nav anyway. The internet gives me up to date info on port details etc and the info in my old Almanac/ pilot books gives me better sailing guidance info than the latest Almanac going on about how many poncy showers there are in this or marina.

each to his own and I suspect we both enjoy our respective types of sailing as much as the other.

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