Tidal terms: are they the same in US and UK?

[Gedimin]

I've learned sailing in the UK and only know what RYA teaches. Is there any difference in sailing terms between UK and US English? I know that boat parts could be named differently, but what about the rest of sailing theory, particularly tidal terms? Do they also operate HW, LAT, charted height, MLWS, chart datum etc?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Charts tend to be all in feet. Red right returning and they’re not very imaginative with their bouyage are my memories of the times I’ve sailed there.

 

[Mataji]

When they say booeeee they mean bouy.

 

[john_morris_uk]

When they say booeeee they mean bouy.

And don’t ask to be knocked up in the morning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

 

[RobbieW]

And don’t ask to be knocked up in the morning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

Or, as my brother once did, ask for a fag

 

[mjcoon]

When they say booeeee they mean bouy.

And they pay for a check with a bill rather than a bill with a cheque....

 

[Laser310]

I'm a dual national - speaking generally about the nations.., i can tell you there are many differences, and also many things that are the similar.

with respect to tides.., the datum on most US charts is MLLW: Mean Lower Low Water.., not LAT

most US tides are semi-diurnal, and MLLW is the average height of the lower of the two daily low tides

LAT is lower than MLLW, and it's not uncommon to see negative tidal heights in the tables

 

[Skylark]

And don’t ask to be knocked up in the morning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

Or, as my brother once did, ask for a fag

.............and please don’t ask for a rubber to remove your navigation work from the chart

 

[Robin]

And don’t ask to be knocked up in the morning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

Or tell them you smoke 40 fags a day (unless being interviewed for a right wing supremacist group. or ask if they want a fag, unless you have a Kevlar vest.

Also need to note the buoyage on 'inlets from the ocean differs from that inside in waterways, the junctions can be very confusing.

 

[Pete7]

Worth reading up on the Region A and B IALA Maritime Buoyage systems:

https://www.iala-aism.org/product/r1001-iala-maritime-buoyage-system/?download=true

 

[johnalison]

You might get a surprise if you are seated at the chart table and ask for a rubber.

 

[jamie N]

.............and please don’t ask for a rubber to remove your navigation work from the chart

As an innocent 10yr old schoolboy, relocated by the MOD to Virginia, I made this error in 6th grade.
Parents to school, Ambassador informed, and my parents in a toe curlingly emabarrassment of explaining to me, well, that the teacher didn't quite understand that I'd made a spelling mistake, ......!
30 years later, being in one of the finest bars of Mobile, Alabama (imagine), I did repeat the mistake to great personal advantage, but with a fairly posh accent to avoid suspicion, as well as being shot.

 

[Wansworth]

For being a very violent country they are terribly prudish about err naughty things and women’s bits and warm seats

 

[Robin]

For being a very violent country they are terribly prudish about err naughty things and women’s bits and warm seats

to include blurring out a background of a girlie calendar on a garage wall in an episode of midsomer murders on PBS channel. yet where we lived in Daytona Beach there were girlie bars and sex shops by the score and 'Hooters' eatery is famous for well endowed waitresses with bits on show. That said bare nipples are banned, no topless sun bathing and in 'Bike weeks they ride the streets en masse and yell 'show us your t1ts' and local totty on sidewalks promptly shirt lift to oblige.

 

[JumbleDuck]

When they say booeeee they mean bouy.

The word comes from the Dutch "boei" for which the American pronunciation is just about right. But do they refer to the boo-ee-ansy of a boat?

 

[mjcoon]

to include blurring out a background of a girlie calendar on a garage wall in an episode of midsomer murders on PBS channel. yet where we lived in Daytona Beach there were girlie bars and sex shops by the score and 'Hooters' eatery is famous for well endowed waitresses with bits on show. That said bare nipples are banned, no topless sun bathing and in 'Bike weeks they ride the streets en masse and yell 'show us your t1ts' and local totty on sidewalks promptly shirt lift to oblige.

Maybe they are only slightly behind us in papering-over (as in Page-3 and News of the World?) such hypocrisy...

 

[Frank Holden]

Back on track.... we speak of 'tidal streams' ..in the US it is 'tidal currents'...

I blame that on Benjamin Franklin... he called the Gulf Current the 'Gulf Stream'...... that was the start of it....

 

[john_morris_uk]

Back on track.... we speak of 'tidal streams' ..in the US it is 'tidal currents'...

I blame that on Benjamin Franklin... he called the Gulf Current the 'Gulf Stream'...... that was the start of it....

Even the French call it 'courant'

 

[Robin]

Currents in the ICW do not 'flow' as one might expect and can apparently reverse with a few miles from nearest ocean inlet, next to impossible I found to predict an 'optimum 'departure time to take advantage of any courant. In inlets flow rate anddirection is important and can create 'orrible seas at certain states of tide. If in doubt call for local advice via VHF.

Equally, if not more importantly is to know your air draught and bridge clearance heights. fixed spans are usually guaranteed dead centre (center, sorry) 65ft at HW, lifting bridges when closed varies but will usually have a tide height gauge and often a stroppy bridge operator that thinks you need less than is showing on the guage - a request that their insurance is up to date sometimes see it open.... ?

 

[newtothis]

The word comes from the Dutch "boei" for which the American pronunciation is just about right. But do they refer to the boo-ee-ansy of a boat?

I asked a US coast guard officer why they insisted on calling them booies, and he said it was because he preferred not to say he'd spent his day checking out boys.