Tide Clocks

[Humblebee]

Thinking of buying one of these to sit in my front porch alongside the barometer.
I just wondered how accurate they are? I realise they can never be more than within a few minutes of the tide but do they need resetting every so often? Or will they keep giving approximately the right tide time for months, years even, without adjustment?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The tide clock on my watch (A Casio G-shock) remains as accurate as it ever is long term. The way it works is to use a thing called the lunitidal interval, which is the difference between high water and the time when the moon is at its highest. The latter is easily produced by modern watch electronics; the former is available from the internet BUT is usually only given with a precision of half an hour (my G-shock only allows setting it in half-hour increments).

The bottom line is that it will keep as much accuracy as it ever has indefinitely - but its accuracy is along the lines of dividing the tidal period into about 4 or five segments along the lines of "going up", "roughly high water", "going down", "roughly low water". I think my G-shock actually divides into 5 or 6 sectors, but I'm not wearing it right now!

It is nowhere near as accurate as tide tables or an app that uses tidal harmonics.

 

[Daverw]

I have one on the wall and it needs adjustment a few minutes every few months, it’s relativity accurate but as said tide tables and apps are closer

 

[Humblebee]

Thanks gents, think I'll go ahead and treat myself to one of these.
Cheers,
Chris


ClimeMET CM4305-HL High/Low Water Tide Clock

 

[Neeves]

You have made the right decision.

We have one on a bulkhead (and like the Pilot I have a 'G' Shock) and as mentioned we adjust it against a tide chart about every 6 months. It really does not need to be 'so' accurate as weather also impacts the tide locally so even the tide charts are not necessarily 'right'.. Being a cat we beach a lot, cleaning props, and its more than accurate for that.

If you can stretch to buying 2 units - you could have one at home and one on the boat (where, personally, it might be more useful )

When we do beach we do use the charts - as they give the actual heights - so you still need both. The clock gives you at a glance, in your face the state of the tide (easier and quicker than anything else)

Jonathan

 

[Humblebee]

You have made the right decision.

We have one on a bulkhead (and like the Pilot I have a 'G' Shock) and as mentioned we adjust it against a tide chart about every 6 months. It really does not need to be 'so' accurate as weather also impacts the tide locally so even the tide charts are not necessarily 'right'.. Being a cat we beach a lot, cleaning props, and its more than accurate for that.

If you can stretch to buying 2 units - you could have one at home and one on the boat (where, personally, it might be more useful )

When we do beach we do use the charts - as they give the actual heights - so you still need both. The clock gives you at a glance, in your face the state of the tide (easier and quicker than anything else)

Jonathan

Thanks for that Jonathan.
I will consider one for the boat but, well, Fraoch isn't going anywhere just now so not much need at the moment.
Stay well,
Chris

 

[Humblebee]

Hello all, just a quick update, I bought the Climet tide clock mentioned above and have it in the porch at the front of our house. What a handy tool it has proven to be!
We live by the sea, above a shore of cliffs and bays, and walk our dog down there most days. It is so handy and convenient to glace at the tide clock and decide will we go to the beach? Or walk around this headland? Or head inland since the tide is high?
Wouldn't rely on it for navigation, anchoring etc but for a quick idea of what the tide is doing it is great, thoroughly recommend having one.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Wouldn't rely on it for navigation, anchoring etc but for a quick idea of what the tide is doing it is great, thoroughly recommend having one.

We live 10 - 30 minutes from various beaches and we have one for the same reason. Very useful.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

We live 10 - 30 minutes from various beaches and we have one for the same reason. Very useful.

Hello all, just a quick update, I bought the Climet tide clock mentioned above and have it in the porch at the front of our house. What a handy tool it has proven to be!
We live by the sea, above a shore of cliffs and bays, and walk our dog down there most days. It is so handy and convenient to glace at the tide clock and decide will we go to the beach? Or walk around this headland? Or head inland since the tide is high?
Wouldn't rely on it for navigation, anchoring etc but for a quick idea of what the tide is doing it is great, thoroughly recommend having one.

Um. When I were a lad, Way before tide clocks were available to the general public, we lived a 4 hour drive from our boat. We visited most weekends during the summer. But all of us very quickly learnt to predict the tide from one weekend to the next without really thinking about it. After all, it advances by a regular amount every day, so it's not difficult. If you live by the sea, isn't a tide clock or equivalent function on your watch just making you lazy and taking away the personal relationship with the sea?

I write as one who is just as guilty!

 

[Greenheart]

I like to know what the tide's doing but I'm too darned busy to remember where it was and which way it was heading, however many days ago at whatever o'clock, and calculate the change.

The Imray Tides app on my phone is okay but unnecessarily complicated and I'd much rather glance up at an analogue dial.

Humblebee's choice looks good. But is it any less accurate in a place like Southampton where there's a double high water?

I suppose the times don't change, just the amount of water that's there for the couple of hours following the peak.

 

[Kukri]

If, like me, you like old clocks, you will know the name of Brian Loomes. Here is a nice article by him on long case clocks which show the phase of the moon and the state of the tide. These are all at least two hundred years old:

Collecting Antique Clocks: Moons and Tides

 

[JumbleDuck]

Um. When I were a lad, Way before tide clocks were available to the general public, we lived a 4 hour drive from our boat. We visited most weekends during the summer. But all of us very quickly learnt to predict the tide from one weekend to the next without really thinking about it. After all, it advances by a regular amount every day, so it's not difficult. If you live by the sea, isn't a tide clock or equivalent function on your watch just making you lazy and taking away the personal relationship with the sea?

Sort of, but our visits to the beach are irregular and we are also irregularly going to the Clyde to sail. When I kept my boat in Crinan and travelled there from the south Midlands every weekend I could tell you the times of high tide there without even thinking about it.

Quick check: how many people here can predict (to within half an hour) the time of high tide at their boat by the phase of the moon?

 

[Kukri]

Quick check: how many people here can predict (to within half an hour) the time of high tide at their boat by the phase of the moon?

For me, HWF&C Ipswich is an hour and twenty minutes on GMT. Older editions of “East Coast Rivers’’ give this for each port and place. And if you have a really old Pilot book look up ‘The Establishment of the Port’ for where you are. It’s the same thing as the time of High Water Full (Moon) and Change (of Moon)

 

[david_bagshaw]

I have one on board, my only point is it needs adjusting on every day with distance travelled up and down the channel. Not so significant adjustments on the sw irish coast however. it is one of those nice to have, not essential things.

 

[Stemar]

I was given one. When I'm on the boat, I know what the tide's doing and roughly when the next high or low tide is. If I'm working out whether I'll be able to get into somewhere, I want more accuracy than the clock provides, so I decided it was more use on the wall at home, so I can see at a glance when I'll be able to get on board, and leave the drying mooring.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

The tide clock on my watch (A Casio G-shock) remains as accurate as it ever is long term. The way it works is to use a thing called the lunitidal interval, which is the difference between high water and the time when the moon is at its highest. The latter is easily produced by modern watch electronics; the former is available from the internet BUT is usually only given with a precision of half an hour (my G-shock only allows setting it in half-hour increments).

The bottom line is that it will keep as much accuracy as it ever has indefinitely - but its accuracy is along the lines of dividing the tidal period into about 4 or five segments along the lines of "going up", "roughly high water", "going down", "roughly low water". I think my G-shock actually divides into 5 or 6 sectors, but I'm not wearing it right now!

It is nowhere near as accurate as tide tables or an app that uses tidal harmonics.

I do recall that St Tom wrote, in an article, that reducing the Rule of Twelfths to the "Rule of Eighths" was perfectly adequate and easily mentally calculated, for the purposes of the average cruising sailor.