Wind over tide

[DAKA]

Over the weekend we enjoyed a short 20 mile cruise from Great Yarmouth to Southwold.

The trip down was virtually mill pond on Saturday but by Monday the wind had freshened considerably to a good 3-4 NE, for any not familiar with the East Coast anything with E in it is not good.

We have a Sealine 310 Statesman and were traveling with friends in a 310 Ambassador bot 30' planing boats. Made the call to wait for the tide to turn to give wind over tide but both against us, what we were faced with was a very bumpy ride back that forced us down to 15 knots with legs in and tabs down, just about able to plane but having to watch the holes to avoid too much slamming.

Did we make the right call or would it have been better to run wind against tide but with the tide with? My thoughts are the latter may possibly have been better as even though the waves may have been bigger we would have been hitting the right side of them.

What are others thoughts?

Here's my thoughts, (not suggesting they are right).

You know what you are doing and I think you made the right choice at the time. The wind did freshern after noon Monday ( I also got caught out not far off Humber mouth, not in my boat).

Two thoughts to add to the already good advice above.

make sure everthing is stowed and will not fall/rattle which makes the conditions feal worse than they are.

Wind against tide is NOT the issue.
More important is where the waves are heading.
the saying should be waves against tide.

As the wind picked up late in the day I suggest the waves you found were left over from another source and could have been from a different direction to your local wind.

 

[whisper]

Wind over tide means the wind is blowing in the opposite direction to the tidal flow - not with it. The wind is blowing over the tide which if you have a tidal flow of 270 and a wind direction of 270 then the wind is blowing over the tide. If the tide is flowing 090 and the wind is 270 then it is wind with tide and you will have smoother conditions as the wind is flattening out the sea in the tidal flow. More noticeable on Springs than Neaps however.

Thanks Solitaire et al.
I'm au fait with the conditions/suggested action to take, it's just the nomenclature that was being confused. So it's wind "with" and wind "against" that I'll use in future.

As others have mentioned, we find that our little tub can be more comfortable if we speed up in the conditions the OP describes. As the wave length lengthens we may have to slow down to avoid landing in the trough. Mind you, we have to ensure that the wipers are working well as we do a good impression of a wave piercing vessel in those conditions, especially if the tabs are too far down (tee hee!!)

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

It is your terminology - wind over tide means the tidal flow and wind are pushing against one another, or in your parlance "wind against tide".

Nope disagree with that. In fact this was one of the first discussions we had on the forum many moons ago and I think it turned out to be an agree to disagree thing. Wind over tide to me means wind with tide not wind against tide and the instructor/examiner who taught me to my YM about 18yrs ago used the same terminology and he was a Naval Reserve man so he ought to know! Anyway, I realise that many peeps use the term wind over tide to mean wind against tide but as the OP demonstrates, some peeps, including me, use the term in the opposite sense so it can be confusing

 

[Ripster]

Nope disagree with that. In fact this was one of the first discussions we had on the forum many moons ago and I think it turned out to be an agree to disagree thing. Wind over tide to me means wind with tide not wind against tide and the instructor/examiner who taught me to my YM about 18yrs ago used the same terminology and he was a Naval Reserve man so he ought to know! Anyway, I realise that many peeps use the term wind over tide to mean wind against tide but as the OP demonstrates, some peeps, including me, use the term in the opposite sense so it can be confusing

Yes... as you describe, that is what I thought I was taught originally and have believed to be the case all this time - ref my earlier posts. I thought it was my memory playing tricks!

 

[Solitaire]

Nope disagree with that. In fact this was one of the first discussions we had on the forum many moons ago and I think it turned out to be an agree to disagree thing. Wind over tide to me means wind with tide not wind against tide and the instructor/examiner who taught me to my YM about 18yrs ago used the same terminology and he was a Naval Reserve man so he ought to know! Anyway, I realise that many peeps use the term wind over tide to mean wind against tide but as the OP demonstrates, some peeps, including me, use the term in the opposite sense so it can be confusing

So here we go again.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57381

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

So here we go again.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57381

I'd forgotten about that! Anyway it seems that the learned Mr Cunliffe pronounced that wind over tide could mean either with or against which is not much bloody help

I raised this point some time ago on the forum and it was taken on board by YM, who vowed to find the definitive answer.

It subsequently appeared in an issue as a readers question and, if I recall correctly, the great TC decided that it could mean either and that I shouldn't be so pedantic!