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What do people recommend to track tides? Book? or Cell phone?

Greenkiteskier

Paddler
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
14
Location
Courtenay, Vancouver Island
what are people using to keep track of tide's? Is there a specific Island wide book? Or a site with printing out for trip's. I'm heading out on the 17th on my first backcountry kayak camping trip so would like recommendations. Thank you
 
Knowing your paddling area and what devices you have would help.

For the San Juan area, www.deepzoom.com is great. The early version required a windows SliverLight plug-in. The latest version uses JavaScript and works with both Mac and PC browsers. For a stand alone app on a Mac Desktop, you have Mr. Tides. It is worldwide; definitely covers the Vancouver Island area.

Soon, Mr. Tides will be replaced with AyeTidesMac.

The App (for iPad) AyeTides works in conjunction with iNavX. iNavX gives your location on a chart. From within iNavX you can jump to AyeTides to get tide/current info. It doesn't require cell service; it just needs a GPS for location. But you have to pay attention to charts (from iNavX) you need to download to the app before your trip.

On paper, for the the San Juan area, I use Capt'n Jacks yearly almanac. For coverage around Vancouver Island I use the publication Ports and Passages.

Googling will probably bring up tide/current data for specific locations.

I like to find two sources that agree and try to pay attention to time zone issues. Some table are adjusted for PDT/PST and some may not be.
 
I use the government tide site (tides.gc.ca) and just print off the report for the period I will be gone.
You can download it as a pdf and keep it in your phone in your pfd...
 
Be wary of time zone issues. Some tide charts do not correct/change for Daylight Savings Time. So, high tide at 11 pm on the chart could be 11 pm or 12 pm.
 
I make my own plots.
Your choices for stations are here https://www.sailwx.info/tides/tidemap.phtml?lat=48.9&lon=-125.2&radius=10
Send me end date and an email address if you want the full size plot.
Note that I can split the "week" into 2 plots for easier printing on 8.5x11, or if one station is good (there's not much difference) then 12 days fit well on 8.5x11
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Unless going into an area with significant currents, i honestly don't bother with homework on tides. Be aware of the tide if leaving boats unattended during lunch break, haul them up above high tide line and secure by bow line when getting off the water for the day, don't leave belongings for water to steal. Use wxtide if currents may be a factor that must be considered when picking routes/timing.
 
I don't think you will need to worry about "slack" paddling into the Broken group.
More useful is knowing how high the tide is going to get on the few beaches you might camp on and whether you can access them.
 
But it is so nice to load up on an incoming tide and land at a high tide. Worth checking if the travel schedule will allow it. For currents, up there, it seems there only a few narrow places, if at all, on any particular trip. But float plans can change for the oddest reasons.

I recall one trip to the Octopus Islands. We couldn't launch were we intended because there was a problem with a locked access gate and no one around. So we drove to the next put in without realizing it put us an hour or more ahead of schedule. We couldn't figure out why we seemed to be fighting the current (plus wind -always so much fun).

The good news is, for some reason I put more weight than usual in towards the bow and my Express handled so much better heading into the wind. I don't have a the sliding seat for trim and I've been drunk on the kool-aid of more weight toward the stern. But in this case, with more weight than usual amidship, it worked out great. Instead of putting my water bladders in the rear, I may put at least one up front where I can slide it a little bit - push forward with my foot, pull back with a tether. I'll still want to stabilize it so it doesn't "jump around" if the boat goes over.
 
There are lots of beaches on the west side of Vancouver Island where the salal is too thick to camp in the woods, and there are lots where the beach logs are too numerous to climb over repeatedly. So you camp on the sand, usually as high as you can. But what if the only spot is just above last night's high tide line (marked by a line of seaweed etc) ? Then it's nice to know that tonight's high tide is 4" below last night's.
Also, it's nice to know where the tide will be on the beach when I launch the next morning. Let's say I want to launch at 7:00 am Monday and I'll start loading my kayak at 6:30 am. The tide will be approx 7.5 feet. The tide will be the same height at approx 7:15 pm on Sunday, so I can mark the spot with a rock. Monday morning I can position my kayak at the rock and load it up and have a minimum distance that I need to move my kayak to the retreating waterline.
BrokenGroupExtract.gif

For days where the tide is rising, if I get it right my kayak will be afloat when I am ready to go.
 
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