Big Tides!

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Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
Wow. Look at the tide upcoming for where I am now. There is going to be bottom that hasn't seen the light of day in a long time. Note also the following graph for the tide on the Kennebec River side. You can see why the currents through the Sasanoa and Hell Gate are so strong.





Maine Sail gives excellent advice on transiting Hell Gate here:


http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/printthread.php?t=91348


That said, I've done it several times and it wasn't a big deal but Strider is very nimble in turbulent waters and close quarters and I've had quite a bit of experience in such places. Knowing how to read the water and lead a turn going into a strong eddy is important.


I don't think I'll try Hell Gate anywhere near mid morning or mid afternoon tomorrow though.
 
Nov 6, 2006
10,083
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Wow ! We get those kinds of tides when hurricanes go by, but the time scale is a couple of days instead of 6 hours.
 
Jul 19, 2007
263
-Hunter 1995-40.5 Hunter Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
27ft to 29ft day in and day out in Passamaquoddy & Fundy Bays, Maine/New Brunswick. If your travelling up the Bay of Fundy you go up the bay with the incoming and down the bay with the out going if you want to make any distance in a day.
 
Jul 19, 2007
263
-Hunter 1995-40.5 Hunter Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
Just for fun, I once beat up Western Passage against the tid

Roger, even after three years I haven't gotten used to these tides so beating up Western passage for fun would be a non starter for me unless I was really desperate to make some distance and then ride the incoming tide. I'm from the South-East side of the province and am more used to the tides you'll experience heading to the Bras D'ors this summer.
 
Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
beating up Western passage for fun would be a non starter for me unless I was really desperate..
It was pretty unusual for me. After all, I'm the guy with a 20 hp engine who has purchased over 500 gallons of diesel fuel since last September. It was just a beautiful day with a perfect wind.

 
Nov 29, 2011
22
Douglass & McCloud Thistle East of the Hudson
27ft to 29ft day in and day out in Passamaquoddy & Fundy Bays, Maine/New Brunswick. If your travelling up the Bay of Fundy you go up the bay with the incoming and down the bay with the out going if you want to make any distance in a day.
I took a Hurricane Island Outward Bound course in 1967. We did a Down East expedition. I remember being becalmed in a HI pulling boat in thick fog. We heard a churning in the distance, and soon a big fat buoy charged past us doing close to 6 knots, and throwing up a serious wake. The Lubec Narrows are not to be taken lightly. Fortunately we had a chase boat with radar and a decent engine to tow us through the dicey bits.

I had already seen how much water flushed in and out in that neck of the woods, but to ride the flood in an becalmed open pulling boat was an eyeopener. Makes Wood's Hole look like an adventure playground.

Allan
 
Jun 28, 2005
440
Hunter H33 2004 Mumford Cove,CT & Block Island
From a science program on television:

"Billions of years ago, the moon was much closer to the earth. At the time this program was talking about, the moon would have had an apparent diameter six times larger than today, and the resulting tides would have been hundreds of feet high"

That would be different!
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,059
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
Imagine, in 50,000 years or so, the Niagra River cutting its way back to Lake Erie, and draining the Great Lakes.
That will be different.
 
Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
Imagine, in 50,000 years or so, the Niagra River cutting its way back to Lake Erie, and draining the Great Lakes.
Will one of our Great Lakes members please post when it happens?

I believe that the Black Sea filled up in a matter of weeks when the narrow land bridge broke through. The huge area below sea level was very fertile and now believed to probably been the richest and most advanced civilization in the hemisphere. The legends of Atlantis and Noah's flood may well have their roots in this event.
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,768
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Scotland has around 20 feet in this area. The inner harbor in St. Andrews is very calm today :) , especially when the lock gates are open(most of the time). We have it very easy in Maine. We're here for our daughters graduation.

 
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