Tidal currents

Slack water is a moment

Slack is not a place you can wait in — it's the two or three minutes when the stream stops and reverses. Arrive early, hold position, and the turn will tell you its time.

flood    current runs toward shore    · +
slack    the brief standstill        · 0
ebb      current runs back out       · -

Read the current before the chart

Charts give you set and drift, but the water tells you live: a buoy leaning, a line of foam, a slick patch where the stream runs fast. Trust the water over the atlas.

Two to six knots changes everything

A boat that makes five knots against a three-knot flood is effectively stationary over the ground. Plan passages to ride the current, not fight it — the tide is the cheapest fuel you'll ever buy.