Racing a tide race

[Michael Rogers]

No, Jonathan, I neither own nor have read, and will rectify that. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jonathan Stuart]

The book's well worth reading if you sail, or are just interested in, the Dorset coast. It's not a pilot book but more of a narrative of the coast from Christchurch to Portland Bill. I found it a nice read and there are some good bits of information in there.

The same author, Peter Bruce, has also produced his own tidal stream atlas for the area between Anvil Point and Portland Bill. That's probably outside your sailing area but well worth buying if you do sail there. The atlas is usefully A5-size, printed on water-resistant paper and has more detail than the Admiralty atlas.

[Peter Taylor]

Peter Bruce also has a similar format tidal atlas for the Solent and the waters around the Isle of Wight.  I have previously recommended his book "Solent Hazards" ...which really is "Inshore along the Solent Coast" in terms of its usefulness.  It has a companion "Wight Hazards" which covers the south coast of the IoW and, rather annoyingly, the northeast bit of coast from around Ryde eastwards which is not in the Solent hazards book.  I carry both "Hazards" books in Seatern and use his tidal atlas for the Solent as a matter of routine.

Peter

[Michael Rogers]

Peter, Jonathan, Anyone Else
I've ordered 'Inshore along the Dorset Coast', hasn't come yet.
Re tidal stream charts/atlases, both Peter Bruce and the Admiralty do the Solent and Isle of Wight, and from Portland etc as far east as St Alban'e Head. But I can't find any tidal stream atlases covering Swanage, Studland, Poole, Christchurch Bay - i.e. my sailing area. Are there any? The Admiralty TSA  for the Solent etc is billed as '...and adjacent waters': does anyone know what that does cover?
Thanks in anticipation!

[Jonathan Stuart]

It's a shame that Peter Bruce has left a gap in the areas covered by his atlases.

Yes, "The Solent and Adjacent Waters", NP337, covers your area. The first half of the atlas covers Kimmeridge to Cowes and the remainder covers Cowes to Littlehampton. It's an A4 atlas and not as user friendly as Peter Bruce's atlas but has sufficient detail to do the job. Certainly it's proved utterly reliable when I've ventured east to your area! You can see the area covered via the Visit My Harbour website:

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/articles/3188/hourly-tidal-streams-west-solent-area-np337

[Michael Rogers]

Thanks again, Jonathan.
My 'Inshore along the Dorset Coast' has come (lots of intriguing stuff like smugglers' caves near Old Harry!), and the appendix has tidal stream charts for Swanage Bay which will be useful for reference. Otherwise it'll have to be NP337. Probably sensible to get a copy.
Peter Bruce (is he still with us?) seems to be an extremely impressive source of in-depth information. Perhaps my recent experience, which essentially I blundered into in a state of ignorance, has rendered me over-sensitive (temporarily I hope): but I must say all this tidal stream detail could have a scaring off effect. It should make me more cautious anyway ('And not before time', I imagine someone muttering).

[Jonathan Stuart]

Caution's no bad thing but don't be scared-off! Trust the atlases and you'll be fine. This year I've used NP337 for the inshore route around St Alban's Head and sailing through Hurst narrows to Yarmouth. The former was a complete non-event - disappointingly so - while the latter had us hit 9.8 knots on a storming wind-with-tide sail :-).