of time and tides, part one

Tides are a near constant presence when sailing south from Charleston, much more so than what I find while sailing on Chesapeake Bay and the Sounds of North Carolina.  I thought I would look a single day's sail and the tides I encountered, this being day four with the sail from Beaufort to the New River behind Daufuskie Island. 

 1 - Casting off from Beaufort it was the beginning of the ebb tide, a helping tide that carried me down the Beaufort River.

2- Passing Parris Island Recruit Depot (I could hear reveille playing) the  ebb tide was running and we were making 6.4 knots, the wind was good but some of the speed came from the tide.  

3- Approaching Parris Island Spit and the mouth of the Beaufort River the tide was strong enough to pull crab pot markers nearly under the surface, I would guess this was full flood tide.  As I rounded the spit I could no longer feel the tide, maybe I was in the "shadow" of Parris Island.  Once around the spit on to Port Royal Sound it was full ebb tide which can run at a couple of knots.  With the light wind at that point I could only hold my own against the tide and not make any progress up the sound.  So I motor sailed across the sound to Skull Creek.

4- Near Dolphin Point there was swirling water and a tide line.  Once I crossed the tide line I could not at first feel any tide.

5- Passing Skull Creek I could once again feel the tide, an incoming tide, water flowing from Port Royal Sound into the creek and helping us along the way.

6- Off Windmill Harbor a helping tide but it was hard to tell as the wind was very good on the port quarter and we were making 5.0.

7- On Calibogue Sound approaching the Cooper River both crab pot markers and boat speed told me that it was a flood tide, water coming up the sound and we were sailing against it.  

8- Once on the Cooper River that very same flood tide was helping us.  Before rounding the corner into the river the tide was against us, once around the corner it was with us and we were making 4.4. 

 9- At green marker "37" I could see from the marker's piling the tide was once again against us.  It was still a flood tide but somewhere along the way we crossed what my Charleston fried Pete tells me is called the "head of the tide."  When we first entered the Cooper River the flood tide was water flowing from Calibogue Sound.  When we crossed the head of the tide the flood tide was water flowing in from the inlets just north of the Savannah River.  I did not have to work against that tide for long as the wind was very good and soon we turned off the Cooper River for the anchorage on the New River.

So you can see the tides are an interesting part of sailing the lower Mid-Atlantic.  If there is any decent wind I found I could sail against most of the tides just fine.  And if it was a helping tide, well that made for some nice sailing. 

There are a few places along the way, mostly man-made cuts connecting creeks and rivers, where I could not sail or even motor against the tide.   I'll get to those places in another post.