Friday 6th October 2006

This picture was taken around three quarters of an hour before high water on a 7.5m spring tide. As the tides are related to the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun (mainly the moon as it is closer), when they line up it causes the biggest force on the earths water. So when the tide comes in, for a few days roughly every four weeks, the high tide is at its highest.

In early September we had the biggest spring tides for nearly 20 years peaking at 7.8m on the 9th. At that time there was high pressure, very little swell and an Easterly wind so the sea was calm. The river was like a duck pond with not a lot of movement. October however brought low pressure, strong West/North Westerly winds and big swells. This time, the high tide ranged from 7.5m on the 6th & 9th to 7.7m on the 7th & 8th.

   On Friday 6th, there was an 8ft+ swell in the bay along with a NW west, more water than usual was being forced into the river. Low pressure meant the sea level was higher than when there is high pressure. (imagine the high pressure holds the water down). As you can see from the picture, it was rather rough and by this point, the water was breaking the top step of the Boathouse. Along with the surges running up the river, the tide eventually broke the top of the Boathouse wall and even went into the Boathouse itself! All this just three hours after the tide reached the bridge! We are always prepared for such an event with everything raised off the floor and boards placed across the doorway.

Sunday saw a similar situation with the 7.7m tide but as you can imagine it was quite an impressive site. Go to the picture gallery to see the action from inside the river.