The English Channel is home to some of the strongest and most complex tides in Europe. It is one of the most heavily trafficked locations in the world, with many different types of vessels transiting east and west through the Channel or crossing between ports in southern England and Europe.

No matter how advanced technology becomes, weather forecasting will always carry a degree of uncertainty. Nature is unpredictable, but by combining powerful technology with data, we can produce reasonably reliable evidence-based forecasts for up to ten days.

Traditionally, there has been little tidal information available to the public other than height predictions for major (standard) and minor (secondary) ports; even fewer tidal current predictions are available to Mariners other than a limited number of tidal diamonds and tidal stream atlases. These data have traditionally been published by official sources, such as Hydrographic Offices.  

Although useful for indicating conditions at the start and end of a journey, this data on its own doesn't provide the level of detail that mariners need for their chosen waterborne activity. In this article, we cover the traditional methods for tidal measurement and their shortcomings and modern technological advancements that can revolutionise the maritime industry in terms of tidal information.

At 16km wide, and stretching 105km long between the Strait of Malacca and the Karimata Strait, the Singapore Strait is a crucial gateway between Asia and Europe. Due to the high number of ships transiting the area, the Singapore Strait can become incredibly congested and requires a tight traffic management system to ensure that vessels are coming into port at the right time, every time.

Like many sailing fans, we can't wait for the action to begin in the 36th Americas Cup in Auckland. Wind speed and direction, as you'd expect, will be the main factor that determines sail and foil choices, and of course, tactics on the course. What about tidal currents? With the speeds that these boats go, you'd be forgiven for thinking that current will be irrelevant.That's not the case though. Here's why:

Whatever craft you sail, currents can have a significant effect on your transit times across an ocean, particularly where the major ocean currents such as the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream flow. However, the beginning and end of most ocean crossings transit coastal waters, where there can be strong tides. Understanding how and why each type of current forms and where they occur increases the likelihood of a successful passage - whether it be a 'just-in-time' arrival on a ship or a podium finish in a yacht race.

Credit: NASA

Due to high demand we have released a limited edition high resolution tidal model for Narragansett bay and Rhode island Sound in time for the Rolex New York Yacht Club Race Week.  The region covered includes all racing areas in the Bay and to the South at 110 m resolution at 60 minute intervals.

Data is available as GRIBs or PDF images like the ones below, for the North and South race areas.

We are very excited to release our new model of Long Island Sound. With a resolution of 110m the model covers whole Sound in incredible detail, showing for the first time how the tidal currents flow around key locations across the region.

For anyone that wants to start out using meteorological data for a planned application, it can seem daunting to look through all the different sources to try and figure out which one is best for your circumstances. A wide variety of options includes government-funded models, models from research institutions and also commercial and private institutes. So which is the best model?