When is the best time to go to the beach low tide or high tide

• Lindi Osborne, Waterkeeper Swim Guide
  February 13, 2020

They say time and tide wait for no man. But you can wait for the right tide.

Do you have a favourite type of water recreation at the beach?

What you may not know is that certain tides are better than others for specific activities. Tides can vary greatly depending on location and season, which can create extreme tidal levels in an area. You should always abide by, and be aware of, these conditions.

Whether you love swimming, surfing, or anything in between, chances are there is a tide that is just perfect for what you want to do. You can figure out when your ideal tide will occur by learning how to read a tide table. That way, you can plan to arrive at the beach during the best tidal circumstances for you.

If you want to match the perfect tide to your favourite beach activity, read on.

What tide conditions are best for you?

For swimmers, the water is safest during a slack tide, during which the water moves very little. A slack tide happens in the hour preceding or following a high or low tide. Swimmers will also enjoy waves with shorter intervals, which are calmer and less dangerous.

For snorkelers and divers, visibility will be best after high slack tide. This is when the tide has just come in, it’s at its highest, and there is very little tidal current. During this time, the water will be clear enough for you to spot all exciting marine life in the water. In many places, this tide will occur around mid-afternoon.

For surfers, waves are typically good in between high tide and low tide. During high tide, the waves break too close to shore to offer much of a ride. During low tide, uncovered rocks or seaweed may get in the way. Waves with long intervals and large swells are ideal.

For skimboarders, the optimal tide depends on what you want to do with your board. The low tide will be best for those who want to ride their board on the sand, but for those who want to ride waves, a high tide will be better as the waves break closer to shore.

For anglers, the best time to cast out your line is when the tide is moving. Fishing in a falling tide, about two hours before low tide, will often yield great results because this is when fish feed on the insects and plants sucked in by the water. This is especially true in shallow waters like bays and estuaries, which make for strong tides.

For beachcombers, a low tide or falling tide reveals tidal pools and provides the best chances for spotting marine life. Beachcombers will have the most luck about two to three hours before a low tide, or about an hour afterwards. When reading a tide table, look for numbers under zero.

For boaters, high tide is the easiest time to navigate a harbour. Higher waters make it possible to bypass underwater barriers like sand bars, rocks, or reefs. On the other hand, low tide will make it easier for a tall boat to safely travel beneath a bridge.

For paddlers, it will be easiest to paddle with, rather than against, a current. If you are paddling against an incoming or outgoing tide, it may be very difficult for you to make progress. The two hours in the middle of the tide cycle are when the current is strongest.

Different tides offer ample opportunities for water activities of all kinds. However, tides can also put you in danger if you do not know how to stay safe in tidal areas. It’s important to be aware of not only which tides will be best for your desired activity, but also how to avoid getting stranded or caught in one.

Understanding tides and how they can affect swimming conditions is crucial for sea swimmers safety. William Thomson, author of World of Tides, ​​explores the what’s, why’s and how’s when it comes to tides, so you can take one glance at a tide app and quickly predict what type of seas to expect.​

If you go sea swimming at the same time every day, on the same beach, you may notice that high and low tides alternate every week. If it is high tide in the early morning today, it’ll be low tide at the same time next week, then high tide the following week. The daily transition is subtle, almost unrecognisable, but the weekly transformation is dramatic; the beach literally changes shape, waves behave differently and currents flow the opposite direction. These changes have a huge impact on our swims, which is why understanding the tide is crucial for swimmers.

Up and down the Channel

We all know that the tide is affected by the moon. But few people understand exactly where the water comes and goes as the tide ebbs and flows. Where I live in Deal, Kent, many people ask if the tide is rising in Calais [across the channel] when it is falling in Deal. Their thinking is that water sloshes back and forth across the channel, and they are almost right. In fact, it pours up and down the English Channel. So when it is low tide in Deal, it is low tide in Calais – and high tide in Lands End. Imagine a huge wave, a tide wave, with Deal at its trough and Lands End at its peak. Then, over the course of six hours, the peak travels up the channel towards Deal, bringing high tide. This is one of three tide waves around Britain; another flows up the west coast and a third travels down the east coast, where its peak meets the English Channel wave and they travel up the coast of Europe together.

Spring and neap tides

These tide waves are shaped by the gravitational pull from the moon and set in motion by the spinning of the earth. The time that peaks pass is directly connected to the moon phase, and the reason high tide is [on average] 50 minutes later every day is because for every 24-hour rotation of the earth, the moon has made 12 degrees of its orbit, and it takes 50 minutes for the earth to realign with its new position. The lunar orbit also affects the height of tide; when the moon and sun [which also exerts a gravitational pull on our seas] are in line with the earth at the Full Moon and New Moon, their gravitational pulls work together and we get stronger tides with higher highs and lower lows. These are called Springs, not because of the season but because they ‘spring’ up and down with more energy. In contrast, when half the moon is illuminated during the First and Third Quarter phases, it is at right angles to the sun and earth and the combined gravitational pull is reduced, creating weaker tides called Neaps.

Depth change

As the peaks and troughs of tide waves pass, the most obvious change is the depth. The seabed is rarely a consistent slope and on most beaches [Brighton is a perfect example] there is a gently sloping seabed that gets steeper close to shore. This means that at high tide, when the water covers the steep beach, you are quickly out of your depth. For experienced swimmers this isn’t a problem, but for those less confident or people with young kids, it is safer to swim at low tide when the water stays shallower. The depth change also explains why waves behave differently through the tide; generally waves break aggressively over a steeply-sloping seabed, and passively over a gently-sloping seabed. On a beach like Brighton this means you’ll get an aggressive shorebreak at high tide, and passive peeling waves at low tide, despite the swell being exactly the same.

Perhaps the most powerful effect of the tide on swimmers is the currents it creates. To best understand how these work, think of water draining from a beach when a tsunami is approaching. This is the trough of the tidal wave and water is essentially being ‘sucked’ towards the approaching peak. When it arrives, water then surges with the wave up the beach. Now turn that tidal wave into a tide wave and spin it 90 degrees so it’s travelling along the coast. This explains why, when I go swimming in Deal at low tide, I am being sucked towards Cornwall – because that’s where the peak of the tide wave is coming from. But at high tide, I get pushed up the coast towards Margate and I’m literally riding the wave. And because there is more water travelling between the peaks and troughs of tide waves during Springs, the currents can flow 25% faster, adding 3 knots to my speed – or creating a natural treadmill that keeps me in one place if I were to try and swim against it.

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