Re: [Paddlewise] tides and currents: reading the water

Jack Gilman wrote:
> Hi All-
> 
> I want to thank Dave for an excellent explanation of
> the differences between tides and currents. i live and
> paddle on the Hudson River in NY, and it is a tidal
> esuary too- an "arm of the sea", tidal to Troy NY.
> 
> I always meet folks who don't differentiate between
> tides and currents, and don't realize that you can
> have a falling tide on a flood- the back end, and a
> rising tide on an ebb, the same way. 

Jack, thanks for the kind words.  However, I have a confession to make: 
that business of a falling water level while the current is flooding -- or, 
a rising water level while the current is ebbing -- took me a _long_ time 
to come to terms with.

It is a boggler, for sure!  One analogy I have used to help others 
conceptualize the latter is a wash basin with the drain slightly ajar, and 
the tap running.  I ask folks if it is possible for the water level in the 
basin to rise while the water is draining out the bottom.  After a couple 
seconds, they get it, and then it is a lot easier make the mental transfer 
to the river, viewing the local chunk of river you are sitting on as a sort 
of wash basin, with water input from upstream, and water output going 
downstream.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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