Tedious but Important Formalities
At every childhood trip to the beach, like many of us, we were
told that we mustn’t swim too soon after munching our sandy
sandwiches. Whether there was any good reason behind this alleged
extreme danger or whether it was simple parental swim-avoidance
tactics we’re still unsure! However, what we can and must advise are
the following vital rules to follow for your own beach trips and for
general use of your Tide Clock:
1. Do not use your Tide Clocks as a replacement for publically
available tide timetables in situations where you or others
depend on such information for personal safety or security.
Tides and sea currents can be very powerful and our Tide
Clock must be used as a guide only.
2. Your tide clock is not be used as a navigational tool, for
example, for sailing purposes.
3. Remember your Tide Clock is primarily for visual enjoyment
rather than a serious indicator of the tide’s exact movements.
What if my Tide Clock readings don’t
match the actual tides?
As mentioned above, your tide clock works on a semi-diurnal
mechanism. This means that it works by timing the moon’s (nearly)
25 hour orbit around the Earth, and therefore the gravitational
force behind the twice daily rise and fall of a standard diurnal tide.
The precision quartz movement measures the average 6 hours, 12 ½
minutes between high and low tides to an accuracy of 10 seconds per
year.
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