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Scott Vernon September 23rd 03 03:31 PM

Heavy Air
 
Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...
Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...





Scott Vernon September 23rd 03 03:32 PM

Heavy Air
 
Are you the same age as all your charts?

Scotty

"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...
But you're not that old are ya?

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:

What, Charlie Brown? Did I not state it was my ''old'' chart?

Scotty


"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...

1927 datum?

Good grief.

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:


Well, right under the sea serpent and above the mermaid it says '' 1927
DATUM , Soundings in Feet at MLW''

Low Low Water Low Tide?????

SV

"Jeff Morris" jeffmo@NoSpam-sv-lokiDOTcom wrote in message
...


How old is that chart? All of my US charts from the recent past use


MLLW

as the datum for


soundings. I even checked in my Chesapeake ChartKit to see if they

were

different.


OK - Here's a quiz: What's the meaning of LLWLT?

BTW, I thought of commenting on the "8 feet above MLW" also - around


here

we have 10 foot


tides and flooding is measured above MHW

"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...


Found the 'old' chart. It reads '' controlling depths in feet at Mean

Low


Water (MLW)''. AND; depths reffered to soundings (MLW)''.

Scotty


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...


Are you sure?
Don't keep charts at the house, thus the ''I believe'' .

SV



"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...


No they are not. Read the chart legend

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:
I believe that


charted depths are given at MLW and it's up to the sailor to know

the


tide


table and apply it.








Scott Vernon September 23rd 03 03:38 PM

Heavy Air
 
Yup, here on the Bay, a strong South wind combined with high tide can make
for higher than MHHW.

SV


"Jeff Morris" jeffmo@NoSpam-sv-lokiDOTcom wrote in message
...
Yes - In case anyone is following this, let me explain:

Here in the States we use Mean High Water (MHW) as the datum for bridge

clearances. This
means that, on average, half the tides will be higher than MHW, so the

bridge will be
lower than expected. To make matters worse, with the common semi-diurnal

tide, one tide
(the "higher high") will often be significantly higher than the other, so

the discrepancy
can be large.

From chart 13270 of Boston harbor there is a table:

Height referred to datum of soundings (MLLW)
Mean Higher High Water 9.7 feet
Mean High Water 9.3 feet
Mean Low Water 0.3 feet
Extreme Low Water -3.0 feet

Thus, the average "higher high" is 0.4 feet above the datum used for

bridge clearance.
However, today the Higher High is at 10.22 feet. almost a foot higher than

the datum.
Anyone thinking they have a foot of clearance could be in for a nasty

surprise!

I should add that a strong onshore breeze can often add an extra foot to

the predicted
tides.

-jeff



"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...
Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...

Cheers MC

Jeff Morris wrote:

We don't often use "spring tides" here in the States - people like RB

would be saying
they
only sail in Summer.

We just use MHW - that leads to excitement since the bridges will

likely be lower than
their reported clearances once a day!

That reminds me - Happy Spring!


"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...

Heights on land and clearances are above MWHS -right?

Cheers MC










Jeff Morris September 23rd 03 06:08 PM

Heavy Air
 
Well put, Scotty.

But MC does have a point - under the US system you have to check to see if the current
tide is much higher than MHW; in other countries where the datum for bridge clearance is
the Spring Tide level, or the Large Tides, its a bit easier.

However the best thing to do is to read the gauge board on the bridge and ask the
tender.Can


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...
Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...
Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...







The_navigator© September 23rd 03 10:19 PM

Heavy Air
 
They are much younger than me!

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:
Are you the same age as all your charts?

Scotty

"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...

But you're not that old are ya?

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:


What, Charlie Brown? Did I not state it was my ''old'' chart?

Scotty


"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...


1927 datum?

Good grief.

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:



Well, right under the sea serpent and above the mermaid it says '' 1927
DATUM , Soundings in Feet at MLW''

Low Low Water Low Tide?????

SV

"Jeff Morris" jeffmo@NoSpam-sv-lokiDOTcom wrote in message
...



How old is that chart? All of my US charts from the recent past use

MLLW


as the datum for



soundings. I even checked in my Chesapeake ChartKit to see if they


were

different.



OK - Here's a quiz: What's the meaning of LLWLT?

BTW, I thought of commenting on the "8 feet above MLW" also - around

here


we have 10 foot



tides and flooding is measured above MHW

"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...



Found the 'old' chart. It reads '' controlling depths in feet at Mean

Low



Water (MLW)''. AND; depths reffered to soundings (MLW)''.

Scotty


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...



Are you sure?
Don't keep charts at the house, thus the ''I believe'' .

SV



"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...



No they are not. Read the chart legend

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:
I believe that



charted depths are given at MLW and it's up to the sailor to know

the



tide



table and apply it.






The_navigator© September 23rd 03 10:58 PM

Heavy Air
 
Are you saying the American charts use a stupid system for indicating
clearance?

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:

Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...

Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...







The_navigator© September 23rd 03 10:59 PM

Heavy Air
 
How do you have a tide guage on an overhead wire?

Cheers MC

Jeff Morris wrote:

Well put, Scotty.

But MC does have a point - under the US system you have to check to see if the current
tide is much higher than MHW; in other countries where the datum for bridge clearance is
the Spring Tide level, or the Large Tides, its a bit easier.

However the best thing to do is to read the gauge board on the bridge and ask the
tender.Can


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...

Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...

Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...








Jeff Morris September 23rd 03 11:27 PM

Heavy Air
 
Well, this can be a problem. However, I've traveled the entire East Coast of the US and I
only remember one overhead that made me nervous - in Pine Island Sound, FL going to
Sanibel. Its listed as 80 feet, but sure looked like it was sagging a bit!

However, the differences between MHW and highest astronomical tide are maybe 3 or 4 feet
in a worst case. I've gone under bridges with 3 or 4 feet of clearance - a few times only
a few inches - but I wouldn't go under a powerline with that little clearance!



"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...
How do you have a tide guage on an overhead wire?

Cheers MC

Jeff Morris wrote:

Well put, Scotty.

But MC does have a point - under the US system you have to check to see if the current
tide is much higher than MHW; in other countries where the datum for bridge clearance

is
the Spring Tide level, or the Large Tides, its a bit easier.

However the best thing to do is to read the gauge board on the bridge and ask the
tender.Can


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...

Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...

Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...









Donal September 23rd 03 11:44 PM

Heavy Air
 

"Jeff Morris" jeffmo@NoSpam-sv-lokiDOTcom wrote in message
...
Well put, Scotty.

But MC does have a point - under the US system you have to check to see if

the current
tide is much higher than MHW; in other countries where the datum for

bridge clearance is
the Spring Tide level, or the Large Tides, its a bit easier.

However the best thing to do is to read the gauge board on the bridge and

ask the
tender.Can


Hmmmm.... You assume that every overhead obstruction has a guage!

I suspect that "busier" waterways have guages, but most of the rivers that I
have gone up, have not had such useful aids to navigation. I need to read
the charts!

Regards


Donal


--




Shen44 September 24th 03 01:36 AM

Heavy Air
 
Subject: Heavy Air
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?The=5Fnavigator=A9?=
Date: 09/23/2003 14:58 Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

Are you saying the American charts use a stupid system for indicating
clearance?

Cheers MC

Scott Vernon wrote:

Well, DUH!

"The_navigator©" wrote ...

Hmmm. That's a worry. Might mean you'll need tide tables to decide if
you can pass an overhead...



I think he's saying that US charts require the operator of the vessel to pay
attention to his/her surroundings, know how to read the charts, know how to
make use of the information provided, and know how to apply that information to
other variables which may make the "datum" inaccurate, for a given moment ....
now that I think about it, so do B.A. charts.
No chart/system, is perfect. You need to know which system you are using and
what it's plusses and drawbacks are.

Shen


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