Spring tides in Jersey go below predictions

View from Karame beacon at low tide

Jersey has some of the highest tides in the world. This 2 minute video shows how fast the tide can rise during the third hour of the rising tide.

Filmed at Seymour Tower 10 March 2012. Low water was just 0.2m above chart datum (the zero calculation). This was about 30cm lower than predicted due to high pressure (1036mb) over Jersey. The high tide was 11.66m.

The result is that the tide needs to rise 11.46m in just 5 hours 36 minutes from low to high water. The Proudman tidal gauge for the 10^th and 11^th of March show just how far below the predicted low tide the sea actually reached.

We were staying overnight in Seymour Tower so there was no worry about being cut off and stranded.

Note how the low tide went below the predictions due to high pressure

However, I was running late and arrived at Seymour slip at 1705. By the time I reached the tower at 1735 the inshore gullies had filled behind me. It was like watching doors closing behind you.

I was therefore quite surprised to see a few people wandering back from the tower at 1715 with only a couple of minutes to spare before the inshore gullies started filling with water. It is worth noting that it is the gullies nearest to shore that fill first in this area.

This is a good reason why you should respect the tides around Jersey and be very careful once the tide starts to rise.

No time lapse involved!

Learn more about our overnight stays at Seymour Tower and our “moonwalks” on the seabed in Jersey.

Learn more about our overnight stays at Seymour Tower and our

About derek

Derek Hairon is a British Canoeing level 5 coach (sea) and sea kayak leader guide and assessor.
Derek is the first nationally endorsed British Canoeing accredited guide in Jersey. The British Canoeing kayak guide endorsement supports and recognises the additional skills required when fulfilling a guiding role on sea kayak tours and expeditions worldwide.
Over 49 years of sea kayaking experience. Expeditions to circumnavigate Ireland by kayak, Outer Hebrides, Aland Islands, Faeroe Islands and Alaska. Plus, lots of sea and surf kayaking in the UK. White water-kayaking expeditions in Nepal to paddle the Tamur and Marsyandi Rivers.
Derek wrote Sit-on-top Kayak. A Beginner’s Manual (Pesda Press). It is now in its second reprint and is also translated into French. He is the author of the Channel Island and South East Coast Sea Kayaking guidebook (Pesda Press).