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Just talked to the folks at the River Lodge and she told me that they don't recommend leaving a boat in the water overnight because they have "negative tides" and if you didn't get to your boat in time, it could sink.....
WTF is a "negative tide" (does that mean the water is lower than the bottom at low tide? ) and how the heck could your boat sink between high tide and low tide?
Econfina is looking more and more like the twilight zone.

Juan wrote:Econfina is looking more and more like the twilight zone.

You ain't seen nothing yet

Tide heights from a chart are estimates for that particular day compared to the average low and high waters level for that location. A negative tide height (has a - sign in front of the number) indicates the water level will be below the average low water line.

As far as sinking a boat, the way that could happen that I know of is to have your boat tied up to a dock both bow and stern. The water drops and the boat does not have enough slack in the lines. The boat is left hanging on it's side. Tide comes back in and water fills up the boat... sinking it. IMO, the word you received from whom ever at Econfina was a bit extreeme but it is possible under certain circumstances but unlikely down there.

A negative tide is just one that is below MEAN level. That is an average between highs and lows. Download wxtide32, and you will see the relationships.

A boat can sink with a low tide coming on. You tie the line tight at high tide to the dock. The tide goes down, the boat turns sideways from the lines holding one side up, them water comes back, and fills up the sideways boat.


Ok, school's out....

Dubble

Sir Reel, bright minds do think alike....LOL

Dubble

You flatter me Dub. Your good company to be in

Not sure exactly what they were referring to, but a few weeks ago, the tide really screwed a buddy of mine over in a private creek his family owns. He left his skiff in the water for a couple of weeks. During that time, we had an unusually high tide. He didn't have enough anchor line out, and the boat floated down the creek to the first bend, where it was able to drift up into the marsh because of the unusually high water. I'm not sure how they ended up getting the boat un-stuck, but last time I was down that way, he had his boat sitting on its trailer.

I've also heard of people tying off to a dock at high tide with a short rope, only to come out at low tide toi find their boat hanging side-ways from the dock. Depending on what kind of boat you have, I see how that could eventually sink it if left unattended.

If you were to measure the water level at every low-tide for an entire year, exclude any measurements that fall outside the first standard of deviation (extreme highs or lows caused by extreme weather), and average them, you would then know the average low-tide water level. You call this 0 (zero). A "negative" tide, is one that is lower than the average low tide. During a -1.5 low-tide, the water level will be 1.5 feet below the average low tide. The depths on a nautical chart are based on the average low tide. So, if your chart says it's 3 feet deep, but you have a -1.0 tide, it's actually only 2 feet deep. The "0" (zero) used in tide measurements is not the same thing as "sea level", depending on where you are and what coordinate system you are using.

She speaks the truth about Econfina.
Pull your boat at night.

I found my Gheenoe taking on water once when I left too much line on the bow. The tide went out and the bow of the boat apparently went under a cross member of the dock; tide came back in and over the stuck bow. Not sure if this happens on bigger boats due to their size and buoyancy, but I imagine its possible and not worth the risk.

I learned sumthin today and I thought I knew everything.

I have seen boats at Econfina that were tethered correctly to find out the next morning they were full of water.
The negative tide allows the boat to settle in the mud. The suction from the mud will prevent the boat from floating again as the tide rises.
The water starts in over the transom and stops when the tide is high.

I have seen others there that were not tethered correctly and the bow would hang on the dock/seawall ay high tide.
When the tide fell out the transom would be down.
The water would begin to rise and come over the transom before there was enough water under the boat to float the rear end.

Both issues,same result.
Sunk boat.

Juan wrote:I learned sumthin today and I thought I knew everything.

I used to think I knew a little about everything. Now I know I know a lot about nothing. At least I thought I did until a minute ago. One thing I know fo sho; When you absolutely positively need to know the right answer . . . ask Jumptrout51.

I'm gonna do exactly what he said.... more trouble, but less trouble than a sunken boat.

Jumptrout51 wrote:She speaks the truth about Econfina.
Pull your boat at night.

This is an extreme example of tide changes, but you get the idea of how it could turn bad if you are not careful.


FF

What does a Econfina ----Negative tides mean ?????? It means less people thats not from around Econfina staying home so us people can have the gulf to our self hahahahah..