http://www.outdoorsafetyusa.com/safety/beach-safety/ocean-safety/tides/ Tides are important for boaters to know, but it's hard to understand how tides work. en-us Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:28:12 EST Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:28:12 EST Weblog Editor 2.0 Have you ever gone to the beach, spread out your towels and all your stuff fairly close to the water's edge, then got in the water for awhile, only to come back and notice that the water reached your stuff and got it all wet? Or you might have fallen asleep on your towel, only to be awakened when water washed up on it. This is caused by the ocean's tides. High Tide, Low Tide Tides are the rising and falling of sea level in a day. The gravitational pull between the sun and moon cause tides to occur. The gravitational pull of the moon is greater than that of the sun, and since the moon rotates around the earth at 12 degrees a day and it rotates in the same direction as the earth spins, by the time the earth has rotated once, the moon has shifted 12 degrees. This means that high and low tides are not 24 hours apart, but instead 24 hours and 48 minutes apart. So why is it important to include information about tides in the daily weather report in coastal areas? It's important information for boaters to have. Many times, there are shallow areas in harbors called bars, and some boats can't get past this area if the tide is too low. That's why many boaters pay attention to the tide report. Confused? We are. So we'll give you the simple advice: Boat during high tide Keep your beach towel farther from the water's edge Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:28:12 EST