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Tide
Tool is undoubtedly the most useful application for the
paddler, and it is freeware—you can download it from the Web
at no charge. You install the application onto the Palm by placing
the unit in its cradle, which is attached to your computer,
and “HotSyncing.” This procedure keeps your calendar and contact
information synchronized between your desktop and your Palm;
it can also load new applications. When you install Tide Tool,
you can choose to load the areas you need. I have the East Coast
from Canada to Venezuela, plus the Caribbean on my Palm. I keep
the West Coast, Europe, Australia and other locations stored
on my desktop, available for future adventures. To use Tide
Tool, you pick a location and date, then it calculates the present
tide height (if today’s date is selected) and times and heights
for high and low tides. The program will also calculate times
and speeds for maximum flood and ebb currents, as well as times
for slack current, and the speed at any given moment. To add
icing to the cake, you can also get times for sunrise and sunset.
Tide Tool can calculate all of this for the next 33 years, so
the stack of printed tide tables replaced is impressive: My
East Coast tide and current tables for only one year weigh 32/2
pounds; my Palm weighs only six ounces.
The
current tide height can be especially useful. While my family
was camped on Campbell Island on the Maine Island Trail last
summer, my five-year-old daughter had to get up in the middle
of the night. My wife went with her and called out that the
water was lapping at the hull of our triple kayak. We had little
room to move the 22-foot boat higher up on the pocket beach,
so I grabbed my Palm, turned on the back light, and found that
the current tide height was about six inches below maximum.
We were just able to fit the boat against the trees on a patch
of grass above the predicted high-tide line. Although we had
tied the kayak to a nearby tree, we were glad to know we had
now placed our kayak at a safe height, so that our pride and
joy wouldn’t be bounced around on Maine’s abundant rocks.
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