30/08/2026
🌊 UNDERSTANDING THE TIDE - PART 1
The Rule of Twelfths
Did you know the tide doesn’t rise and fall at the same rate throughout the whole tidal cycle?
A really simple way to understand this is the Rule of Twelfths.
Imagine the total change between low and high tide is split into 12 equal parts. Over roughly 6 hours, those parts are spread like this:
Hour 1 → 🌊
Hour 2 → 🌊🌊
Hour 3 → 🌊🌊🌊
Hour 4 → 🌊🌊🌊
Hour 5 → 🌊🌊
Hour 6 → 🌊
So the easiest way to remember it is:
1 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 1
The tide changes least around high and low water, builds through the next couple of hours, changes most through the middle of the tidal cycle, and then begins to slow again towards the next high or low water.
⚠️ The Rule of Twelfths is a useful rule of thumb, rather than an exact prediction, and it describes the change in tidal height.
But understanding this gives us a really useful foundation for understanding what might be happening to the water around us.
👉 So what does this mean when we’re actually IN the water?
That’s Part 2… 🌊
