How to Spot Patterns in Calm Water
If you are trying to work out what calm water is doing, it is sometimes tempting to feel like nothing interesting is happening. There are…
Tag: How to Read Water
David Hockney Reads about Reading Water
My thanks to Charlie Gladstone for sending an interesting email about a beautiful book, with an intriguing couple of paragraphs. The book in question is…
How to See Through Reflections on Water
Anyone who spends time on or near the water will have noticed that sometimes we can see through water, but often we can’t. For those…
Why do waves bend towards the shore?
When waves meet shallow water they slow down. They always bend towards the shallow side. This is why they bend towards the shore. It is…
The Fish Cliff Clue
When John Pahl and I were sailing around Iceland, we noticed that you could use the puffins to indicate the direction of land very reliably,…
Winter Sea Cumulus
The clouds always make a map for us. On winter mornings, the cumulus clouds map the sea. A lot more about this and the other…
5 Sea Colours That Are Easy to See
Every time we look out at the sea there are lots of colours. Our brain tends to mash them all up because it is busy…
What is a ‘Drying Height’ on a Chart?
The definition of a drying height: “The drying height is the vertical distance of the seabed that is exposed by the tide, above the sea water level at the lowest astronomical tide.” But this…
Water-pepper, Persicaria hydropiper
Water-pepper, Persicaria hydropiper, is a bitter tasting map-maker. It is an inconspicuous annual plant, but it is useful to natural navigators. It grows up to…