Importance: High-Critical. If you are operating at the coast, you need to understand tides. This may be something you are already intimately familiar with, but if you come from an inland waters background then there is a lot of vital material covered here.
A comprehensive understanding of tides and currents is an absolutely fundamental requirement for the SUP instructor operating on coastal waters. Every single lesson and activity will be affected by tides and currents, both in terms of general logistics and administration, and overall safety. This lesson will take around 30 minutes to complete.
The training video discusses:
- Why tides happen
- The tidal cycle
- Tidal currents; when they’re weakest and strongest
- Implications of the various states of the tide
- How to ‘read the beach’ and assess the tide state
- A brief summary of different types of surf conditions and their implications
- How rip currents are formed
- Understanding currents in general
If you operate at the coast you probably already have a pretty good understanding of tides, but there may be parts of the picture you haven’t yet learned. And even if you do know everything there is to know about tides, it’s important now to revisit that knowledge from the perspective of how it will impact on your SUP lessons and sessions.
If you only operate in fresh water environments you may think this is not relevant to you. Admittedly, it won’t affect your day to day operations in the way it does for instructors working at the coast, but it is still important knowledge that you should possess, if only so that you can discuss the issues with your clients, some of whom may be intending to go paddling at the coast.
If you grew up around the ocean then the material in this lesson may all seem a bit obvious and easy. However, do not ever take it for granted that everyone knows this stuff. You will regularly encounter clients who have absolutely no understanding of tides and their effects. (Maybe in the same way that you, not having grown up in the mountains, or in the desert, etc would not have an instinctive understanding of types of snow or sand. We only know what we know!).
So whenever you get the opportunity with your clients, take the time to discuss and explain tides and how they work. It’s incredibly important information, and you may just impart a gem of information that prevents them making a life-threatening mistake at some point in the future.
The written test at the practical assessment is very likely to include questions regarding the tidal cycle.
Check Understanding!
- Do you understand what causes tides?
- Do you understand the tidal cycle?
- Do you understand how tidal flows vary throughout the tidal cycle?
- Do you understand the implications of high tide, low tide and mid tide?
- Could you turn up at a beach with no prior knowledge of the tide state, and be able to make a rough assessment as to what the tide is doing?
- Do you have an understanding of the different types of surf, and the relative dangers?
If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, congratulations, you’ve finished the Understanding the Environment section of the L1 SUP Instructor Training programme! If you would like a zoom discussion about any of the material in this section please contact us.