Canadian Hydrographic Service ceases publishing Chart 1 and VOLs 5,6 & 7 Tide Tables

[jackdale]

The Canadian Hydrographic Service and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are no longer printing the following charts:
Chart 1: Symbols, Abbreviations & Terms
Tide and Current Tables Vol. 5
Tide and Current Tables Vol. 6
Tide and Current Tables Vol. 7
These booklets and tables are now available for download from the Canadian Hydrographic Service website. Please follow the links posted below for easy access:
Chart 1:
http://charts.gc.ca/documents/public...rt1-Carte1.pdf
Vol 5:
http://charts.gc.ca/.../publ.../tabl...21_Volume5.pdf
Vol 6:
http://charts.gc.ca/.../publ.../tabl...21_Volume6.pdf
Vol 7:
http://charts.gc.ca/.../publ.../tabl...21_Volume7.pdf

[sv_pelagia]

2020 was my first year not buying the printed tides and instead using the pdf download (identical to the printed books).

Not as easy as the printed version, but cheaper (free!) and not so bad viewing on an Android tablet.

The OP's post only indicates, west coast tides, but this is the case for the east coast too.

Here is the correct URL for tides.

http://www.charts.gc.ca/publications/tables-eng.html

The wording from CHS:

PRINTING TO BE DISCONTINUED
Due to the availability of complete volumes of the Canadian Tide and Current Tables on charts.gc.ca as viewable and printable PDF files, and additional information in different formats (predictions, observations in tables, and graphics) being available on tides.gc.ca, the Canadian Hydrographic Service is permanently discontinuing the printing of all volumes of Canadian Tide and Current Tables. As such, the 2021 New Edition and all future volumes will be only available digitally and will not be sold in paper format. Advances in technology bring a new era of marine navigation with a focus on digital and electronic products. The Canadian Hydrographic Service is transforming the way it delivers quality data and services to clients, in a timely manner, to support decision-making. For more information, visit www.charts.gc.ca.



Sailing Directions are also available as free pdf download.

[marshmat]

Thanks for posting the links!
I can't say I blame them. Hard copies means the CHS has to deal with printing, warehousing, and distribution, plus disposal of obsolete inventory when it gets updated. The handful of people who want a dead-tree Chart 1 can spend the $10 or so to have the PDF printed and stapled at a local or online print-on-demand shop.

[Mike OReilly]

Now, how about providing free digital access to actual charts. THAT would be a real advance.

[marshmat]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Now, how about providing free digital access to actual charts. THAT would be a real advance.

Yes, it would - and I think the NOAA has already proven, conclusively, that free digital charts are a net benefit to safety.
But Canada's been pushing towards a user-fee model for an increasing number of public services for a while. The latest proposal is for the licence numbers on the bow - currently assigned for free, just spend 10 min on a web form to renew after 10 years or if you move - should incur a $15 fee every 5 years. Offering charts - which take actual resources and effort to make - for free would seem unlikely.

Also, under the old NAFTA treaty, there was a good chance that American makers of commercial electronic charts would have been able to cause a lot of arcane legal hell for Ottawa if the CHS were to publish theirs for free. (The NOAA charts likely would have been OK, because I'm not aware of any Canadian or Mexican cartographers who sell digital charts for the US market.) I haven't yet confirmed whether a similar risk would apply under USMCA.

[Kelkara]

Well that's a shame ... there's no way I'm using a pdf as a backup to electronic tide/current tables ... I guess I've got some printing to do.

[jackdale]

The most useful function of Chart 1 is the back cover which will lead you to the symbol you are trying to make sense of. It is not in the pdf version.

I will be keeping my print version of Chart 1.

[bgallinger]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Now, how about providing free digital access to actual charts. THAT would be a real advance.

Yeah it sure would! Think it will happen?

[Rex Delay]

I am shocked by this move. Many boaters do not carry electronics and they cannot be relied on. I urge all Canadians to contact their MP to change this idiotic decision in the name of public safety. Double the price of the books, but keep them available!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by bgallinger

Yeah it sure would! Think it will happen?

Sadly, I doubt it.

What burns my butt is that we've already paid for the creation of these charts through our taxes. Then we have to pay again to access them. Seems fundamentally unfair.

[Exctyengr]

I typically use the Waggoners publication Ports and Passes. Yes, I have to pay $20.00 or so but they are there, easy to use, work even when the batteries die and you are out of range and it supports a boating community asset

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Exctyengr

I typically use the Waggoners publication Ports and Passes. Yes, I have to pay $20.00 or so but they are there, easy to use, work even when the batteries die and you are out of range and it supports a boating community asset

Right on (although I didn't realize Ports and Passes was a Waggoners publication). Ports and Passes is a VASTLY superior publication to the government tables.


It's going to be interesting on commercial vessels where printed versions of these government publications are REQUIRED to be carried.

And you better make sure you have the info with you in one form or another because 90% of the area covered by tide tables 5, 6, and 7 have no cell service - and you sure as heck need those tables around here (btw, I have no idea where CPN gets its tide and current information but much of it is just plain WRONG - sometimes dangerously so - like Whirlpool Rapids being out by 3 hours).

[Kelkara]

Ports and Passes is a great publication, but it doesn't tabulate as many locations as the government booklet, but it does include all the secondary port information for you to calculate them yourself.


I have also seen some huge errors on Open CPN, and so don't trust it. Navionics on my plotter seems to be pretty accurate, but annoyingly didn't include Malibu Rapids, so I did have to dig out the book for that.

[Stu Jackson]

I've taken a close look and Ports and Passes is the same as the published tide&current material except that they corrected them for daylight savings time.


I did this two years ago for Dodd Narrows and a few other spots in the Gulf Islands. I had my printed out pages and my friend's copy of Ports and Passes.

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I've taken a close look and Ports and Passes is the same as the published tide&current material except that they corrected them for daylight savings time.

It is the same where they include it ... but look at what is included from Volume 7 - just Prince Rupert and Bella Bella, with absolutely nothing from Haida Gwaii at all ... It is all there, but you have to calculate from the secondary ports table, no handy daily tables.


[edit] - just looked, secondary port info in ports and passes is all in feet too!