Swiftsure Tides & Currents 2023

Tidal Current Maps for May 27 - 28, 2023

Dr. Richard Dewey

University of Victoria

These tidal current summaries for the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, May 27-28, 2023 have been prepared for the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Below are a series of 2023 tide tables and current maps covering the period of the race intended for the general information of the skippers and crew sailing in the 2023 RVYC Swiftsure International Yacht Race.

Official Canadian Hydrographic Service Tide Tables (Vol 5). 

A local copy of the 2023 Volume 5 CHS Tide Tables has been uploaded here.

Times in the tide tables are reported in Pacific Standard Time (PST), not Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). 

Single pages extracted from the above tide tables are presented here:

Tidal current charts covering hourly intervals from 08:00 May 27, 2023 through to, at most, 18:00 May 28, 2022, based on the Vancouver Island regional tidal model of Mike Foreman (Foreman et al., 2004). Each PDF file below contains multiple current chart pages. These files cover different geographic regions for the various races, and have slightly different time ranges. They can easily be downloaded & saved, or emailed to your smart phone or tablet for display during the race. The graphs must not be used for navigational purposes. In the case of any discrepancy, the CHS tide tables above will take precedence.


Time series inserts in the upper left corners of the charts are for the nearest associated CHS tidal current stations; Race Passage, Juan de Fuca East, and Juan de Fuca West, respectively. The displayed current vectors represent depth averaged tidal velocities, so surface current strengths and directions may depart slightly from those plotted. Current vectors immediately at the shoreline may be less accurate due to model boundary conditions or small-scale flows around/over shallow rocks/reefs, not resolved by the model. One final note, the CHS tide tables include a small (50-10cm/s) seasonal seaward surface enhancement due to estuarine river discharge, which peaks in late May through June. For reference, a current speed of 50 cm/s is roughly one knot, 150 cm/s (scale vector) is roughly 3 knots. These tidal current charts are not to be used for navigational purposes. Save a tree, please do not print out every page.

The time series plots (below) of the tidal heights and currents at selected sites will be presented at the Skipper's Meeting, Friday May 26, 2023. Tidal Heights (PDF file) are for Port Renfrew and Victoria, in metres. Tidal Currents (PDF file) are in m/s for Race Passage, Juan de Fuca East (E) and Juan de Fuca West (W). Flood currents (+) flow into the Salish Sea, ebb currents (-) towards the Pacific. Times are in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

New for 2023 are the tidal current maps at the Western Entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait for the period of May 12-14, 2023 for the sailors participating in the Pacific NW Offshore race from Ilwaco WA to Victoria BC.

Any questions about the current charts should be address to Richard Dewey

Mike Foreman will present a brief summary on these tidal currents at the skippers meeting

Friday Afternoon, May 26, 2022.

Return to the Swiftsure Home Page