Informal for high water and the stand around it, as in launching at the top of the tide. Its partner is the bottom of the tide for low water. Boaters use the top of the tide to get over bars, off moorings in shallow creeks and onto trailers on steep ramps; anglers use it as a feeding cue. It carries no precise time, just the stretch where the water is at its highest.
We'll float her off at the top of the tide, about 1520, so be at the yard by three.
Also heard as
- top of the flood
Related terms
Stand
The pause at the top or bottom of the tide, when the level hangs nearly still before turning.
Dead low
The very bottom of low water, when the tide has stopped falling and not yet started to rise.
Higher high water
The taller of a tidal day's two high waters, the one that matters most on mixed-tide coasts.
Turn of the tide
The moment the tide changes from rising to falling or the current from flood to ebb, or the reverse.