Community Corner

King Tide Comes, Then Goes, Leaving Some Information Behind

The astronomical high tide on Wednesday around 10:42 a.m. was not as dramatic as last week's high tide, when we had 20 mph winds battering the shore, but the level of the high tide Wednesday did provide information we'd be wise to heed.

The sun and the moon were perfectly aligned Wednesday morning to provide area residents with a sneak preview of what our shoreline might look like about 20 to 30 years from now at an average high tide.

The Long Island Sound Study has asked residents to document the high tide Wednesday and again Thursday, when high tide will be around 11:32 a.m. They also asked us to take pictures last week at high tide as a point of comparison.

The comparison, at least in Madison, will be complicated by the fact that last week, just as the tide was turning, 20 to 30 mph winds were battering the shore, creating crashing waves, and the appearance of a higher high tide. In fact then that it looked a little bit like Irene.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In many ways, Irene is very much still with us, when it comes to our shoreline. As I took pictures Wednesday, bulldozers and backhoes were still toiling away off of Holly Park Road and Parker Avenue, in an effort to shore up defenses for those homes before a nor'easter hits. An early effort to build a small seawall to stop flooding of Surf Club Road, which provides us with access to the Surf Club, failed, leaving the road overrun with water again recently. Another repair was made and, as of high tide Wednesday, there was no water on the road.

High tide Wednesday looked pretty tame. But the high water levels served as a reminder that there is little room for comfort, once a storm rolls in. And that's how it's always been, and will continue to be, when it comes to property by the beach. Nature will give, and nature will take away. Some of that we'll have to live with, other times we'll try to fight it.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Fisherman Bill Phillips from Clinton was just getting settled in at the Surf Club as I was taking pictures at high tide. He was waiting for that magic moment when the tide turns, for about a half hour later is when Bill often has his best luck with it comes to stripers and blues. He said he used to fish at West Wharf and Hammonassest, but that there is still so much damage from Irene to both beaches that he sought out other fishing grounds.

He finds Surf Club perfect for that right now.

"Most people don't realize how great it is down here," said Phillips, whom many in Madison might remember as the former owner of the Create A Party shop in the Stop & Shop plaza. "In about a half hour the fish'll be here. At least I hope so. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

True for fishing. And true when it comes to dealing with the effects of forces of nature, like high tides.


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