Hi

There is a weather routing option in the package seatrack that does weather routing and it takes into account tides. I know this because I wrote the weather routing package for this package and it uses tidal data that could come from pretty musch any source. It also uses weather data from GRIB files for the weather. You also have to put in the performance details for the vessel as well. It will then work out a set out routes (taking into account tacking as well). There are many other options as well.

You can see the package on:-  http://www.seatrack.co.uk/

or contact me on garry@futuredata.com

My original question is not about the availability of apps that DO tidal current routing but rather the ability to do so ACCURATELY. I did a passage thru the English channel the end of May 2005. As you may remember, the weather then was somewhat unusual. My experience with the UKHO data on that trip (probably an example of the best available as they've been studying it for a very long time) was that in fact, the real time weather effects were enough to influence currents significantly in terms of velocity, timing and direction. While I planned the passage according to the tables, I found that constant adjustment was needed in order to fit my transit to the actual currents. Having experienced this, I wonder about the true usefulness of having an Autopilot steer a boat based on a route planned with such historical data versus just using a rhumb line course and adjusting to fit the actual situation as it happens on the water. Using GRIBs and calculating isochrons from them is another matter-in that situation, one IS using real-time data (well, almost real-time) versus a prediction.