Kinsale tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 05:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Europe/Dublin local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Thu 07 May (range 2.1m). Next spring tide on Wed 13 May (range 2.5m). Next neap on Sun 10 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Kinsale sits at the mouth of the Bandon River where it meets a wide tidal inlet on the south Cork coast, roughly 25 kilometres southwest of Cork city. The town is compact, steeply terraced above the water, and has been a commercial fishing harbour for centuries. Today it combines a working fishing fleet — prawns, crab, demersal fish — with one of Ireland's more developed charter angling industries and an active leisure-sailing scene. The tidal character here is semidiurnal with a mean range of approximately 3.5 metres above LAT. On spring tides the range approaches 4.1 metres; on neap tides it drops to around 1.7 metres. The critical local feature is the drying characteristic of Kinsale harbour itself: at low water springs, much of the inner harbour dries to soft mud, leaving moored boats lying on their sides or sitting on legs. Visiting sailors need to account for this; the harbour master's office can advise on berths that hold water through the low-water period. The flood tide runs northeast into the estuary; the ebb reverses southwest toward the harbour mouth and open sea. The Old Head of Kinsale headland lies approximately 10 kilometres south of the town — a dramatic promontory extending into the Celtic Sea, recognisable by the lighthouse on its tip. The headland forms a navigational waypoint for coastal traffic and produces productive fishing ground in its lee. RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat 18 kilometres south-southwest of the Old Head on 7 May 1915; 1,198 people died. A memorial stands in the town. For shore anglers, the best bass marks are at the harbour mouth and on the sandbanks that expose at low water on the eastern shore. Charter boats work the Lusitania wreck and the inshore reefs for pollock, ling, and cod. The town itself is compact enough to walk — restaurants, a good chandlery, and the 17th-century Charles Fort at the harbour mouth are all within reach of any berth. Open-Meteo Marine predictions carry ±45 minutes timing uncertainty and ±0.2–0.3 metres height uncertainty. Passage planning for the Old Head approaches and offshore banks should reference UKHO Admiralty chart 2081 and Marine Institute Ireland published data.