Worthing tide times

Worthing is on the West Sussex coast between Brighton (16 km east) and Littlehampton (12 km west), facing south into the English Channel. The pier, opened in 1862, extends 300 metres into the channel. The tidal range here is modest by English standards: mean spring range around 5.4 metres at Shoreham (the nearby gauge station), but Worthing sits in a phase of the tidal cycle where the range is slightly more complex — the English Channel has a dual-tide character, with the main tidal wave arriving from the Atlantic and a reflected component from the North Sea creating a distorted pattern.

The beach is shingle with patches of sand revealed at low water near the pier. The shingle steeply grades toward the waterline, which means wave backwash is fast and can catch people off-balance. The pier is the town's social centre; the pier head restaurant and amusement section run seasonally.

For water sports, the beach is primarily used for swimming and open-water swimming events. The West Sussex coastline has warm summer water (up to 19°C in August) that makes open-water swimming comfortable from June through September. The Worthing Seagulls sea swimming club trains year-round; cold-water swimmers persist through winter in 8 to 10°C conditions.

Kayaking and paddleboarding launch from the beach is straightforward except in onshore winds, which pile up small surf on the shingle and make launching and landing in kayaks harder than it looks. The flat waters to the east toward Shoreham Harbour are the standard paddling route in southwesterly conditions. Shoreham Harbour mouth has strong tidal current on the ebb — avoid paddling near it without planning the current timing.

Sea fishing from Worthing Pier is a local tradition. The pier head produces whiting and dab in autumn and winter; pouting and bass are taken in summer. The water deepens at the pier end to around 5 metres at low water — relatively shallow by sea pier standards, but enough for seasonal runs. Beach casting east of the pier toward Lancing Beach is done for school bass and flatfish on summer nights.

The alignment of the Sussex coast makes it one of the more sheltered stretches of the English coast in summer, with the South Downs behind Worthing providing some windbreak from north winds. The result is predictably calm sea conditions from June through August — not good for surf, but reliably pleasant for swimming and paddling. The same alignment makes the coast vulnerable to severe southwesterly storms in winter.

Tide predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model, cross-referenced with UK Environment Agency gauge data. For the most accurate local predictions, consult the UK National Tide Gauge Network via CEFAS or the UKHO's EasyTide service.