Yachting Monthly doesn’t usually plug products in its news pages. Occassionally, however, we make an exception…

A Cornish company is hoping its new tide prediction program for mobile phones will be perfect for sailors all over the world. It’s certainly caused a stir in the YM office.

ashortwalk, best known for their wall-mounted tide clocks and coastal weather stations, have launched mobiletide – an innovative new tide prediction program for mobile phones.

“mobiletide is a simple to use one-off program designed for a mobile phone which can instantly calculate and display the state of tide at just about any location you choose.

It can then predict tide times for any given minute, hour, day, month or even year, providing an instant and convenient access to tide times,” said ashortwalk founder Dan Dicker.

“It’s like having a huge global tide table book in your back pocket, but you don’t have to buy a new one every year!”.

“Importantly because everything mobiletide needs to work is saved to your phone you don’t need internet access or even mobile reception for it to work, ideal when you’re on a boat!: there’s no hidden costs or subscriptions just one easy download gives you instant access to tide times, any time, anywhere.”

Available for a single, one-off download charge of just £5, mobiletide comes with a pre-loaded global database of locations. Users can also fully customise mobiletide by adding locations of their choice, then simply scroll between them, select and view the state of the tide instantly.

One delightful feature is a graphic display of the moon for any given day, showing how full it is, whether it is waxing or waning, and whether you can expect springs, neaps or something inbetween. mobiletide even automatically adjusts for BST/daylight saving.

The YM team have yet to put it through all of its paces, but what we’ve seen has been impressive. There are no running costs after the initial £5 and you don’t need reception or an internet connection for the programme to work. Installing the programme was simplicity itself and only took a few seconds.

The mobiletide website, www.mobiletide.co.uk features a completely interactive demo version of the program, as well as a host of information about how mobiletide works, a list of compatible handsets and a simple step by step guide on how to download and purchase.

Most mobile phones under 3 years old will be compatible.

mobiletide costs £5.00 direct from www.mobiletide.co.uk or by texting tide to 60030.