While we have our feet wet.. can some one explain to me again, (i promise this time i'll master it!) the rule of 12?
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It is indeed all about the volume of water that flows between tides.

Basically, you have six hours between high and low tide (or between low and high tide whichever way you look at it).

In the first hour 1/12 of the total volume of water that's going to flow in/out will flow.
In the second it will be 2/12
In the third, 3/12
In the fourth, 3/12
In the fifth, 2/12
In the sixth, 1/12

So the flow of the tide is always fastest in the middle two hours of the cycle because that's when the biggest volume of water is travelling.

That pretty much applies wherever you are in the world, unless you're somewhere like Poole Harbour which has really unusual tides because it has two highs and two lows in each cycle instead of just one, but that gets really complicated!