Slack water is best described as

• A. The period of strongest current
• B. The moment of tide turning
• C. The highest tidal range
• D. The period when currents are at their minimum

Answer: (D)

Slack water is the brief window around the tide turning when the water’s motion almost stops—the current drops to near zero. This happens as the flood (tidal inflow) and ebb (outflow) balance out for a moment before one direction or the other resumes. Because the current is at its minimum during slack water, paddlers have the most control and the least chance of being swept along. It isn’t about the strongest current, which occurs during the peak of flood or ebb, and it isn’t about the height difference of the tide, which relates to tidal range rather than current speed.