Vestaboard

Why Vestaboard Is the Perfect Tidesy Companion

Vestaboard Flagship is a premium wall-mounted display that uses real mechanical split-flap tiles to show text, numbers, and colors. If you have ever seen the departure boards at classic train stations or airports, you know the look and the satisfying sound of tiles flipping into place. It is a piece of art that also happens to be functional.

Tidesy connects directly to a Vestaboard Flagship on your WiFi network and sends live tide data to it automatically. The result is a stunning, room-filling display of coastal conditions that updates throughout the day. While your Tidesy device sits on a counter or shelf for quick glances and detailed graphs, the Vestaboard turns that same data into a bold visual statement on your wall that guests will notice and ask about.

Together, they give you two complementary ways to stay connected to the coast. Tidesy handles the detail: interactive graphs, weather alerts, and a full web dashboard. Vestaboard handles the presence: a beautiful, mechanical display that makes tide data part of your home decor. The tiles flip, the colors shift, and the information updates, all without you lifting a finger.

Three Views, Always Cycling

Tidesy automatically cycles through three different views on the Vestaboard, giving you a complete picture of coastal conditions without any interaction required.

See a Message, Get the Full Story

The Vestaboard's split-flap format is designed for quick, glanceable information. When you walk past it and see "FALLING -2.0 FT HR" or "2 WEATHER ALERTS," you get the headline instantly. But what if you want the full picture?

That is where the Tidesy web dashboard comes in. Open tidesy.local on your phone or any browser on the same network, and you get the complete story: interactive 24-hour tide charts you can tap for exact values, detailed weather alert cards with full descriptions and timing, multi-station comparisons, and a map showing all your stations. The Vestaboard gives you the awareness; the dashboard gives you the depth.

This one-two combination is especially useful during storm season or king tide events. A quick look at the Vestaboard tells you alerts are active. A tap on your phone opens the full alert detail: what kind of event, the affected area, when it starts and ends, and what impacts to expect. You go from "something is happening" to fully informed in seconds.

Update Modes

You choose how often Tidesy updates the Vestaboard. The "Change with device" option mirrors whatever your Tidesy screen is showing and updates the Vestaboard instantly whenever the view or station changes. This is great if you want the board to always match the device.

Timed intervals of 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours let the Vestaboard cycle independently through all your stations and views at its own pace. Each station gets a turn showing the detail view, then the large view, then any active alerts before cycling to the next station. This mode is ideal if you want the Vestaboard to tell its own story throughout the day.

Eight Tile Colors

Vestaboard tiles come in eight colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, White, and Black. Tidesy lets you configure which colors represent positive tides, negative tides, the zero mark, warning levels, and preferred ranges. Match your room, match your mood, or use the defaults. The color bar graphs on the detail and large views use these tile colors to paint a visual picture of the day's tidal range right on the split-flap tiles.

What You Need

Setup in Three Steps

1. Connect to WiFi. Make sure both your Tidesy device and Vestaboard Flagship are on the same 2.4 GHz WiFi network.

2. Enter your API key. In the Tidesy setup wizard, Tidesy finds your Vestaboard automatically. Paste your 22-character local API key from the Vestaboard Local API settings.

3. Choose your update interval. Pick "Change with device" to mirror the Tidesy screen, or choose a timed interval (20m, 30m, 1h, 2h) for independent cycling. Save, and the tiles start flipping.