Larry, Modern tugs with barges still use that trick. You'll see them at the north end of Manhattan or by the Palisades ... riding at anchor until the next incoming tide. A two knot current makes a big difference when you are pushing a massive barge at 5-6 knots. I do something simmilar myself when northbound on the Hudson ... it's possible to catch a rising tide and have it carry you the full length of the Hudson. As you progress north, you stay at the same stage of the tide and get the benefit the entire way. I cruise around 10 knots and let the tide push me up to 12 knots. Slower boats could join the tide at an earlier point, an hour or two after low tide and still get a full day's push. Fred Tug 44 ---------------------------------------- From: LRZeitlin@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:13 AM To: great-loop@lists.samurai.com Subject: Re: GL: Free surfing In a message dated 6/25/08 12:00:23 AM, Jeremy writes: > Here's one suggestion, that provides minimal fuel saving, but a small > measure of revenge: > When some yahoo insists on passing me at speed and generating a large wake, > instead of turning INTO the wake, whenever safe I turn AWAY from it and > 'surf' down the wake as long as I can. > It's a good trick. A couple of days ago, I surfed the bow wave of a tug pulling an unloaded barge down the Hudson for a couple of miles. My tubby trawler was about two hundred yards off his port bow, clearly out of the danger zone, but the wave was still big enough to give me an appreciable speed boost. Incidentally, 200 years ago the 90 ft. Hudson River sloops often made appreciable progress up and down river in unfavorable winds by riding the tides. The Hudson has a strong tidal flow, the current reversing every 6 hours. The average tidal flow is almost 2 knots. The sloops would ride the favorable tide in the direction they wanted to go, then anchor and wait for the next favorable tide. Since the riverside towns are about 10 miles apart, they could make reasonable progress from town to town even in dead calm conditions. Larry Z ************** Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) _______________________________________________ http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/great-loop