Talk:Ferry

As I see it, a ferry in a current and a (cross-)wind ferry are based on the same principle: compensating for a sideways force of the current or respectively the wind on the boat by angling your boat to that force. In that respect I cannot agree with the idea that the current or the wind is pushing the boat sideways. The current or wind is pushing you backwards. The reason why it seems that one is going sideways, is because you are paddling forward with an angle to the current or wind. For those who have doubts about that: stop paddling when you are ferrying, and see what happens then...

> There are folks that claim that the wind ferry is not efficient, so experiment and see how you like it.

A cross-wind ferry is a boating technique used to compensate for drift due to a cross-wind, in order to go from point A to B in a straight line. As it appears to me, for some paddlers this concept is not clear, possibly because they never ferry so consciously, as they possibly always have enough room on the water to get away with that? In such a situation, they compensate for drift later, for example when they arrive at a more downwind point near their destination, and then more or less head straight up to point B. A strategy that is not always convenient or efficient. If there is no room downwind, because of a coast or shoal very close by for example, a paddler must ferry, or paddle erratically on a zigzag course while avoiding to get stranded.. I often paddle in very narrow 'canals' in an open landscape with hard winds, so I have to do a cross-wind ferry with continuous angle adjustments, to avoid being blown into the shore immediately.

Side-note: Important difference between those two kind of ferries, however, is that in a current you have to heel the boat downstream, where in a cross-wind ferry it is better to lean (a bit) upwind. The 'underlying' principle of both kind of heels is the same however -- in both cases there is a sideways force of the water on the side of the hull that should be counteracted, to avoid a possible capsize. Dirk Barends 08:18, 10 March 2007 (EST)

Valid points. A ferry is like sailing a boat - you aren't using one force to do something, you are using two. A sailboat moves because of the result of the force of the wind on the sails and the force of the water on the keel. In ferrying, the motion is the result of the force of the wind/current and the force of the paddle. By angling the kayak, the result of the two forces is sideways, moving you across the wind/current. Michael Daly 11:22, 7 March 2007 (EST)