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Topic: Cross the river (Read 2201 times) |
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Icarus
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #25 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 4:25pm » |
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I learned about it from a sci-fi novel by Leo Frankowski. I don't remember the exact name, but it was one of his Conrad Stargard books. Conrad is a modern engineer who ends up stranded in Midevel Poland when stumbles into a hidden time machine left open by some less than careful time travelers. He tells this trick to a ferry operator, thus getting himself in deep trouble with the local oarmen who become unemployed as a result.
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Speaker
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #26 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 4:32pm » |
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I will have to find that book, I love science fiction. It sounds like a variation on "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."
Next, how do you scoop the water?
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kellys
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #27 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 7:10pm » |
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Punch a hole in the bottom of the boat?
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #28 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 7:31pm » |
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Only if you want to sink.
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SWF
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #29 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 7:48pm » |
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Grab the rope, stand up, and lean back a little. It is just like water skiing when you steer well outside the wake of the boat pulling you. Or sort of like flying a kite but horizontally (with you and the boat as the kite).
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #30 on: Mar 22nd, 2004, 7:54pm » |
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SWF, you are correct. The key is that it is like flying a kite. I do not think that you could stand up and do it. So, you need to tie the rope to the boat. The trick is in how you tie the rope.
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raven
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #31 on: Apr 15th, 2004, 8:11pm » |
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Oh darn, and I thought you would tie the boat to your side of the river (to a tree) and chop a tree limb for a push stick... then you would jump in the boat and push it down-river and out in the middle... from here, you simply tie that lasso of Icarus' (using the remainder of the lengthy rope) and lasso the very heavy chest of gold and do a little tight rope walk over to the other side... pull over the boat, dump the chest in, jump in, cut the rope and float down river a rich acrobat... or something of this sort!
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #32 on: Apr 15th, 2004, 11:53pm » |
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Well, you do tie the rope to a tree, then tie the rope to the boat. If you tie it the right way, then the boat should be pulled across the river by the current. Like a wing or a kite is pulled up by the wind. I have never tried it, but I would really like to. There used to be a boat rental place at the river near my home in Tokyo. (It is closed now, a victim of the bubble economy.)
If anybody has a chance to try it, be sure to give us a report. I am curious about what happens as you pay out rope.
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. <Ben Franklin>
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Icarus
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #33 on: Apr 16th, 2004, 4:11pm » |
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The trick is to tie the rope to boat towards the bow, but not at it. The idea is as the boat is pushed against the rope by the current, forces will try to turn the boat so that the point of rope attachment is furthest forward. But this leaves an imbalance of force that pushes the boat away from the side the rope is tied on, so like a kite, it is pushed to the opposite shore. The rope has to be long enough that the boat does not reach it's equilibrium point first.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
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I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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Re: Cross the river
« Reply #34 on: Apr 18th, 2004, 4:51pm » |
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The way I saw it, in a diagram, was to tie a line from the bow to the stern. Then, tie the long rope to the middle of the bow-stern line. Then when the line is pulled tight, it forms a triangle, with the points being the bow, stern and the tow point where the long rope attaches. This is like the bridle on a kite.
By the way, I went down to the river, and the boat rentel place has moved to the other side. But, it would be difficult to use one of their boats. When you rent a boat in Japan, they keep your shoes at the dock. This is like a deposit, and also keeps the inside of the boat clean. 
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