Interesting.

In engineering school my fluid mechanics class had a 'show-and-tell' lab where they demonstrated this phenomenon, as I recall they called it a "hydraulic jump".

Tristan Jones, in his book The Incredible Voyage, wrote of this phenomenon occurring at the mouth of the Amazon River. This book, and another of his called Ice, are some of the best bed-time reading ever!

In TIV, he somehow got in his head that he was going to have a voyage to take his little boat on a sailing trip that would navigate the lowest (Dead Sea) and highest (Lake Titicaca) bodies of water in the world. The hydraulic jump part occurs near the end, after he portages up from the Pacific to Lake Titicaca, sails across Titicaca (evading patrols for crossing the border), and sails down the Amazon back to the Atlantic. This guy made McGiver look like a mere Boy Scout.

In Ice, an even better read, he set himself the task of sailing further north than any other documented sailing vessel. He converted a tug into a sailing boat (astounding enough), and then set off with a 3-legged 1-eyed dog that his friend had bequeathed to him before his friend passed away. Seriously, it's sooooo strange, you can't make this stuff up!! He spends 2 winters locked in arctic ice, through months of darkness, and manages to return with the dog.

Great for bedtime reading as each chapter is only 3-4 pages. Hilarious, astounding, and highly enlightening. You won't regret reading these books!

I had to look it up....Nelson. A labrador.

PS - "live through season changes" will take on a new meaning for you if you read Ice. In his second arctic winter, his boat is foundering in a storm so he sails her hard up onto an iceberg to keep from sinking. This bends his propeller shaft. He spends the arctic night alternatively beating ice off the rigging to prevent the rig from collapsing under the weight of the ice, and using his limited hand tools to try to straighten the propeller shaft. All the while living with Nelson and they eat this stew that he has continuously cooking. This was the 2nd arctic winter he and Nelson endured, on a two-year voyage in which he had I think 2 ports of call! Jones had to be the most self-sufficient, indefatigable and persevering man I've ever heard of. He had limited formal education, so the writing is direct and easy to read...as I said, great bed-time adventure stories.

Last edited by Geoff (2011-01-14 17:38:44)

Like I said! If his yarns are even half truths (all the stuff you just noted was documented), they're still amazing and fun to read. I suppose there is no way to know what he did to survive 2 arctic winters hunkered down in a small boat...but he did go, he was seen, he did survive (as did the dog), and that alone is amazing enough. So when he describes night-to-night life in an arctic winter, trapped with a 3-legged 1-eyed dog on a small craft locked in ice, who's to challenge how he said he did it?

Thanks for pointing that out. Changed the topic to sound less controversial