Any of You Ever Been "Barged!"

[320Bob]

On Saturday I had an interesting river experience. I was cruising at 8 mph following a barge tow with 3 barges down river in one of the narrow parts of the channel. As I was approaching to pass him I noticed another tow with barges passing him on his port side coming up river. This was an absolute first for me seeing two barge tows pass in opposite directions perhaps with no more than 50 feet between them. I could only imagine the angst between those two barge captains at that moment. I slowed down aborting my passing maneuver to match the speed of the down river barge tow. When the up river barge tow passed me on my port, 30 seconds or so later my boat started to veer to the port. I tried steering to the starboard but nothing happened. Then I put the starboard engine into reverse and left the port in forward and still nothing happened. Seeing that my efforts were of no avail, I simply went with the flow and turned back up river until conditions settled down. I then did a 180 and headed back down river.

I have passed single barge tows a number of times either with or against them and never had any problems with their wake affecting the steering of my boat. However, this time, I was amazed at how much of an eddy force two barge tows create when passing in close proximity to one another. Anyone else out there have something like this happen?

 

[Cincy Aquaholic]

No, but thank you for that insight into your experience! I don't boat on the Ohio River much any more but will be this weekend. We have a lot of barge traffic and lots that passes in opposite directions. I have never experienced that but thankfully I will know what is happening should it occur. I did take a wake over the bow of a 20 foot bowrider once that was churning up about 100 yards behind a tug. That caught me by surprise.

 

[Gofirstclass]

It almost sounds like you were caught in a whirlpool that was created by the merging bow wakes of both tows. Tugs/barges in our area used to throw huge (6' or more) wakes. Several years ago they did something to change the design of the bows of the barges and now there's hardly any wake at all.

On the Columbia and Snake rivers the tugs push the barges ahead of the tug rather than tow the barges behind. That may be part of the reason why we don't encounter situations such as you described.

See, hardly any wake at all.

 

[fwebster]

Tows transiting narrow waterways can cause treacherous currents. The guys driving the tugs are your saviour in such situations. Never, ever pass one without first calling the captain on the VHF and asking for passing instructions and, as you discovered, stay away from 2 passing barge/tow since there is no way to predict the wake and bounce back from the sides and bottom of the waterway. Larger boats with bigger props and more draft have more control, but are still no match for a tug's wake.

 

[320Bob]

Tows transiting narrow waterways can cause treacherous currents. The guys driving the tugs are your saviour in such situations. Never, ever pass one without first calling the captain on the VHF and asking for passing instructions and, as you discovered, stay away from 2 passing barge/tow since there is no way to predict the wake and bounce back from the sides and bottom of the waterway. Larger boats with bigger props and more draft have more control, but are still no match for a tug's wake.

This experience gave me a new appreciation for big diesel horsepower if my 7 ton boat could be cuisinarded around by these bad boys.

 

[searay40dad]

The guys driving the tugs are your saviour in such situations. Never, ever pass one without first calling the captain on the VHF and asking for passing instructions

true and a good practice but i CANNOT ever understand these tow captains...every single one of these skippers is from louisiana you know (no offense). just give me a '1 whistle' or '2 whistle'...

also, you may think your piddly wash doesn't affect a tow and his barge line, but have your wake wash a line off his deck, you better take the kids inside quick or they'll learn some very colorful new words.

 

[320Bob]

true and a good practice but i CANNOT ever understand these tow captains...every single one of these skippers is from louisiana you know (no offense). just give me a '1 whistle' or '2 whistle'...

Maybe that was my problem - I don't speak Coon Ass!:smt043

 

[OldSkool]

I was once on the Wisconsin river at the Dells on a 24' canbote my buddy rented. He had no clue how to handle it. Riding along I could see a 4 foot wake coming in fast from a sight seeing boat probably 60' or so long. We were in the narrow part of the river walled on both sides by cliffs.

We were running at speed when he did the stupidest thing possible. Just before the wake he cut the engine. A 1 foot wall of water cleaned the deck off completely. Anything that wasn't bolted down was now washed away in the wake. (I had previously instructed my wife to leave anything of value in the car as we were with an inexperienced operator.) The submarining nearing upended the stupid thing.

His wife came unglued. She knew I had boated before so I ended up piloting the barge the rest of the afternoon retrieving coolers, blankets and anything else that would float from the river. He spent the day listening to is wife go off.

 

[320Bob]

I was once on the Wisconsin river at the Dells on a 24' canbote my buddy rented. He had no clue how to handle it. Riding along I could see a 4 foot wake coming in fast from a sight seeing boat probably 60' or so long. We were in the narrow part of the river walled on both sides by cliffs...

The tow boats I encounter don't really throw out much of visible wake wave on the surface, rather they churn the water below. Apparently this churning creates alot of force below the water surface which is what caught my boat.

 

[OldSkool]

The tow boats I encounter don't really throw out much of visible wake wave on the surface, rather they churn the water below. Apparently this churning creates alot of force below the water surface which is what caught my boat.

Understandable. A strong undertow caused by the opposing water currents would definitely account for your situation. Two barges could create such an effect on your size boat. I wonder what it would do with a little boat like mine?:smt009

 

[dpvandy01]

Ohio River boater and we see barges passing every day multiple times. I always steer clear and I mean WAY CLEAR. The props on the larger tugs are enormous and they make a tremendous wake in the form of rollers off the stern. 100% of the barges on th Ohio are pushed rather than pulled and most seem to have square leads but I imagine that is a function of how they are rafted and where they are to be deposited (wether the load is all going to the same terminal or not)

What I never have been able to figure out is why two tugs both carrying coal would ever pass each other?

 

[Nehalennia]

Up here sometimes they can't get out of their own way. This is on the Skookumchuck rapids where the tide goes in and out of the narrows so fast if tugs are careful and wait until slack this will happen.
[youtube]QEfUblSDzww[/youtube]

 

[mwph]

We only see them (always pushing), about once a month. I always stay away simply because I think its the right thing to do. He has to deal with enough recreational boaters as it is.

The one time I did request to pass, I got no response. I just relaxed & waited until the river widened up a bit, & I left the main channel. By then I was a 200 yards away & was actually quartering away while I passed him.