That's a fantastic clip of how a Towboat Captain gets such a heavy load safely around that 90 degree bend using the current of the river. He said each barge had a load of 1900 tons and he had 30 of them, that's a fair load to get around that bend. Great video and thanks Captain for explaining how you do it so well. Greetings all the way from Ireland.
Sweet Jesus! What a PROFESSIONAL JOB you did here Captain. Thank you for this video. Most folks have NO idea as to what skill/experience your job takes. Again, thank you and congratulations on a fine service to the USA!
Thanks for the video Captain, that really shows wall that involved in making a turn with the length and weight you have to deal with. You made it look easy, but I know that's years of experience.............Good job
I want to say the same thing, thank you for sharing this, as the little pleasure craft guy you probably alwsys cuss it was very interesting to see things from your vantage point. Red sky at night, sailors delight! :)
very impressive James. in the EU we have tows with only 4 or 6 barges on the river Rhine and they have to fight all turn just like you 're doing here. Good job
You all each and every Boat Capt on every river have my undying respect for life ,when my cousin Bobby Glenn Thompson , ,also a tow boat Captain out of N.O. /Kenner , when he retired and moved back up north Louisiana and became a deputy for my uncle in my tiny home town of Montgomery , La . , one stormy night bgave 3 punks a ride home in the pouring rain whern one of them cut his throat from the rear seat then fought him for his gun as he fought them until he became too weak then they shot him many times ........where im going with this morbid story , I flew home from Las Vegas for his funeral and on the day of his burial at the time he was to be laid to rest ,every tow on the river between Memphis and New Orleans brought their boats to as near dead stop, as they could , Idled down and for a few brief moments raDIO CHATTER AND TRAFFIC CAME TO A STOP WELL THOSE HEADING UP STREAM , THOSE GOING SOUTH DID THEIR BEST BUT FOR A BRIEF MOMENT OR TWO ALL PAID RESPECT TO MY COUSIN , AND FROM A YOUNG BOY TOM EVEN MORE SO TODAY AS A 62 year old my admiration and respect to you all for what you do and for what you did for Bobby .Wishing you and your crew safe pushes for the remainder of your times at the helm God Bless you all Skippers
This is an amazing video Cap’n…….I’m sure if you wanted to try it you could become a trophy winning drift car racer. You make it look easy but there’s so much involved it can’t be easy as a matter of fact things like wind speed from an approaching thunderstorm could upset the entire approach angle process. Thank you for sharing.
Best of towboat) video of the guiding I have watched, drove along OHIO RIVER and have seen many times but never got to see in a bend in the river, GREAT JOB.
SUPERB !!! GREAT INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO. SORTA THOUGHT THAT WAS THE WAY TO PILOT BUT YOU PUT THE FROSTING ON THE CAKE AND MADE IT EASY TO UNDERSTAND. HAPPY HOLIDAYS
that was brilliant , a really good explanation of it all , none of the other captains have explained it in such depth before , it looks quite complicated to do , thanks for sharing .
Very informative! Well narrated and you are one hell of a good captain. And thanks for showing the river depth. I would like to see more on how deep the Mississippi is. So much more to steering a towboat than most people realize. Thanks
Pretty damn slick. We all have our tricks to the trade. I’ve worked up in the NW corner of Tn above Memphis and went down to the river and watched you guys in person. Salute.
Awesome job captain. I grew up on the mighty Mississippi in Iowa and always wondered how you captains did that stuff. Thank you for the how to and keep up the safe work.
This is NOT flanking the turn right? How do you decide which way to make a point? You could have slowed way down and kept the stern close to the point and let the head come around in the current right? Very interesting video, thanks for the commentary! JimD
Cool, like tossing the ass end of the car loose to keep speed around a corner. How often is this maneuver! which I guess is also flanking?, get out of control and what happens if the port corner catches shallow bottom or the faster outside current causes the back end of the to come around?
Great video captain if you would have had your usual 40 barges what would you have had to do differently would you have started the turn sooner or just turned more?
He did not have his normal tow because of the increased current. So considering less current with a 40 barge tow, he would have approached and drove it in much the same way as he did these 30 with increased current. There are various different approaches, also known as set ups, a pilot can make for this bend. They would be divided into two many categories, either driving or flanking. This pilot shared a textbook example of how to safely drive this bend. If you noticed his rudder commands were few and gentle. Never did he swap rudder angles from port to starboard or vis-à-vis without stopping amidships. This means the tow experienced much less stress. This pilot (Capt) gets an A+ for his steering abilities and presentation.
Thank you. Having seen freight boats on a number rivers around the country, this is really interesting. Where is Huntington Point? Safe journies. Joe in California.
I was a tankerman for 20 years and had a big towboaters group on Facebook till Facebook shut us down for allowing our members to say what they wanted. I rode the boats a long time but we pushed petroleum barges
Great job Capt...!! My only question is ... How do you know what your current speed is ??.. I think that's the only thing you didn't explain in video . But still... Great job !!! ... Oh and 1 more question..... What's the difference in flanking the point and what you did here ?.. Thank you Capt.
