tips for riding/driving in fast current?

Our river here in winnipeg is flowing pretty fast this spring and I'm just looking for any tips for driving in a fast current to avoid learning more things the hard way!

Yesterday we were out and the current pulled the line under the boat then was pushing the boat towards the shore/trees (water is super high right now as well so the trees on the bank are currently out in the water). With the line tangled we didn't want to gas it to avoid the trees as it could make for a bit of a disaster. We were able to slow the boat pretty good by hand on the trees. We still experienced a good bump on the rub rail but no damage and more importantly, no one overboard.

What we learned...immediately pull in the line after a rider is down to stop it from going under the boat and causing obvious further complications.

Is anyone else riding with some current (i'd guess we are in around 10mph waters)? any tips?

I'm not familiar with that kind of current but on the WI River here you can definitely tell when your going with or against the current, against puts just enough tension on the line to throw you off.

The most important part is what you already learned. Your spotter has to really be on the ball with the rope. Dont let it lay in the water while at idle where it has a chance to get wrapped up. Other than that, stay in the middle of the channel to give yourself as much room / time to manuever as possible.

Any trailering tips for running boats on a river? We've ran our boat on the river a few times and getting the boat back on the trailer is a bitch.

Ian and David, it takes experience to learn how to handle a boat in current. A lot of it is simply an educated guess of how far the current will carry you and adjusting for it in the process. For example, when you are picking a rider up you may need to either over or under shoot the rider and let the current do some of the work. In fact that's one of the mistakes I see a lot of people make...trying to "beat the current". Dont fight against it, just accept it and compensate, using it to your advantage.

David, we "drive onto" our trailer in current. For my personal boat I put the highest point of the trailer fenders about even with the water line. This allows me to come in a little quicker and let the trailer slow me down. You still need to come in straight otherwise it can get REALLY bad, but if you can drive it straight on...you can keep the trailer a little higher out of the water and come in a little quicker. This will help offset some of a side current's impact.

I agree with M-Dizzel.

We ride a majority of our time on a river and it gets moving most of the summer. I also leave the trailer out a little hogher than the norm. The other thing that I do is kink the trailer a bit so I drive against the current towards the trailer. Driving in against the current will force your boat to come in on an angle. So its helps having the trailer on an angle. It always better to aim and come in a bit high so you if you have to throw it in neutral the current will just push you back on line.

There is one butter spot that we ride that is super tight. So depending on who is at the wheel the rope usually gets pulled in.


Also I actually prefer riding into the current. I like that little extra tension on the rope. IT gets me a little extra boost. I always feel like I am going so slow with the oush from behind while riding with the current. We have also experienced with upping the speed when riding with the current to compensate for the push from behind with great results. Maybe its mental, but most people seem to like it.