[at-l] Crossing the Kennebec

[gwright@connix.com (gwright@connix.com)]

kahley writes:
> for some good input and  basically some great reading.  And for Pete's
> sake, if something goes wrong, DO NOT try to swim straight across.  It
> just doesn't work that way.  I have participated in several searches for
> dead swimmers who thought they could conquer current.  Better just to
> stay afloat and make gradual progress toward shore than to try and swim
> perpendicular to the flow

While I agree that jumping in and swimming towards a fixed point
on the opposite shore isn't the right approach, if you want to
cross a flow in the minimum amount of time without fighting the
flow and without excessive downstream drift, you *should* swim
perpendicular to the flow, no?  Certainly this is the standard
recommendation when caught in a rip tide:  Swim parallel to the
shore (and thus perpendicular to the flow) until you get out of
the current.