- —its distant roar usually gives good warning—make
for the middle of the river, lower your sail and meet it head on, pulling gently up against it with your sculls.
When turning to windward on a river, the current with you, be careful not to tack too near in to the shore, more especially if you have not got good steerage way; for if you bring your boat within a few feet of the bank before you go about, the bow will be out of the current, while the stern, still remaining in it, will be swept up-stream, and so cause you to miss stays and probably to run on shore.
When lowering sail and taking to your oars on a river, follow the usual rule for rowing boats—that is, keep along the bank when pulling against the current; stay in mid-stream when going with it.
Beware of bridges. Do not attempt to tack through the arch of a bridge if it is a narrow one, unless you are very familiar with the conditions; it is better to lower your sail and row the boat through. Wind concentrates in an arch as in a funnel; so that supposing you approach with the wind almost abeam, you will find it suddenly head you and blow with a violent gust right in your teeth as you enter the arch. Even when running, you must be on your guard on account of this sudden great increase of the wind's strength, which is almost certain to occur; for if your mast and sail, as is often the case, will only pass narrowly under the centre of the arch, a very slight deviation
