Other than a canoe stern full displacement boat, such as you average sailboat, on a typical flat transom "trawler" or (gasp) motor yacht, you will lose less speed going into a current than you gain with a following one.
The ICW inlet phenomenon cam be a matter of some importance in S. Carolina and Georgia in particular. If you are in the "journey is the destination" mode a little trip planning can give you what we call the slingshot effect: approach the inlet intersection at most favorable tide in your direction, hit the inlet close to slack, then have the tide with you on the other side. Over the course of several hundred miles, it gives you what we also call the Everett Dirkson effect: " a couple knots here, a couple knots there and it starts adding up to real money". Similar to taking a trip up the Hudson or Sacramento rivers and back, with the tide up and down.
I think the premise of the OP is one of the silliest things I've read on a boating forum. Yes, if you are just a day or weekend cruiser taking a random walk around your home waters with the only regard being your personal schedule and free time, I suppose you could cancel the current out, dismissing my first sentence for the time being. But for those of us transiting cruises at "trawler speed" measured in thousands of miles, only an extremely rich man and/or a fool and/or someone on a "schedule" (the most dangerous thing to have on a boat) would not use the currents to gain a very significant advantage.
Other than a canoe stern full displacement boat, such as you average sailboat, on a typical flat transom "trawler" or (gasp) motor yacht, you will lose less speed going into a current than you gain with a following one.
I see this particular bit of silliness has already been flagged but its so abysmally stupid that it deserves being highlighted again.
The water is moving. You are afloat in that moving water. The shape of your hull is IRRELEVANT.
First, for a discussion of the effect of boat and hull design and its resistance to water, Dave Gerr's "The Nature of Boats". The shape of your hull is highly relevant, along with the weight of your boat.
......... followed by a bunch of silliness which I snipped to spare the rest of you from having to read it more than once.
From which side of the boat have you observed this, inside or outside? Does it happen often?
OMG!!!!!
Sometimes this place amazes me for all the insightful knowledge of experience cruisers....then the next moment...OMG!!!!
All I can say is spend more time actually on the water and observe how the world, and your boat, really work.
Or, not: I know that doing something so radical as that is a silly concept for many, so many bad things can happen that just don't pencil out!
All I can say is spend more time actually on the water and observe how the world, and your boat, really work.
Or, not: I know that doing something so radical as that is a silly concept for many, so many bad things can happen that just don't pencil out!
I think I understand tides but are we making forward progress here?
Do lardasses go downstream faster than skinny broads? Inquiring minds want to know.
And what ELSE floats???
Crap of course