GL: geographic references

[Coleen Barger]

John LeRoy writes:
A tow pilot is probably more likely to answer you if you use a geographical
location like "Patsy Slough," or "Devil's Elbow" than a mile marker. They
know these locations like the backs of their hands, but likely don't run
while watching the chart as we do.

Just speaking from our own experience (yes, we did the Loop, but we have many
more thousands of miles logged on the rivers)--

I completely agree that this kind of reference can be useful where both
parties know and are using reference terms in common. On the inland rivers,
the tows often use these landmark (sometimes historic--just read Twain's Life
on the Mississippi) names to announce their positions, and when you run those
rivers a lot, you'll learn those names as well. When you are unfamiliar with a
river, however, you often will not know what term the tows use for a
particular location, and you may not even see them on your chart (a problem
even more pronounced with electronic charts).

Therefore, you might find yourself in a section of the river in which your
chart shows several features, e.g., Farmer's Bluff, Brown Cow Bend, and Egret
Towhead (don't look for these on a chart, as I just made them up). Which do
you use? Which do the tows use?

A mile marker reference, in contrast, is clear and unambiguous. In our
experience on the rivers, we've never found a tow unable to determine where we
were, or which tow we were hailing, when we have referred to the mile markers.
For those of you just entering a particular river for the first time, this is
my recommendation.

Coleen Barger
Calypso Poet
http://calypsopoet.net