Hey Paul,

Thanks for the physics lessons...I guess I got a little off topic, but it is nice to have some basic understanding of what is going on out there on the water.

I was interested in the salinity/big boat issue, as we have had a lot of accidents in the bay (another 10,000 gal #6 oil spill yesterday). NOAA has just set up a series of sensing stations that measure salinity as well as other things, and I'm interested in how tight to the bottom the commercial guys push the envelope ...one of the residents of the island is a pilot, and his proud moment was ripping the hull of the QEII several years ago, because of an uncharted rock in 32' of water. One of the excuses was that the faster you propel a big boat, the more it "squats" in the water, supposedly exponentially deeper with a linear increase in speed. Another ran a passenger ship aground on a ledge that has been well known since 1624!

I knew I didn't understand the concepts well when I looked at the label of my life vest - provides 11 lbs. of bouyancy. Hell, I weigh 175. It is becoming clearer now!

John

P.S. Care to guess how they are surveying the environmental damage to the shoreline? Volunteer kayakers!