Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Pop Quiz
It’s quiz time, kids. It appears that I have some pretty intelligent readers so I thought I’d give you a problem and you give me the answer. I’ve decided that maybe I’m just too harsh on some people, my expectations too high. Maybe the answer isn’t as easy as I thought it was. So, if you’ll entertain me here, I’d like you to all picture the following scenario:
You are driving a boat, (without brakes or reverse), down a channel in a southern direction. The wind is blowing hard in a northern direction. The dock is to your left. You must turn the boat a complete 180 to parallel park the boat so that the dock will end up on your right when you are finished and ready to offload. You have minimal room to do this as the channel is not that wide and there are other boats parallel parked to the dock very close to the front and back end of your boat. Because of this, it is a given that you will need assistance at the dock to park.
With me so far?
You are driving south at about 5mph. The wind is blowing north at about 25mph. (At you.) You need to turn your boat 180 degrees so that the dock that is now on your left, will end up on your right. A person is standing on the dock to assist you with your parallel parking because of the strong winds. Here is a stick figure illustration of what I mean:
I’d also like to add that you are sitting on the back of the boat, steering, and the steps for you to get off of the boat are also at the back, right below your seat. You have a rope at the front of the boat and a rope at the back of the boat. You will eventually tie both ends up to posts on the dock to keep the boat secure to the dock. (Use props if you have to, kids.)
Ok, you begin your turn. Keeping in mind that the wind is blowing north and you are changing position from south to north and you want the back end of your boat to hit the dock first so that you can get down and tie your boat, tell me, when the front end of the boat approaches the dock, should the person standing on the dock:
a) grab that front rope and pull the front end of the boat towards the dock
or
b) kick the front end of the boat off the dock
I’m not giving the answer away, kids. I really want to see if I’m just being too hard on people and that this isn’t common sense. Or basic science...or basic math. You don’t have to ever have driven a boat to be able to answer this, is my opinion. If you take a moment and factor in all the information I gave you, you should arrive at the correct answer. Like I said, use props if you have to. Hell, take a pencil and put it in some bathwater and blow on it, if you have to.
I look forward to the answers. And no cheating!
