Sailing on a river?

[lbean]

I saw a sail boat on a large river near here the other day. I thought it was quite odd. Seeing that it would be very difficult to sail upstream, how would you get your boat back?

 

[CFlyer]

I think this is possible depending on how deep the river is. A sailboat on a shallow river will surely attract disaster.

There are sailboats that have motors in them so that sailboat that you saw might have one too. They could use the motors when there is no wind to move the boat.

 

[hydethebeef]

Right, and you might also be thinking the wrong way. You assume that they are sailing down stream and want to bring the boat back. If that is the case and they don't want to fight up stream they may drive the boat back. However maybe they drove the boat upstream and are sailing it back.

 

[Jade]

I kept my big boat in a large river just a few miles from the sea: it meant less bottom maintenance because barnacles can't grow in fresh water.

You will see sailboats in rivers all along the Pacific Coast up near Seattle. And every one of them has some sort of engine for back-up, believe me.