The Ohio River is a hair-pin turn Evansville, Indiana, on the course from Pittsburgh to Cairo Illinois. It's called Horse Shoe Bend, and it is a curse for barge traffic is pushed by powerful tow boats. This is especially the case after a winter flood of the Ohio River Valley, where the current, plus centrifugal force, the river carries the bottom of the center to the outside of the curve, hiding the ship channel.
Enter the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who have to move that sand and silt from the channel - the ensure that tow boats at least nine meters below the keel, because they put the rudders hard over turn it.
All that sand and silt must go somewhere.
So the dredgers dump it in the middle of the river, outside downtown Evansville, outside the red buoys that mark the channel. And there is more than enough for a small sand island in the middle of the river, one that could be kept intact many months before the current bear the most road - to the turn.
Boaters from Evansville's Inland Marina - most of whom are members of Inland Yacht Club - Referring to the sand island as The Pump-Out. And in an Evansville summer, that is the place to be.
There is really No problem there. Just as you turn your boat to the island and a bit of speed. Let your bow slide right into the sand - there is water deep enough for your out-drive to keep the bags in water. Once you climb your bow and set your anchor in the sand, you will to others of your ilk. They play horse shoes, cooking on grills, build a bonfire for the night, or just sit and enjoy a good conversation, richly laced with beer, making new friends and celebrating old.
Not a few of the boaters on board overnight, even becoming stranded on the small island that once the bottom of the ship channel - die-hards and some clubs will even spend some winter nights there with cab heaters and generators.
Is there a better place to enjoy sailing? Probably. But nobody would admit the pump-out.
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