"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Within about 5 seconds of stopping in the water, you will be going the
same relative ground speed, (down stream) no matter which way you land. A
few knots, of drifting current speed, hitting a sudden stop on land is not
going to hurt very much.

If you are talking about decelerating from 60 knots, landing with the
current of 5 knots means you are only touching down at 55 knots. Landing
against the current means you are touching down at 65 knots. That 10
knots sounds significant, to me.

It is, and in many cases the current is more than 5 knots, making an even
bigger difference.

Your analysis is correct, and barring any other issues, downstream is better
than upstream.

Of course, the chance of a messy landing is significant in any case. But
you want to give yourself the least chance of a messy landing, and lowest
water speed is the way to go for that (ie, downstream).

The situation in this particular instance may warrant a different decision,
of course. Since there's a particular location from which the original
poster is departing, and since the river has a specific configuration both
upstream and downstream from that location, and since there may be a more
desirable ditching area upstream than downstream, it's entirely possible
that in that situation specifically, upstream is preferable.

Pete