The time a 5-ton load swung 20 feet on a barge in Galveston last month
Everyone says you should always ride the load down in a high wind, but I kept the boom high and let it pendulum. Has anyone else found that cutting the brake early actually works better on water jobs?
Why would you want that pendulum action with five tons swinging over water? I've been on barges where a hard pendulum caught the crane just right and damn near tipped us over. Gusts can double the swing radius real fast. On a stable dock I might agree, but on a barge you're fighting the load AND the deck moving under you. I always drop it slow and let the water absorb the energy. That high boom trick might work in a parking lot, but out on Galveston Bay it's a gamble I wouldn't take.