Why are passing boats pulled towards each other?

Answer 1

It could be that the people steering the boats are each looking at the other boat, and there is a tendency to turn slightly toward the direction of your gaze. The same thing happens while driving a car. It's also possible that with fewer stationary reference points, there may be an illusion that passing boats are pulled towards each other, even if they move straight ahead and at a distance where wake would not be an issue. After all, if the boats are passing, they are in fact approaching each other up to a point. The boats will point their bows directly into the others wake to avoid a rough ride. I do point my boats bow towards the oncoming boats path but not until it has passed. This is important to smaller craft because if they didnt make this adjustment, the wake of a larger boat can capsize the smaller one. Answer to the question "Why are passing boats pulled toward each other?" When the two boats pass each other the water between them flows faster than that on the outer sides. According to Bernoulli's theorem "when velocity of a fluid increases the pressure decreases". Therefore the pressure between the boats is less than that on the other two sides. The greater pressure on the outer sides push the two boats towards each other.