actually this isn't a bad way to fake it. You would program a diffrent texture name for each segment, say n1000. the first part of the name gives you direction, teh second the magnitude and then you add a force in response in response to the texture name.

Sounds ez to me. Just make sure to make the segments large with respect to the boat model and it should work pretty well. You could do smaller segments, but you'll likely experience very jerky accelerations.

Neat idea!

If I understand you right, this seems like the eziest way to do a river using the 3DGS A6 PE.