I thought it was a pretty good plan......except for the big huge fact that what goes out eventually comes back in. And that's a LOT of infected....

 

Sharks will take care of a number of them . Like chumming the waters .

 

It was actually a good plan. Leading the walkers en masse out of the hotel was a much better plan that killing them one by one and dragging each and every body down the stairwell and out to the beach. They could have also just done a 'First Time Again' plan and lead them a mile or two up the beach and then looped back around. But they don't swim, so the tide will take them up or down the beach and deposit them somewhere else. Aside from the fact that the plan required someone to jump about 50 feet into water, it was solid.

 

They could have created more of a funneling effect, and narrow the walkway a bit so that only one infected could get through at a time, and they could have killed them off, then tossed them over the side. This way the dead would walk themselves to the beach no need to drag them.
Also... they could have managed the numbers, and not clear the building all at once. Maybe twenty at a time... whatever they felt was manageable.

 

I'm not sure the funneling effect would be a good idea. It would have stretched the line out too long, and the ones behind may have lost interest. I think the way they did it was better.

 

Of course it was a good idea.
The line wouldn't be too long if you only attracted 20 walkers at a time.
Clear each set of stair wells one at a time.
Then do the top floor, then the 16th, etc.
You don't even have to do them all in one day.
Small manageable groups.

 

the funneling effect adds nothing. They weren't leading 20 walkers, they were leading hundreds. So not a good idea. Even with a small group of 20 walkers, you would want them grouped together tighter, so they'd stay together. Not a long string, which could be harder to manage.

 

That's because they didn't think it through.

Remember Glenn at the tractor salesroom. "Let them out one at a time"
Or Maggie, Stasha, and Bob, at the bus? "Let them out one at a time so that they are manageable"

 

That's because they were killing them. Of course its easier to funnel them if you have to kill them one at a time. But they were just leading them off a ledge. The funneling effect would be a horrible idea here. It would have done nothing other than stretch them out and increase the chance they would disperse and not follow.

 

That dock wasn't all that wide to begin with. Were they maybe 5 abreast at max? So over a distance of twenty feet or so, you could narrow it down to an opening where only one could get through. If there is too much pressure on the side of the funnel, then kill that at the fence like at the prison.

 

Yeah... they weren't killing them, just leading them off a ledge to wash back up on shore, or swim back.
IMO better to kill them off in a way that you can control the situation.

 

No, the dock was much wider than that. Between 10 and 15 abreast.

 

So we agree the funneling effect is a bad idea. You're changing your criticism now.

Actually, very likely, the tide would take them a ways up or down shore before depositing them back.

 

haha you're trying to be cute.
The reason from the outset that the just marching them off the pier is because it would not kill them, and they could get back onto the beach.
The suggestion to funnel them is so that they could kill them before throwing them into the ocean. This way if they wash back up, they won't be a threat.

 

As stated, the tunneling would have increased the chance that they dispersed instead of following the line. And the tide will likely take them up or down shore and deposit them somewhere not threatening. The tunneling would have been a bad idea.

 

Rip currents can be as narrow as 10 or 20 feet in width though they may be up to ten times wider. The length of the rip current also varies. Rip currents begin to slow down as they move offshore, beyond the breaking waves, but sometimes extend for hun- dreds of feet beyond the surf zone.
http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/resources/Final Talking Points and Fact Sheet_041707.pdf

 

they won't come back right next to the hotel as a group though. I think they managed them efficiently.