Patent ID: 7056059

Claim:
A boom system for containing or excluding buoyant fluid floating on moving water having a direction of water movement, comprising: a flow slowing boom comprising a support structure for positioning at the surface of a body of water across the direction of water movement; an anchoring structure for anchoring said support structure relative to the moving water; a stiff skirt structure which is one of planar and convex in cross-sectional shape against the direction of water movement; and pivot means interconnecting said support structure and said skirt structure such that said skirt structure is pivotably suspended from said support structure and moving water pivots said skirt structure out of a suspended vertical orientation to an average orientation at any of a range of angles between thirty degrees and ninety-five degrees in the direction of water movement beyond vertical, thereby constraining buoyant fluid to flow across said skirt structure to slow the speed of the fluid and thus to permit the fluid to buoy toward the water surface; and at least one containment boom comprising an upright skirt portion extending downwardly into the moving water, positioned downstream of said flow slowing boom across the direction of water movement.