Originally posted by jonnin:

Why love them?

They can also be heard at a distance, even through the noise-warping effect of mist, potentially alerting the player to proximity of plains and avoiding stumbling out of the mist and directly into the middle of fuling village or tar pit.

Originally posted by DeadTVHead:

also why are they faster than the tier 2 boat.. just WHY

Possibly because level of wind varies in the game? It's not a motorized boat.