I feel the need to explain more the role of surface tension on this problem, because the mechanism is obscure. It was 50 years ago when I learned about this, and I can't find references, so I ask for indulgence because without references this post can't meet PF's normal standards.
Consider a flat object (like a barge) being lifted from the water. It will lift some of the water with it, as
@256bits described in #17. At the edges, this water column will have a curved shape. The curve is a variation of a meniscus; a word more commonly applied to liquids in vertical tubes. This is depicted in a 2D cross section below.
Now, the question is how is this suction broken? One possibility is that the radius of the menisci will increase until they meet in the middle. This is depicted below. But increasing the radius increases the surface area of the menisci, which is opposed by surface tension of the water.
So, because of surface tension the radii stay roughly constant, but the locations of the menisci move inward until they meet in the middle and the suction is broken. That is depicted below.
This transient requires a downward flow of water. But it does not flow uniformly throughout the whole water column, but rather the flow occurs in a thin layer adjacent to the menisci. In the diagram above, water flows from locations A to locations B. It could be described as A transitioning from wet to dry.
How fast this occurs depends on the height of the object, on the properties of water, and on the properties of the brown object's surface. It will happen more slowly if the brown surface is hydrophilic than if it is hydrophobic. Based just on personal experience (not science) I estimate that a barge the size of
@Crane operator 's lifted 1/4 inch above the surface, that it will take 1 to 5 minutes for those menisci to propagate inward and completely break the suction. Tilting the barge will also make it happen faster.
So that raises the issue of how fast the barge is lifted. If the lift is rapid, the column of water might be much higher than 1/4 inch which needs correspondingly higher lift forces. But if it is lifted slightly, and then paused long enough to break the suction, then the lift can resume again without the extra force.