Tug of War with Whale

Hi guys. The discussions here have been informative and interesting. I’m working on a scene, and was hoping to get some ideas on how to execute it.

In the scene, a group of men on a beach, are pulling on a rope trying to drag a whale back onto shore. My problem is providing the actors some resistance to pull against. I have a few ideas, but all seem to have downsides:

1. Have a couple of PAs out in the water holding the other end of the rope. I’m afraid this would not provide a convincing level of resistance.
2. Pull against a boat. The engine noise would be a problem.
3. Tie the rope to a pile underneath a pier. This would be quiet, and provide substantial resistance, but I was hoping to shoot out in the middle of the beach, not bunched up next to a pier.

Unless I can come up with a better idea, I guess I’ll probably use a combination of all three (or at least 1 and 3).

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
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