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Wednesday March 15, and it is actually after midnight on the 16th, but I have realized that everyone anticipates these posts and I can’t go to sleep until I finish them. The reason it is so late is explained below….read on.
The morning started out perfectly. A little cold but I was prepared. We left Houma LA City Dock this morning at 7am and hit the ICW running. The speed was good, the sun was coming out, and the conditions were as good as I have seen them.
The first funny story has to do with a couple of barges. As I was trucking along the ICW, I listened to two of the few barges in the area talk to each other. The first one was approaching me so I identified myself and told him that I was going to be on the “one”, which means I would pass him on the right. That call lets him know I am there, that I see him, and that I am going to stay out of his way. He politely responded. The guy behind him, who was called “Silver Fish” was about a mile back. As I approached him, the guy in front called out to Silver Fish. Silver fish responded that he thought “that damn sailboat was trying to call him”. I immediately called Silver Fish and said “This is the damn sailboat and I will be on the “one””. He politely acknowledged.
The funny part of the story is about 15 miles and two hours later as I was passing another barge, the barge called me and said, “I almost called you that damn sailboat”, as he laughed. I simply said I kind of liked the name and was thinking about changing he name of my boat to damn sailboat. He laughed and told me to have a good day. Most of these guys are pretty nice and helpful.
I was making good time as I approached the dreaded Harvey Lock just before the Mississippi River. I dreaded this lock because it is huge, I had a very bad experience in the last one, and I had to tackle the Mississippi next.
It could not have gone any better. The lock tender was excellent, the water was calm, and the barge in front of me did not create a current as he departed. I was convinced that the last lock tender did not know what he was doing. This one did.
Have you ever road across the Mississippi River on a bridge, looked down and thought how peaceful it looked. Don’t fool yourself. Its 120 feet deep of massive energy that will eat you alive if you let it. There were big ships that were bitching to Traffic Control that there was a “catamaran on the river” like I had no business being there. I simply called to them and told them I would stay out of their way, and that I was a trimaran. There is so much debris on the river that I had to swerve out of the way of massive trees and logs on several occasions.
I turned into the industrial canal thinking I was going to make it to my destination easily before sunset. Think again. The next lock was busy with barges hauling dangerous things so they would not let “pleasure boats” in with them. Another sailboat called out to me and asked me to “raft” on him against some tie downs because there was going to be a wait. I met two very nice people who were going my way. They looked experienced, so even better. They had a nice sailboat with a 63 foot mast. That created some problems for them because they had to call for bridges to be lifted where I was able to go under with my 42 foot mast. We waited an hour and a half and finally got into the lock as it was getting dark. We were committed.
This lock went just as well. I am now comfortable with locks and I know what to avoid. As we moved through a couple of draw bridges, it dawned on the other boat, called “Solemate”, that one of the bridges closed at 8pm and he could not get under. So he had to stop. I continued and easily got under the 50 foot bridge.
It as about 8:30 as I approached Lake Pontchartrain and my final destination, but I had to ask for one train bridge to be lifted. Apparently it got stuck and he had to call someone to fix it. I circled for over three hours before I finally got through it.
Now on the lake, it was a very dark 5 miles to the marina. Cold , dirty, and tired, I made it. Gnarly and I took a walk, I took a shower, and now I am going to sleep. Enjoy the pictures.
