Underway Today

We're sitting on the hook watching a movie and waiting to time our arrival at Ready Point.

Enjoy the movie. We are in Bellhaven, headed north ( I know the wrong way) Maybe we will pass in the Chesapeake.
Dave
Fryedaze

We just had our DF 44 hauled for the winter at Delaware City. FWIW, there was a big dredge operating just off Reedy Point when we entered Delaware Bay from the C&D. Travel safe.

Thanks for the heads up. I wish I had read that earlier. My son had the helm (not paying attention) and I had just come up from my rest and I look up and a hundred feet in front of us is the dredge and three tugs!!! I grabbed the wheel and went hard to starboard. I then saw the pipes were on that side reaching out thousands of feet. Full about and came around leaving the whole mess to starboard. Five seconds was the difference. All this at 2:00am no moon light!

One of those mornings! South of the C&D Canal.

Only a couple hundred feet of visibility down here at Cape May...good thing you got past when you did.

Did we pass in the night?

Wow!!! Glad you missed the dredge. It's a monster, alright. Getting around it in broad daylight was nerve-wracking enough. It was positioned at the junction of 3 busy channels when we passed it, which adds complications. The guy who runs the supply boat for the dredge is based at Delaware City Marina and actually operated the hoist that hauled our boat last week. He told me they have a vast amount of equipment in the water.

Nah...waiting for my release date when striped bass season winds down in early Dec. Probably leave for FL around 10 Dec, heading up the bay on the first light wind day that comes along.

Daddyo said:

I then saw the pipes were on that side reaching out thousands of feet. Full about and came around leaving the whole mess to starboard. Five seconds was the difference. All this at 2:00am no moon light!

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Congratulations on missing those pipes! Contact not good!

I'm completely ignorant how they work - guessing now - the pump boat runs the pump and they just keep repositioning the pipes? We have the dredge Brunswick working here in the upper Cape Fear River and I have been watching with much interest. Do you know if with suction they have to maintain a certain soil/water mix?

I see the pipes going out hundreds of feet here, not thousands, but is interesting to watch. Curious how they manage the drop of the spoil (I keep looking for it), but I suppose with the pipes run it to a safe location.

I really suppose the captain wouldn't want some curious geek-engineering-type to quiz him over the VHF. Better Google this one.

That dredge is huge! Very confusing to see in the night.

Ben said:

Congratulations on missing those pipes! Contact not good!

I'm completely ignorant how they work - guessing now - the pump boat runs the pump and they just keep repositioning the pipes? We have the dredge Brunswick working here in the upper Cape Fear River and I have been watching with much interest. Do you know if with suction they have to maintain a certain soil/water mix?

I see the pipes going out hundreds of feet here, not thousands, but is interesting to watch. Curious how they manage the drop of the spoil (I keep looking for it), but I suppose with the pipes run it to a safe location.

I really suppose the captain wouldn't want some curious geek-engineering-type to quiz him over the VHF. Better Google this one.

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Usually there's a tug moving the dredge around since most aren't self propelled. The pipe just follows.

Ok, so answering my own question here... Video linked animation is pretty explanatory.

http://www.vmi-dredges.com/how-dredges-work.html

Ben said:

Ok, so answering my own question here... Video linked animation is pretty explanatory.

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I couldn't get the link to work, so I Googled it and got this. Hopefully, it's the same thing.

VMI, Inc. - How Dredges Work

Just as a matter of scale, the dredges in these videos would probably fit in the wheelhouse of the vessel moving the Delaware Bay dredge.

Ben-the link Angus posted is pretty much how dredges work. In years past when I lived down in your area (in Shallotte), I has several friends who worked dredges up and down the coast. As you go up and down the Cape Fear, most if not all the little islands you pass were created by dredge spoil. They used to maintain the Cape Fear channel at 38' deep, may be deeper now. It requires pretty regular dredging to maintain the channel depth. The dredges just suck it up and spit it out off to the side and make little islands all up and down the river. They also use the dredges in beach renourishment, sucking up sand from just offshore and pumping it to the beach to rebuild the beach. That is pretty much a wasted exercise as two winters of nor'easters and the beach is gone again!

Keep to the green lit side of the dredge (2 greens stacked). When in doubt call the dredge or tender tugs on ch 13

St Michaels today and probably tomorrow given the weather coming in.

THD said:

As you go up and down the Cape Fear, most if not all the little islands you pass were created by dredge spoil. They used to maintain the Cape Fear channel at 38' deep, may be deeper now.

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I have been observing one working downtown Wilmington - I can't see where the spoil is being laid, but I expect in the shallows. He's working the area which is indicated as a turning basin on the charts just south of the northern bridge and Bennett Brothers. Because of a tight channel, city proximity, and wetlands, I can only imagine the legal protection, insurance, and permitting must be extensive.

Honestly I never had occasion to think about it except that the dredge is now working right off the town bulkhead.

I'm done with this topic, having "drifted" from the subject of the thread.

Daddyo said:

St Michaels today and probably tomorrow given the weather coming in.

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Lucky! St. Michaels very nice. After the bay, you going Dismal Swamp, Virginia Cut, or offshore?

Ben said:

I'm completely ignorant how they work -

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Someone need to watch some more 'Modern Marvels' on Discovery Channel. All your questions will be answered.

psneeld said:

Only a couple hundred feet of visibility down here at Cape May...good thing you got past when you did.

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Or hang at the dock where the dredge company crewboat ties up. That guy is usually bored out of his mind. 12 hour shift, on immediate recall and on many days, only does the dredge's end of shift crew change.

Ask me mow I know what the crewboat Cappy does.......ask one that actually works for the dredge company how the whole operation works...

fryedaze said:

We came across the Pamlico Tuesday and the Albemarle Wednesday. Tuesday was rain and fog with less 100 yards vis. Wednesday a fog bank rolled across the Albemarle and I couldn’t see 100 feet. It was my first experience with low visibility and radar. Thank god for radar, with all the sailboat heading south and me heading north. It’s a little spooky knowing that another boat is about 100 yards away and I can’t see them.
Hanging out in Norfolk today for weather. Will probably run to Deltaville Sat or Sun, then on to Solomons. Sure is getting cold here.​

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What kind of radar and how new? Traditional, HD, or 3G/4G radar? Just curious. I have one made by Thomas Edison, I think, because it is quite old.

Brandy new Raymarine digital radar on an e127 and e125. The AIS transponder helped for those who sprung for the AIS.

Daddyo, I've been following you on Marine Traffic. You are steady and very good at the helm. Congrats on missing the dredge operation. I have had a few of those myself and one on a no moon night with only one smudge pot lit as a warning light.

Keep a watchful eye and smooth sailing.

Daddyo said:

Thanks for the heads up. I wish I had read that earlier. My son had the helm (not paying attention) and I had just come up from my rest and I look up and a hundred feet in front of us is the dredge and three tugs!!! I grabbed the wheel and went hard to starboard. I then saw the pipes were on that side reaching out thousands of feet. Full about and came around leaving the whole mess to starboard. Five seconds was the difference. All this at 2:00am no moon light!

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Wow, that's a close call. I didn't get your location at the time, were you on the outside?

Any reason you didn't use guard zones on the radar?

Thanks for the compliments. I'm a distance runner and I suppose I approach passage making in the same manner. This trip is very different as my daughter-in-law gets sea sick more easily and she wants to see everything. She is Romanian and it's all new to her!

We were in the Delaware Bay near Reedy Point.

It's never a good sign when there are white caps in the river

Daddyo

White caps in the river not a good way to start the day

are you staying put today ?

don't let daughter-in-law get see sick

To close the loop on the Delaware Bay "dredge," I talked to the cap and owner of the supply ship this morning. The reason it appears so large is because "it" is actually 3 large dredges working in tandem. They told me that with intermediate pumps installed they can have as much as 15 MILES of pipe in the water. Must have been pretty horrible seeing that looming ahead of you at 3 a.m.