Intracoastal Water Way here we come ready or not

If you are waiting for a bridge opening, the safest place to be is at the back of the parade. Don't ask how I know.

hmason said:

If you are waiting for a bridge opening, the safest place to be is at the back of the parade. Don't ask how I know.

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True that. Just make sure you let the tender know you will be the last clown out of the car.

Moonstruck said:

I almost hate to broach this subject, but this is how we do it on Moonstruck. I give adamant instructions that it is the captain's job to place the boat in the proper position. No yelling! Our boat weighs 15 tons. At no time is the mate to place any part of the body between the boat and a pile or dock. Also, no pushing off. These are the times when injuries have occurred. Some injuries being serious such as severed fingers and falls overboard. Also I insist on the mate having on at least an automatic inflatable life vest. We operate our boats in an alien environment. We must respect it.

The EMTs coming to the boat usually means a ruined trip or worse.

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Your posting on the right thread?

menzies said:

Your posting on the right thread?

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I thought the OP wanted our best tips for the ICW.

menzies said:

Your posting on the right thread?

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I'd say so. It's good advice to first time cruisers.

Your body or body parts are not worth damaging trying to prevent damage to the boat. Or to put it another way, fiberglass is cheaper and easier to fix than skin and bone.

Moonstruck said:

I almost hate to broach this subject, but this is how we do it on Moonstruck. I give adamant instructions that it is the captain's job to place the boat in the proper position. No yelling! Our boat weighs 15 tons. At no time is the mate to place any part of the body between the boat and a pile or dock. Also, no pushing off. These are the times when injuries have occurred. Some injuries being serious such as severed fingers and falls overboard. Also I insist on the mate having on at least an automatic inflatable life vest. We operate our boats in an alien environment. We must respect it.

The EMTs coming to the boat usually means a ruined trip or worse.

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Your boat is more than 2 tons overweight per specs. time to clean the bottom

boatpoker said:

Your boat is more than 2 tons overweight per specs. time to clean the bottom

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It's my big a** anchor Rex sold me.

Moonstruck said:

It's my big a** anchor Rex sold me.

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Whaaaaat, no chain?! I thought you knew better Don...

N4712 said:

Whaaaaat, no chain?! I thought you knew better Don...

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Chain would make it too heavy, and yeah you're a teeny bopper, Oliver Just enjoy it. You'll be an old fart like me before you know it..

MikeM said:

This is a great thread with some very good advice. My wife and I leave on our first trip down the AICW on November 1st. We are a bit nervous, but very anxious to start our new adventure. We will be attending a Snowbird ICW Rendezvous in Hampton, VA 15-17 October and hope to learn a lot there as well.


Mike Metts
KK 42-165
Virginia Beach, VA

Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

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Mike, I think nervous and anxious is probably a good thing. Some very experienced boaters have advised me that the bad stuff often happens when you're tired or complacent.

With your boat and and undivided attention you'll be fine!

I'd set up an iPad with a good chart plotter that interfaces with Active Captain and radar weather. Great way to involve your wife in the navigation with good reduncancy.

Moonstruck said:

I thought the OP wanted our best tips for the ICW.

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Fair enough, was thinking maybe you thought you were in the " tips" thread.

But obviously too much thinking going on!

rclarke246 said:

...Great way to involve your wife in the navigation....

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I'm sure there's a wise-arse comment in there somewhere....

Moonstruck said:

You'll be an old fart like me before you know it..

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Hey I resemble that statement!!

Moonstruck said:

Right on. Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds are not to be trifled with. However, by watching weather and there will be plenty of dock talk on the way, they can be very passable.

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Exactly... I've gone from this: (our delivery trip)


To nasty. Nasty in a 28 footer is not fun...

To something like this? The first trip I made across the Albemarle was even more dead flat than Heron's picture. The following picture was when things calmed down enough to be able to take a picture. Note the different directions and steepness of the chop, and of course the wind. Those were only 2 footers with an occasional set of 4's, the latter of which woke me up from a very nice nap on the sofa and propelled me over/through the coffee table to the other side of the salon. Ann did a great job of piloting as the AP was not going to make things comfortable. We saw one other boat; the rest stayed in and were radioing us for condition updates.

Yeah, and when the wind is strong out of the North the Alligator River isn't a piece of cake to do. Running through the draw bridge with about a 5' quartering sea was an adventure. They close the bridge I think at 30 knots of wind.

While looking behind you at the markers and looking at your wake is good advice, I would also add that in those long reaches where range lights are established learn how to use them.

safe travels and enjoy the trip.

Greetings,
Mr. u. Interesting point regarding range lights. I've never had any success actually lining them up. It seems to me that IF they were in line, I'd be WAY off course. I've tried on numerous occasions...What am I missing?

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. u. Interesting point regarding range lights. I've never had any success actually lining them up. It seems to me that IF they were in line, I'd be WAY off course. I've tried on numerous occasions...What am I missing?

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It's hard to say without seeing what you are doing. But if the ranges are lined up you should be in the dead center of the channel. If there is a cross current or wind to deal with you could need to crab down the channel which while you would be pointed in the wrong direction, you would of course actually be traveling over the ground in the correct direction.

Do you use the course up line on your plotter, or the heading up line?

RTF: As you are crossing say a sound or on a long reach with a cross current or something similar (wind, etc..) your boat will tend to be influenced by that "set" the ranges are actually two points in a straight line which line up with the center of the channel. The upper range is the furthest away and the lower is of course slightly closer. There is only one spot where they will appear to be on top of each other and that is when you are on that line. During the day the white lines will be perfectly vertical at night the lights will be vertical when you are in the center of the channel. if they are not vertical steer the boat to the side that the lower light or day-mark appears until they line back up vertically. To visualize this somewhat better, stick your index fingers in front of you with one of them lower than the other then move your head from side to side. If your head moves to the right the lower finger appears to move to the left of the higher finger so therefore you have to move your head back to line them up. Hope that helps. To compensate for the "set" you may quickly see that you need to be steering not towards the middle of the channel but to one side just to keep the ranges "closed" (one on top of the other).

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. u. Interesting point regarding range lights. I've never had any success actually lining them up. It seems to me that IF they were in line, I'd be WAY off course. I've tried on numerous occasions...What am I missing?

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Right. Trust that the ranges are in line (accurate) and steer toward the forward one until they line up. Back ranges are a bit more tricky as I don't like taking my eyes off the water ahead. I usually ask my navigator to advise me when I'm on the range.

I really like ranges and feel very comfortable when I'm on one.

Depending on set and drift, you may not spend much time actually steering on the ranges. You may have to steer 5 degrees, give or take, to the left or right of them to keep them in line.