View Single Post
Old 03-03-2012, 06:26 AM   #26
Forkliftt
Guru
 
Forkliftt's Avatar
 
City: Diberville Mississippi
Vessel Name: KnotDoneYet
Vessel Model: 1983 42' Present Sundeck
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,450
RE: checklist for cruising

Hey Tony, we live near Baton Rouge and bought our Trawler in Kemah Texas after our sank in Katrina. We love the Kemah area and left her there for probably a year and a half before bringing her closer to home. When we started planning the trip, I really thought blue water was the way to go, but it tunns out that oil rigs, overnighters and other things make that a bad option. If I had known Charles Colatta at the time, who I think pretty much pioneered "running with the tugboats", he would have explained how cool it is to run the ICW and how easy. The trip involves Houston Ship Channel to Bolivar Point and then head East. We had a set of nice charts printed for the trip, I installed a color chartplotter, brought along an ambitious buddy along with the wife and off we headed. We also had purchased and studied the Skipper Bob publication. My biggest concern was going around tugs pushing a tow, and Skipper Bob addressed this well. A VHF handset, and a hail to determine should you go on the "one whistle" or "two" were things we learned. I even put a 1 and 2 piece of tape at the upper helm to help me remember. This was a suggestion from a Mississippi River tugboat captain who used this method when on a new to him vessel. One on the left and 2 on the right as I understood. The captain must have been a "simple" guy, needing to be reminded of something this easy I remember thinking. When I passed my first tow, "Bull Calf" on the "two"- he thankfully corrected me before I ran aground near Bolivar. "The two. The two. My port!" he says. I quickly switched my blue tape after I corrected my course. There four or five "water" locks along the way so you need to understand the process for entering these and be aware of significant tug boat propwash if you are not the front guy when leaving. And the last big issue is locking into/ out of the Mississippi River in New Orleans. You can go through Algiers or the Harvey Lock. We always do the Harvey Lock. Skipper Bob covers the protocol for here and Morgan City- you have to stay in contact with the river authorities when traveling through.
Forkliftt is offline   Reply With Quote