Bringing the Sea Star home from FL to LA

[jleonard]

I have one red and one green soda bottle cap on my helm. I move them accordingly as I am going upriver or down river. It helps me or the "relief captain" stay focused.

[Star0210]

Originally Posted by jleonard

I have one red and one green soda bottle cap on my helm. I move them accordingly as I am going upriver or down river. It helps me or the "relief captain" stay focused.

That’s very smart!

[psneeld]

I know Jay, but for many following incomplete or hard to follow rules doesnt guarantee the colors are on the correct sides...

Just this thread alone is scary....

[OldDan1943]

Originally Posted by jleonard

I have one red and one green soda bottle cap on my helm. I move them accordingly as I am going upriver or down river. It helps me or the "relief captain" stay focused.

Perfect!!!

and I do like your analog instrumentation.

Put a piece of tape at the normal or expected temp/pressure and you can tell at a glance what may be happening.

[Cruzer]

Well, this wouldn't have helped in Star's situation, but sort of on-topic, this is one of the most important pieces of navigational gear on OLOH. Sometimes a quick glance for a reminder can avoid a moment of confusion (as long as you orient it correctly to begin with!).



Star - we've been enjoying your adventure and are sorry for your troubles. But with the benefits you're now able to enjoy (nothing quite so satisfying as a good detailing at a fair price) perhaps it can now be considered a "happy accident."

[menzies]

Originally Posted by jleonard

I have one red and one green soda bottle cap on my helm. I move them accordingly as I am going upriver or down river. It helps me or the "relief captain" stay focused.

Let's see.

Was that photo taken while running south on the Gulf ICW?

[Fletcher500]

Originally Posted by Star0210

After saganaki at 3 different restaurants today, along with a pork Shish Ke bob, two Greek salads, and charbroiled octopus, we are STUFFED to the gills.

Wow. What’s on the menu for this evening?

[Star0210]

Originally Posted by Fletcher500

Wow. What’s on the menu for this evening?

This evening we fly home. Unfortunately, we won’t get home in time to pick up any crawfish but that’s what I’m having tomorrow.
Crawfish season is my favorite time of the year. Well, it’s a toss up between crawfish season and football season.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by jleonard

I have one red and one green soda bottle cap on my helm. I move them accordingly as I am going upriver or down river. It helps me or the "relief captain" stay focused.

I like it!

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Star0210

Let me rephrase....absent any unknown obstruction in our path, we had enough water to get out of there safely.

Before the mooring field at Marina Jacks, there were tons of privately moored boats there. You may have just found one of the old mooring blocks that got missed when they were putting in the new screw moorings.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Star0210

This evening we fly home. Unfortunately, we won’t get home in time to pick up any crawfish but that’s what I’m having tomorrow.
Crawfish season is my favorite time of the year. Well, it’s a toss up between crawfish season and football season.

First time I drove through rural Mississippi, I passed a big building with a crawfish sign. I thought it was a bait shop. I did not realize people ate crawfish. It was not until I saw them on a menu a couple of days later that I did. I'd never had a course in astacology. Now, I've since found out that almost all crawfish are harvested in Louisiana and the vast majority of them eaten there as well.

Oh, as to using them for bait, advised against now as zebra mussels attach to them.

[Star0210]

Originally Posted by BandB

First time I drove through rural Mississippi, I passed a big building with a crawfish sign. I thought it was a bait shop. I did not realize people ate crawfish. It was not until I saw them on a menu a couple of days later that I did. I'd never had a course in astacology. Now, I've since found out that almost all crawfish are harvested in Louisiana and the vast majority of them eaten there as well.

Oh, as to using them for bait, advised against now as zebra mussels attach to them.

I typically don’t eat crawfish anywhere other than south Louisiana. Some people can really mess them up, IMO.
David does a great job boiling them but it’s not worth it to do unless you’re having a crawfish boil and have reason to cook at least a sack.
The day after our wedding we are having a crawfish boil at our house because we have a lot of out of town family coming in. We will be buying them already boiled though instead of doing them ourselves. I can’t imagine we’re going to feel like cooking the morning after our wedding night

[McGillicuddy]

Originally Posted by Star0210

I knew which side the markers were supposed to be on. That was the first lesson David taught me. The problem was the green I was looking at wasn’t MY green...it was apparently a green for a cross channel or something. The green I should have been looking at was further in the distance and off to my nw a little. I didn’t even see it until David came up and pointed it out to me. So basically when I made that little curve I spotted that green and ASSUMED it was the one I was supposed to be following. That was my first mistake.

I know exactly where that happened and it is confusing. I crept around that bend at barely steerage speed til I spotted the ‘real’ green.

[psneeld]

markers without a chart or local knowledge are meaningless till you establish where you need to be in reference to them.

one of the first things taught to me about navigation was that you are suposed to know where you are at all times....verifying it by gps, celestial, markers, buoys, etc is just icing on the cake.

thats why in piloting they call them fixes versus estimated positions.

so using marks is only a good idea if you are already sure its the one you want.

not directed at anyone, just a tidbit of several careers and a lifetime of navigation experience.

[dhays]

Originally Posted by psneeld

I know Jay, but for many following incomplete or hard to follow rules doesnt guarantee the colors are on the correct sides...

Just this thread alone is scary....

I must say that I like Jay’s red and green cap idea.

Listening to this discussion I think I would be nervous to cruise in that part of the world. If you dropped me in a boat on the ICW I would be pretty clueless.

Around here, it is is pretty straightforward, I is usually very easy to know if one is “returning” or not. The only place I have ever had given it any thought is in the one of the few navigable channels cut by man. The channel markers reverse about half way through and it is obviously marked on the chart.

[jleonard]

Originally Posted by menzies

Let's see.

Was that photo taken while running south on the Gulf ICW?

I was cruising down the Ct river on our annual "move the boat from the winter storage marina to the summer slip".
Travelling with the current is the only way I can make that speed.

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by dhays

I must say that I like Jay’s red and green cap idea.

Listening to this discussion I think I would be nervous to cruise in that part of the world. If you dropped me in a boat on the ICW I would be pretty clueless.

Around here, it is is pretty straightforward, I is usually very easy to know if one is “returning” or not. The only place I have ever had given it any thought is in the one of the few navigable channels cut by man. The channel markers reverse about half way through and it is obviously marked on the chart.

Not really, every channel intersection can have color reversal, but from NY to FL there are only a few to worry about.

Plus like I said, look ahead on the chart to confirm before you get tbere, no big deal....unless you are moving at 30 knots or better....then that can be a handful.

[menzies]

One note of caution. The rule of following increasing (or decreasing numbers) is true, so long as you are taking note of every number. If traveling at speed and perhaps not watching the numbers, the numbering system does reset. There is no set rule on when they do, though usually at a major inlet, or country line etc. So you may be at, say, red marker 48 going south and twenty minutes later see red marker 12.

If you start to get confused when crossing inlets or adjacent rivers there is another help available.

The AICW markers have yellow marks on them. Take note of these yellow marks on the day markers. A yellow square will be on the red markers and a yellow triangle will be on the green markers. If they ain't got yellow markers pull back on the throttles and have a good look around. You will be keeping the yellow squares to port and the yellow triangles to starboard travelling "south."

[psneeld]

We should move these navigation posts to a new thread and not clog up a trip thread....but gotta stop the errors....

Yes marks can jump numbers, like exit numbers on interstates. Gotta know where you are and an occasional glance ahead satisfies most navigators. Numbering or studying the "placement" of the marks ahead is the only sure fire way I know of knowing which side they should be on.

you should be following the yellow shapes on the ICW....while 99 oercent of the time, the yellow shape will match what marker it is on, not always.

as a yellow triangle or square can be on either a red or green, thats why they are there as the primary color of the buoy may be marking the major channel and the yellow shape denotes the correct side of the ICW.

read a secrion of literature on buoys and markings, way too many misleading statements in this thread....

https://www.boat-ed.com/pennsylvania...039_101039090/

[Star0210]

We made it home safely.
Now the countdown begins for our return to the boat for take II.