It Could Happen to Any of Us 10-25-08

We Northern State Loopers all thought that it would be warm down here in TN. It is getting colder as the river fog indicates. I suppose we can’t complain when some areas of the country have had the dreaded s… word. This morning was 47 degrees and warmed to 65.

We had another delightful cruise up the Tennessee River from Clifton to Pickwick, a distance of 49 miles and 1 lock—that’s where it got tricky. Bob and I have done 9 prior locks on this trip and 72, on the Trent-Severn and Eire Canals on a previous trip but today’s locking experience was memorable.

4 Looper boats entered the Pickwick Lock at 3:15; 3 chose to tie up to bollards on the starboard side; one, on the port side of the lock. The wind and current entering the lock was strong, and it took a lot of strength to get the lines initially attached to the bollards.

The lock gate closed and we began the 55’ ascent. All of a sudden, the port side boat had a surge of flood current which caused the crew to lose control of their lines. They struggled valiantly, and in a brief moment, were desperately trying to hang on to one line as they were pulled stern first into the middle of the lock. We all watched helplessly as they began to careen out of control towards 2 boats on the starboard side. The captain was able finally to get to the engine and try to get some steerage, and the lockmaster realized the problem and shut down the lock. Luckily, the boat did not crash into the other boats but did hit the wall pretty hard but with no apparent damage. We all breathed a sigh of relief that no one was hurt and no boats were injured.

After exiting the lock, we all headed for the anchorage at Pickwick State Marina. This peaceful place was a welcome sight after this harrowing experience.

Be careful out there.

Cuba Landing to Clifton (Milepost 158) 43 miles 10-24-08

Rain, rain, rain all night but it tapered a bit at 9am when we castoff. We eased our way back into the river channel which is wide at this point with no buoys. The air temp was 52 degrees with a slight river fog.

Even on this gray morning, the scenery was beautiful as we passed through the Tennessee National Migratory Wildlife Refuge. There were more limestone cliffs and coves in this protected landscape. We reduced our speed so we could listen better to the birds calling to each other on shore.

I can understand why boaters call this their homeport. With a houseboat or shallow draft powerboat, one could nose into the coves and be surrounded by nature. We had hoped to anchor at Denson’s Island at Milepost 125 but the weather unfortunately changed our plans.

We spoke with some local boaters yesterday and they tend not to go out often on days like this as “it is toooooo cold.” We did have some barge traffic today but with a wide river, there was plenty of room to pass on the Ones or Twos except at Beech Creek Island where 2 large barges were rounding a corner and there we were. We did see some people fishing on their runabouts for sauger (“cousin to the walleye”) and catfish. It is a pleasure to steer and not have to be on the constant look-out for debris.

With a cabin temp of 60 degrees, I fired up the propane oven to make muffins. Really—it’s only for the warmth. I was busy reading when an ultra load ringtone sounded. I jumped—were my muffins overdone, was it the fire alarm, engine alarm…what? Bob remained calm and started laughing. It seems that yesterday when we women went geocaching, Bob and fellow boater, Gary, decided to play with all their “boat devices.” They had wired up the Digital Selective Calling (DSC) feature on their marine radios. This feature not only allows an alert to go out in distress, but it can also be used to directly hail another boater via the MMSI number. It worked and certainly got my full attention.

We pulled into the Clifton Marina at about 2:30. It is a very narrow opening with adequate draft and you have to make an immediate turn to the transient area. We crossed paths again with “Bucket” and “Steel Weeds.” What was really amazing was meeting up with the owners of the Rhumb Line Bar from Bayfield WI, our former homeport. They are down here doing a BMW motorcycle trip to the Baja, but stopped here with their pop-up trailer to check on land they bought. It was fun to reminisce and toast to our memories.

The day ended wonderfully with a spicy meal at Meo Mio’s Cajun Spirits Restaurant. They will pick you up at the marina. This one is not to be missed.

Pebble Isle Marina to Cuba Landing Marina (Milepost 115) 19 miles 10-23-08

We left the dock at 8:30 and surprised a family of deer crossing the channel in front of us. Did they move fast!!

We are in the Tennessee Refuge area which is the winter home for over 200,000 ducks (24 varieties), 19,000 geese as well as semi-tropical birds like the yellowthroat, cuckoo, warbler and tanager as well blue herons, eagles and cormorants. The birds are still on the Mississippi Flyway so we are a bit ahead of them.

With showers predicted today, we decided to go only 20 miles. We had windy conditions and whitecaps on the river so we had to steer down below. It gave us a lot of time to talk about a timetable as a lot of Loopers will be leaving the Rendezvous at Wheeler Park so we may all be trying to congregate in the same marinas and anchorages.

Cuba Landing Marina is nestled in behind a small island and could be an anchorage. You have to make sure not to cut corners getting to the small channel as 2 boats today grounded. We met a lot of local boaters who were most welcoming. The new owners, Josh and Jessica, have done a good job.

We did not get rain this afternoon so Linda on ‘Cynthia Faye” asked us if we wanted to go geocaching. It is a type of scavenger hunt in which you get the location and clues on the “treasure” on the geocaching website, use your GPS to plot the coordinates, get there by car, foot, bike etc., and start looking for the cache. Linda is phenomenal at this, and found 4 out of 4. I was her driver and because I am taller, I got to reach up and grab the cache that she found.

Paris Landing Marina (TR) to Pebble Isle Marina (TR) (30 miles) 10-22-08

Woke up this morning to a 56 degree blue sky day. Since we only have a short distance today, there was time for a long morning walk around Paris Landing State Park. This is an 841 acre park with something for everyone—primitive camping, RV sites, rustic cabins, conference center, hotel and restaurants, pools, amphitheatre etc. The marina rate is $.65 a foot which is very reasonable. They supply 50 amp power and we draw 30 amp but the office supplied us with a pigtail to convert. They have limited shower facilities but with few boaters in the off season, this was not a problem.

Here is a picture of the water level pole. Another way to get the daily river water level is to listen daily to the Coast Guard’s “Notice to Mariners” updates.

We departed at 9 with “Cynthia Faye” and “Rose’s Pick”. Soon after leaving the marina, we picked up an AIS target, “Mimi”, traveling at 14 mph. We hailed the Captain and learned that this 125 motoryacht hails from the St. Croix River in MN and regularly travels down to FL following the warmer weather. Now that’s a great life!

We had a wonderful cruise today on the Tennessee River. We saw remnants of the former river life at Mile 78 with the remains of the Ol’ Louisville & Nashville RR Bridge with ½ its span removed, and a sturdy abandoned dock. The shoreline is rolling green hills meeting a more sandy shore and with the contrast of the blue sky, “Cynthia Faye” looked bristol easing through the water.

We got to Pebble Island Marina and decided to fuel up as they were offering diesel at $3.19 with a Boat US discount. That is a deal compared to what we have seen so far. We looked at our logs and calculated that we have done 1600 miles so far and in the rivers, we have averaged 4.5 mpg vs. 3.7mpg in the Great Lakes

Pebble Isle Marina supplied a courtesy car and we took off for the Civil War museum at Johnsonville. We learned that this area was important to the Confederacy when Maj. Gen. Forrest and his troops destroyed the Northern supply routes for Gen. Sherman on his March to the Sea.

We had a Captain’s Meeting on the dock at 6 and met some new Loopers on “Ebb Tide”. Tomorrow may be stormy with rain and hail and we will have to evaluate in the morning.

Kenlake Marina on KY Lake on Tennessee River in KY to Paris Landing Marina on KY Lake on Tennessee River in TN (24 miles) 10-21-08

We awoke to a gray and cloudy morning with 56 degrees and it was very easy to snuggle in until 7:30. We were practically the only boat in the transient area and I thought that it would be a perfect place for me to practice the dreaded docking. We have a single screw boat with no bow or stern thruster and I have to get over my fear of crashing. Bob is a very good teacher and he took me through the steps of docking and undocking. When I am docking our small 32 foot boat, she seems like an ocean liner. I did better than last time, nobody got hurt and no boats were injured.

I undocked for the last time at 9:45 and we eased back out through the narrow harbor channel to KY Lake with a slight wind behind us as we proceeded downbound. We crossed the state line into TN at milepost 49.

We could see a huge spray of water behind us as a 70 foot powerboat, “Water Gremlin”, hailed us on Channel 16 courteously alerting us that would slow down and pass us. At the same time, the barge and pusher, “Edwin Kennedy”, upbound was also going to pass. This area has so many recreational boats that we almost forgot about the barge traffic.

We arrived at Paris Landing Marina at 1:45 and once again had to be mindful of the harbor channel buoys. We thought that the harbormaster directed us to the southern pier in the marina, but after docking there, we had to move to the southern side of the transient pier by the marina office. Bob got a lot of extra docking practice!

We joined up with “Rita’s Pick” and “Cynthia Faye” who came in a little later.
The sun came out and it was time for hiking around the park. A perfect day for me is boating and hiking. We were able to find one tree with some Fall color down in a cove.

Green Turtle Bay (Cumberland River) to Kenlake State Park Marina (Tennessee River) 20 miles 10-20-08

It’s a bit harder to get moving after being at a dock for 6 nights but we swept the cobwebs off and departed at about 11 for a short cruise down to Kenlake which is on the Tennessee River side of the Land Between the Lakes area. It is a perfect Fall day with a sunny blue sky and 67 degrees.

We passed coves that we had hiked to the past few days and were tempted to pull in to anchor but the lake level is now set for the winter pool and is 5-6 feet less at 354 feet above sea level. We did not want to go aground like some boats.

Bob Kangas lent us his 1990" Tennessee River Navigation Charts" where he had inscribed that he was on this very section of water on 10/17/90 and sailed the whole distance.

You have to follow the charts very carefully and stick to the magenta line. We called ahead to the Kenlake Marina and were advised to hug the channel buoys into the marina. We docked at about 1:15 and after lunch, we headed off to hike in the park. Since Bob fixed the outboard motor on the dinghy, we took it out for a spin and explored those shallow channels the safe way.