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I hate water hyacinths!

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Saturday November 21, 2015
We had high hopes for the day. We would have a strong current in our favor, it was a beautiful day, and we hoped to go 60 miles. We left the marina at 6:10am, went about 1/2 mile, turned to our port at the lock approach wall, and faced a huge mat of water hyacinths mixed with logs and debris. The entire width of the lock was clogged with the green stuff for 100 yards. Think of an area the size of a football field, clogged with water hyacinths.
We started in. It was very slow going. I had to back up and change directions a few times. We were about 100 feet into the mess when we hit a log (bad noise) and got stuck, despite revving the engine. Along came Sea-dation, a huge power boat owned by an anesthesiologist. They plowed in and cleared a way for us. Yeah!
As soon as we exited the lock, we dropped anchor. Something sounded wrong. Our water intake was blocked. Very little water was spitting out the exhaust. Jim tried leaning over the side with a brush, but that didn’t help. The current was wild, right below the dam, so we pulled up anchor and were swept about a mile below the dam. Plunked the anchor back in, and confirmed with the lock that no tow boats were due through for several hours.
Jim got in the dinghy and tried the brush again. Then he stripped down and got in his shorty wetsuit. The water was freezing. No luck! It was not worth his life to go diving in the swift current.
We called Boat U S for a tow. Nearest independent tow was the harbor master at Columbus. He apologized and said he was off 3 hours away, but he would get his friend to come. The friend could not get his boat through the water hyacinths at the lock to get to us.
We called Kit and Pam on India Jayne. They were casting off their lines at the Columbus marina. They would be glad to tow us out of the channel, to a spot near a red nun, where we could wait for help to arrive. And they did.
The wind and the current picked up during the evening. Scary! I was worried that we would swing too far into the channel. One tow and barges were awful close. We dug out the dinghy anchor and threw it toward the shore. Wish I could remember where the 2nd big anchor is! The best part of the day was the leftover ribs.!
Cold (34degrees) and windy night on the hook.

1 Comment

  1. Carolyn

    Wow…what an adventure! As long as you are safe and back sailing, that is what matters!
    Your next book will be most interesting to read!

    Reply

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