It was a beautiful morning, although already in the 90's, when we headed out of Manatee Pocket, made a turn to port (left) and entered the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to practice maneuvering and docking, along with navigation review.
Chris had us plot our course to the Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort. We'd have practice following the red and green Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) markers (red triangles or green squares on posts in the water, but can also be floating red and green buoys). It's imperative to stay between the red and green markers to avoid the shallow waters along the ICW.
Bazinga draws 4 feet - that means she must have at least 4 feet of water under her keel (the lowest part of the bottom of the boat) at all times or we will run aground. The ICW is usually between 7-12 feet deep in the center of the narrow channel and you can find yourself in much shallower water very quickly if you aren't paying attention.
In all the years sailing off of CA and during our charter in the San Juan Islands, we rarely needed to worry about 'skinny water'. The waters on the West Coast are very deep even in the harbors and bays. We were more challenged to find water shallow enough to drop our anchor. The ICW is a completely different cruising experience - it's all about navigating in shallow water and trying to keep your boat off the bottom!
The entrance channel to the Marriott was a sharp starboard (right) turn just before the long A1A causeway bridge. The wind had come up, hitting us on our beam and pushing us out of the channel. Jim and Chris realized that our steering was really loose and it was difficult to keep Bazinga going in a straight line. With some challenges from the wind and steering, we pulled up to the face dock (a long dock that is usually parallel to the waterway and easier to pull into than a narrow slip with boats on either side). It was time to take a break and have lunch.
On the return trip back to Manatee Pocket, our wake looked like a drunken sailor was driving. We called Hinckley Yacht Services and Chuck, yard manager extraordinaire, agreed to have a tech come to our marina in the next few days to work on the steering.
 |
| On-the-water training day |
 |
| Let's celebrate at Cody's Roadhouse |
 |
| Peanut appetizer |
 |
| Three peanuts in one shell - that's gotta be a good omen! |
 |
| Please, don't let Jim's doctor see this picture |
No comments:
Post a Comment