Slow down to get back on schedule

We didn't even set an alarm for Wednesday morning because we only needed to make 40 miles with one lockage to get to the private dock of Chip's friends on Lake Wilson. We departed the Brickyard Marina at 7:45. On half hour later, we clicked past Mile Marker 299, so we celebrated with a breakfast beer. I had two Bud Light Limes left over in the cooler and we felt better knowing that it contained fruit juice.


We passed this tree covered with Birds at Browns Ferry.

We arrived at the Wheeler Lock at 11:30 and waited for 30 minutes while they filled the chamber for us. We exited after a very slow 46-foot drop at 12:30. Since we were so far ahead of our schedule, we killed the engine and sailed for a couple of hours under spinnaker alone. The wind was light, so we were only making 2 knots, but it was a beautiful sunny day and we had no deadline.


For three days, we had been hearing a sailboat named "Debonair" calling the locks and bridges behind us. When we slowed down to sail, they caught up with us. I called them on the radio and it turns out they were from Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar and were delivering the boat to Lake Wilson to sell it. It was a Beneteau (like ours) only 2 feet shorter. We took their picture as they went by.


At 2:45 we tied up at Steve and Toni's beautiful private dock in Six Mile Creek. They cooked a feast of a dinner for us and showed us what Alabama hospitality is all about.

Thursday was a "lay day" to get back on schedule, so I did some boat chores. I removed and adjusted the fuel tank sending unit so that the gauge will be more accurate. Then I climbed the mast to lubricate the pulley (called a sheave) at the top because we noticed it was sticking as we raised the sails on Monday. No matter how many times you've done it, climbing a 50-foot mast gets your heart rate up.


Our batteries and food supplies have been recharged, so tomorrow morning we will enter the tallest freshwater lock in North America, the Wilson Lock at Florence Alabama.

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The Real Trip Begins

So, after a dock party on Sunday night (RonVoyage), it was time Sunday morning to do the real thing...start making wake for Key West. My second crew volunteer, Chip Thomas, met me downtown to cast off. After a short interview and photo session with the newspaper, we prepared the boat and pushed into the Tennessee River at 9:04 a.m. on Monday, October 3. The wind that had blown all weekend was still blowing, so we raised the mainsail before we motor-sailed under the Olgiati Bridge. With a strong current (1.1 knots) and strong breeze we were boosting Agaliha's normal cruising speed and making good time.

The trip through the Tennessee River Gorge was as beautiful as it was rapid. The river winds back and forth for 28 miles while only covering 7 miles of "straight line" distance. With everything in our favor, we were covering nine miles of ground every hour. We tied off in the Nickajack Lock at 1:50 p.m. and untied 13 minutes later in the fastest and easiest locking in history. Maybe all our bad luck was used in the Chickamauga Lock on Friday.

Our next potential showstopper was the railroad bridge at Bridgeport, AL. It crosses the river 34 feet above the water, so it has to be raised for our 51 foot rig to clear. We called the bridge tender and he answered right away, assuaging my fears.


We motored on, past TVA's Widow's Creek coal plant and the mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear plant to our anchorage next to a highway bridge at mile marker 386. We anchored at 5:55 (CDT) and cooked a great grilled chicken dinner. We had covered 78 miles in our first day with everything working perfectly.


We awoke the next morning at 6:30 (CDT) to a cold morning (48 degrees) with a 10 m.p.h breeze out of the NNW. There was no current to push us today, but the wind would give us a boost. We flew the genoa and motor-sailed for a couple of hours as we enjoyed the largely undeveloped Guntersville Lake.

It was another beautiful October Day without a cloud in the sky. The temperature eventually rose to 75, so we peeled off layer by layer as we moved toward the Guntersville lock, which we reached at 11:15. After a short wait for an up-bound trawler, we locked through and exited into Wheeler Lake at about noon.


We made a short stop at Ditto's Landing Marina at 2:00 p.m. for fuel and water, even though we didn't really need either. There was another RR bridge at Decatur that is less than 10 feet off the water, so unless the bridge tender was home, we were stuck. He was home...and very friendly...so we passed under his raised bridge at 5:35 p.m.


We tied up at the Brickyard Marina in downtown Decatur at 6:00 p.m. Just behind the marina, we saw barbecue smoke and a sea of white tents. We walked over to the Alabama Sportsmen's Wild Game Cookoff and settled into a series of venison, buffalo, boar, rattlesnake and other dishes washed down with lots of free beer. Are we living right, or what?




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And we're off!

The journey has begun. I left Gold Point Marina at 5:30 p.m. on September 30 with my youngest daughter Betsy as my first crew. The wind was 18 knots, gusting to 22. Somehow, it seemed like a sign. I prefer to think of it as a good sign -- starting a sailing voyage with lots of wind seems good. Betsy and I posed for photos at the helm while we waited for the lock gates to open.





After the lock drained, we were blasted by huge winds as we were trying to exit the lock and had to abandon our "locking line" to keep the boat from hitting the wall. I asked the lockmaster to close the gates to protect us from the wind, which he did, and we went back and retrieved the line. Betsy had nerves of steel in a very scary situation. So, our very fist lockage was a rough one! But, no harm, no foul.

Not only was it windy, but the river was running at 2 knots, so we FLEW down to Ross's Landing at 9 knots (speed over ground). We tied up at the commercial dock across from the tour boats and immediately plugged in to heat the boat as the temperature dropped. It fell into the 40s during the night!

So now were are tied up for the weekend in beautiful downtown Chattanooga. The RiverRocks Festival, Three Sisters Music Festival, and Wine Over Water event are all occurring this weekend, so we will have plenty to do.




Betsy and I toast a successful to start!



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Departure Date!!

Everyone knows that old Chinese proverb "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." I'd like to amend that. If it's a boat trip, it starts with loading the boat! And before you can do that, you have to decide exactly when you are leaving.

In my case, I wanted hurricane season to be over (or almost over). I had made reservations months ago for a dock space in downtown Chattanooga during the first weekend of RiverRocks, Chattanooga's outdoor recreation festival. I decided it would be the perfect launch venue. So, I will bring my boat downtown for the weekend, enjoy the festival, and then take off on the morning of Oct. 3rd for salt water.


Agaliha at last year's RiverRocks Festival

So, with that date picked, I have been busy getting ready. I've off loaded everything from the boat that I DON'T need. And I've started loading everything that I WILL need. I was thrilled Monday when I loaded my collapsed inflatable dingy into the cockpit locker. It fit perfectly. I won't need this boat until I get to the Keys, so I don't want to tow it. The extra drag really makes a difference on your speed. I've decided to take my Honda portable generator, so I have stowed it under the helmseat. It might come in handy for recharging batteries.

I've decided on my sail inventory. In addition to my double reef mainsail, I will carry my 140% genoa, roller-furled on the headstay. I will use these sails for most of my sailing. Then, for sailing in light breezes with the wind, I am carrying an asymmetrical spinnaker (loaded in a snuffing sock). And for heavy winds, I am carrying a storm jib that snaps over the furled genoa. I can comfortably sail with this jib and a double reefed main in 30+ knots of wind. After that, I will be motoring under bare poles to shelter.

The next consideration is food. Since I'm hugging the coast for most of my trip, I don't need to pack huge stores of food. On the other hand, there aren't that many grocery stores on the river between here and Mobile! So, with Linda's help, I've been laying in supplies. Agaliha's freezer is pretty big, so I will load it with several dinners worth of frozen meat right before I leave. I'll also have some canned meals that I can prepare on the run if I need to eat with out stopping.

I've been doing all the little banking and insurance details that need to be done. For example, I upgraded my "towing insurance" to an unlimited package...just in case. I have activated and tested my satellite transponder so that I can send "I'm O.K" messages each night to Linda. I can also use it to send an emergency message (god forbid) to the Coast Guard. I've also ordered and loaded spare parts for the engine and toilet (top two priorities)!

Lots more detail than anyone wants to read, but maybe this helps everyone get a picture of what you have to do to prepare for a long boat trip.

Also, I've been calling my potential crew and giving them notice of when and where I might need them. That has been a great experience with everyone being supportive and flexible. So, I hope my next post will be on departure day!

Shakedown Cruise

As I was contemplating a long voyage in my boat, I decided last June that we should take a week long cruise to make sure that the boat (and I) were ready for a longer trip. We decided to sail the boat upstream to Watts Bar Lake, whose dam is 58 miles from our marina.

Linda and I loaded up the boat with fuel, food, water and liquor and threw off the dock lines at 9:15 in the morning. We turned into the 1.3 knot current and were happy to find a 12-knot southeasterly breeze. When the wind built we turned off the engine and enjoyed the reduced noise. As we passed Sale Creek I saw a squall developing so I reduced our sail area just before we were hit by a 25 knot gust. In addition to the propulsion it provided us with some relief from the heat that plagued all of 2011. The temperature dropped to 75 degrees, the coolest it had been in weeks.

We arrived at the lock at 6 p.m. and had to wait about a half hour for the lock to be emptied. We exited the lock into Watts Bar Lake at 7 p.m. We turned left into the Piney River and quickly found a good anchorage for the night. Linda had planned a beautiful dinner that we enjoyed as the sun set.





As the mist burned off of the water the next morning, we motored back into the main channel to head upstream again. We heard some old sailing friends on the VHF radio. We hailed them and made plans to raft up in a cove near Thief Neck Island. We took a shortcut known as the "Iron Hill Cut" that is only about 40 feet wide, but it had plenty of depth for our 5-foot keel.

We met up with our friends and soon there were four 36-foot sailboats in our raft-up, which never happens on our lake because there probably aren't four sailboats that big on the entire lake. We wedged in a dinner between multiple cocktail hours where many jokes and lies were told. After dinner, some of the more adventurous ones went swimming in the darkness of a moonless night. The conditions were perfect for stargazing and we saw more stars than we had seen in years. (It's hard to get a picture, but this time exposure will give you an idea.)




The next morning a thunderstorm broke up our raft-up earlier than we would have liked. So we headed to the the lake house of some friends and tied up at the dock for an overnight visit. The next day we sailed to Blue Springs Marina and were grateful for the shore power to run our air conditioning as the insidious heat returned. We we got up the next morning it was raining, so we enjoyed a lazy morning of music and reading. When the rain stopped, we started our trip back home. We anchored near the dam so that we could be the first boat through the lock when it opened at 7 a.m.




Linda whipped up another great meal (with a little help from me on the martinis and grilling). The next morning we entered the lock at 7:03 a.m. and were soon back on Lake Chickamauga, 58 miles from our marina.  The trip downstream was uneventful and relaxing.

One of the main reasons for the cruise was to get an accurate calculation of Agaliha's fuel consumption for my trip planning. It takes a long, linear trip (with half against the current and half with the current) to get an accurate read. Now I know that she burns .625 gallons per hour at 2,600 rpms and covers about 12 statute miles for every gallon. With a 20-gallon tank I have a range of 240 miles.

Our shakedown cruise was a great success and a whole lot of fun. We decided that we need to visit Watts Bar every year.

Running out of Excuses

Forty-five years ago, I "wasted" time in the high school library reading articles and books about sailing voyages.  I would pore over the plans for cruising sailboats and dream of taking my own trip someday.  This was particularly unusual for a kid from Appalachia whose sailing experiences could be counted on one hand.

My last year in college, I joined my university's sailing club so that I could take a cruise in the Bahamas over Spring Break of my senior year.  When I got there, I said to myself, "Maybe I can sail my own boat here someday."  After graduating, I bought a 14 foot open boat for $300 and starting learning to sail.  I started racing, won a few trophies, and started moving up in boat length in pursuit of my dream.

Six years ago, I bought the biggest boat that would fit under the railroad bridge between my lake and the rest of the world.  It is a 2002 Beneteau 361 with a 3 cylinder diesel engine.  Every decision about the outfitting of the boat has been made with a voyage in mind.  She has new bottom paint designed to float her in salt water (I had always used fresh water paint before).  She has a full sail inventory of new sails designed for a wide variety of wind speeds and conditions.

In May, I had an opportunity to retire early after a 35-years of climbing several corporate ladders.  Since retiring, I've bought the charts and been doing serious research about my trip.  Years ago I started referring to my dream voyage to my wife as my "Bucket Trip" because I want to do it before I kick the proverbial bucket.  (By the way, I don't think I'm anywhere close to that because my doctor says I am in perfect health...but who knows!)  But I do know this...I won't always be able to do it, so why not now?

One by one, I have knocked off my excuses.  I called the insurance company.  They said go for it. 
I've been over every system in the boat looking for trouble.  Can't find anything. 
I called my friends that always said they would go with me for parts of the trip and they said, "I'M IN...LET'S GO!"
Now hurricane season is almost over and my last excuse is almost gone.

I think I might actually, really, sort-of, virtually, you know....throw off the dock lines and go.