New Orleans - We made it

Pulling away from Cat Island

We pulled up anchor about 6:40 AM after a somewhat bumpy night at anchor near Cat Island, MS. Yesterday was a long day. We hoped for a shorter day today.

The ride to New Orleans was up and down. We started out with the sail out and where clipping along at a blistering 8.5 MPH.  Then the wind died and we dropped down to 7, thankfully we still had the tide working in our favor. We doused the sail and motored a while.  Zach and I took turns at the helm.

We crossed Lake Borgne (which is actually an estuary, a brackish water “lake”, the same as Lake Pontchartrain) and entered the New Orleans channel cut.

Oil rig platform in Lake Borgne

The channel cut at times seemed like it wasn’t wide enough for the barges we met, much less us and the barges. I am glad we didn’t meet any in the really narrow spots. The channel was nearly straight as an arrow for the next 15 miles.  The wind picked back up to 15kts and straight across our port side. We put out the head sail and picked up speed. We hit 9.2 MPH at one point, life was good.

As we approached the flood wall gates on the canal, we pulled the sail in. I was worried about the swirling current that might be around the flood gates, no need to add gusty winds to the mix.

Approaching the flood wall gates

I rolled in the sail and turned to increase engine RPMs. I hit the throttle a little much, the engine jumped up to 3900 RPM, oops too much.  When you abuse Gennie for even a moment, she rebels. She through the belt off the water pump (I think she was also showing her displeasure for me leaving her alone for so long). At least this time I recognized the overheating alarm immediately. We got over to the side of the canal and quickly threw out the anchor. A short 20 minutes later we had a new belt on and were back under way.


Our next two big challenges before we got to the Marina is a L & N Railroad bascule bridge and a highway bridge with 50’ of clearance at normal pool. If the railroad bridge has to close before we get there for an oncoming train, it could be an hour delay. We are hoping to get to the Marina before It closes at 4:00, it is now 2:30.  I called the bridge tender and told him we were about 30 minutes away. He said it was open and he would try to leave it open until we got there. We rounded the corner and we were glad to see that the bridge still wide open.

Next is the 50’ ft bridge. Bridges normally have height gauges on the bridge supports at the water level, so you can tell how much clearance is under the low steel of the bridge.  This one had a 40’ mark but nothing below that. My bridge clearance is 46.5’ to the top of the light and then the antenna sticks up above that. I like to have at least 48’. It looked like there was 8 feet below the 40’ mark. But from 500 yards away it’s hard to tell. So, I pulled the throttle back and shifted to neutral and allowed Lesson Plan to coast toward the bridge. The current or wind was pushing us toward the bridge faster than I wanted. As we got close to the bridge supports, I shifted to reverse and slowed us to inching speed as we approached the steel beams of the bridge. We cleared it without even a scrape of the antenna, but it was certainly a nerve-racking experience.

It wasn't quite like Johnny Horton sings about, but was a bit of a battle to get to New Orleans (thanks Deb).

New Orleans Flood Wall

We made to the marina by 3:30 to get checked into the marina and receive our slip assignment. The wind was still blowing like crazy, so I told the attendant we were going to stay on the temporary dock until the wind died down before tried to back into our assigned slip. I checked the weather forecast and it appears that the wind is only going to grow stronger until midnight, so we might as well go now.  I used the backing skills gained over that last year to help Lesson Plan back into her assigned slip. I don’t want karma to come back and bite me, so I am going to give Lesson Plan and Zach most of the credit. Lesson Plan glided up close to the finger pier and Zach looped a cleat and held her firm.

Now we are off to explore New Orleans. Zach may never be the same, things cannot be unseen.

Lessons Learned:
1. All the docking practice along the way really does help build skills. My old golf coach used to repeat "only perfect practice makes perfect". In this case all my docking practice helped make it good enough not to damage the boat or dock. Sometimes that's all your shooting for.

2. Lesson Plan can make it under a 50' bridge. The trip up to KY Lake from Mobile later this month can be made with the mast up.

Zach on Bourbon Street

The Channel looks a lot wider than it is

looking across the New Orleans channel