Weekend on the Water

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Friday was a mostly a relaxing, take it easy day. The Captain was not feeling well (24 hour stomach flu?), so we just took it easy. Terry B. stopped by and got the kill switches on the bridge working.

Diana did get a great picture of our neighbor the” Belle of the Night”. It was early morning and the sky was heavily overcast with the sun shine under the edge of the clouds is the coloring is the way it is. It makes the boat look a lot better than she really is. The marina owner bought it and has fixed it up and resold it. It is just a barge that is tied to shore as a party place. I understand that it has three dance floors, five bars and a private club on the top floor. It is too big to fit in the marina harbor so it is tied up out on the river bank.

Today was great. A gorgeous morning, upper 50s with 10 to15 mph wind with lots of sunshine and a promise of 80. We got the boat cleaned up, the fly bridge had not been cleaned since we got here and it needed it.

Just before noon it was already near 70 so we cast off from the dock and headed out for a couple days on the water. We have not used the windlass on the boat and I wanted to make sure it was working properly and I understand how to use it before we head down river and have to anchor out three nights getting to Lake Barkley. We left the marina and went just a mile or so and anchored beside an island. The windlass worked fine both down and up. While we were anchored we had lunch.

After lunch and getting the anchor up with ease we headed up the Dardenne Slough. A slough is a secondary river channel separated from the main channel by an island (or several islands). The Dardenne is about eight miles long and very useable by pleasure craft. The marina we are at is at the south end so we went all the way to the upper end slowly, turned around and headed south at a much faster rate. With the same power setting we went up river at 4.5 mph and came back at over 10.

I little side story here. In 1953 when the Hill family moved from St Paul to Mahtomedi to a lovely house on the lake, one of my (unnamed) sisters, about eight, was terribly disappointed. She had heard we were moving to a house on the lake and it wasn’t anywhere near on the lake, 200 feet back and way up on the hill. I am wondering if this picture is what she had in mind.

About half way back down the slough we pulled into a little side chute and anchored again. I am really getting to like this windlass. The chute is about 100 yards wide between two islands that are both heavily wooded. Diana is having a great time sitting on the fly bridge with the binoculars watching lots of birds she doesn’t see in Minnesota. This has produced the first calamity of the trip, she left all her bird books in Minnesota.

We had a light dinner, than took sherbet and cookies to the bridge to watch the sunset and a near full moon rise in the cloudless sky.

Then a third of a mile behind us, at the St Louis Yacht club across the channel a band started up for the evening on the outdoor patio. As my dad once said “a modern amplified band sounds pretty good across a half mile of water.” The music made me thing of BLUE STEEL and my friend Johnny K.

When the Admiral was driving she looked like she was almost enjoying this boating trip.

This will get posted in a day or two when I again have WiFi access

Sunday, May 18, 2008

We spent a reasonably peaceful night at anchor; we could still here the band with cabin closed up but they didn’t play too late. Anchored in 3 knots of current, there was a fair amount noise from water against the hull. We both awoke a couple times during the night.

The morning dawned clear and calm with an upper 50s temperature. It quickly warmed to the upper sixties and we spent a laze morning enjoying a quiet anchorage and watching the birds. We also got a couple more little projects done.

About 10:30 we decided it was time to move on, we upped the anchor (I am really learning to appreciate the windlass) and headed out into the channel with the intention of running on down river a few miles past our marina and sticking our bow up the Illinois river a couple miles, then return where we anchored for lunch yesterday for another anchoring practice.

It wasn’t meant to be. By the time we got just past our marina the wind was blowing 15 gusting 20 to 25 mph and our port engine was overheating. We quickly turned around and shut down the engine to give it a chance to cool. We decide enough for the day and headed in, the engine was cool enough to run it for the docking. With a new boat and the strong winds the docking was more excitement then either of us care for, but we got in just fine and after one false start made a very good landing.

We then went next door to the marina where the boat salesman lives and joined him and all his friends in a casual afternoon dock party. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.