Wednesday, Oct 1, 2014

Olmstead Dam to Cumberland Towhead anchorage

At daybreak, we heard folks starting their motors, getting ready to depart and followed suit.  We left at 7 and were the first out of the anchorage.  Seems that is what we do.  We try to leave as soon as the light allows us to see!

We passed by the Olmstead Lock and Dam Construction and were enjoying being the lead boat for a change. It was short-lived fun as larger and faster boats (that’s all of them) passed us.

Powerboats on Sea Fever's stern

The next two dams were the oddest experiences we’ve had passing through a lock.

The first, Lock and Dam 53 is a wicket dam, built in 1929. A wicket is a panel that can be raised or lowered depending on the water depth. And the wickets are raised and lowered manually.  Dam 53 consists of 487 wickets, but 312 of those are pass wickets that are raised and lowered all at once. The rest have to be raised and lowered one at a time.

The water level was high enough so that the ‘wickets’ were down. We literally cruised over the dam in 16 feet of water, seeing only a lock, pillars of concrete lining the shore, and a line of turbulence where the water passed over the wickets. 

Our experience some 20 miles further upriver at Lock and Dam #52, however, was quite exciting. Although we were the first out of the anchorage in the morning, As usual, the other boats were the first to this lock.  But because a tow had caused a delay, they were all still waiting when we arrived.

7 boats, several of them larger than 40 feet, needed to lock through at the same time.  We filed into the lock and lined up bow to stern. It was a very tight fit and the boats were only about 1 foot apart. We were last in and weren’t sure we would clear the lock door when it closed. Fortunately we did.

And it was a way different process than any of the other locks we had experienced.  In this lock, forward and aft lines were cleated down on the boat and then passed up to an attendant at the top of the lock wall.  There, the line was passed around a stationary bollard on the top of the lock wall and the tail of the rope was tossed down for us to hold as the water went up.   

Things were going OK until a stern line on a 40’ powerboat came loose. The back of the boat swung away from the wall and chaos ensued. The captain of the powerboat ran to the helm and engaged the engine to get the boat back in line. The front of the boat hit the wall and the boat moved backward as it swung in toward the wall and a sailboat that was behind it. With no room to maneuver it was a tense situation but lots of running about and use of boathooks managed to salvage the situation. The powerboat sustained some damage to its rail, but everyone else came through unscathed.

We had commented to each other about not seeing any mammals lapping the waters of the river.  We finally saw a cow meander down to the river

Cow on the river

We continued on to our next anchorage, behind an island near the junction of the Cumberland River.

We have written about the kindness of strangers on this adventure. We had no sooner set our anchor than dock mates we had met in but not seen since Grafton stopped over to say hello.  It was their second night at this anchorage, because the locks on Barkley Lake via the Cumberland River, and Kentucky Lake via the Tennessee River were closed to pleasure boats. Commercial boats take precedence!!

The next dingy trip to visit brought us a ziplock of ice (we were out) and some homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

Tim fell asleep on the settee at 5:30 PM, only to jump up at 6:30 PM thinking it was morning and wanted to rush to get started.  Kathy brought him to his senses, at which time he made himself a peanut butter sandwich and went to bed. 

Kathy, not wanting to disturb him, slept on the settee, and we got ready to leave at 6:30 the next morning.