Actually, for me approaching a
pin like this is easier than
trying to come up alongside running parallel to the concrete wall. I
can more
readily control the turn and place the boat right at the pin as I meet
the
sidewall. This as opposed to trying to skim down it and edge over at
the last
moment. It is very
easy to get too close
and drag the fenders down the rough concrete sometimes causing them to
pop out
over the gunnel. When
that happens the
rub rail can directly scrape on the wall and get nasty wounds in the
process.
When
rigging Seaquinn I took special care to install
hardware to accommodate singlehanded locking.
I positioned a cleat aft of the sliding side door as
close as possible
to amidship but close enough I could reach it without leaving the cabin. The idea is when preparing
for the lockage
to attach a line to the cleat and drop the rest of the coil inside the
door at
my feet. When near
the pin I pick up
the line and drop it over and then reach back and secure the bitter end
on the
same cleat. This
single line centered
on the hull will hold the boat against the lock wall and normally needs
no
attending during the lockage. When
complete I loosen the end and flip it back off the pin and again drop
it on the
floor. Once I am clear of the lock I stop and stow the fenders and
line. That’s
the plan anyway.
As I am waiting for the lock
to open the river gods decide
this is going to be too easy and another distraction is warranted. Suddenly, the sky opens up
its own gates and
begins dumping water. No
sooner than
this starts and the miter gates open and the horn direct me to enter. I
proceed
following my plan and swing a smooth 180 to bring the pin up to the
side. But now I
need to open the sliding door and
catch the bollard but bucketfuls are still falling. To make matters
worse, now the wind is driving
the rain into the lock wall above me and it is splashing back
compounding the
volume. Not only
that but is knocking
loose dried marine growth in black ½ inch flakes, which proceed to
cover all
the horizontal exterior surfaces as well as splash in the open doorway. As quickly as possible I
loop over the pin,
tie off the bitter end and slide the door shut to hold back the
hydraulic
onslaught.
Once isolated from the downpour I take time to mop up the mess on the interior of the cabin and dry myself off. The rain continues for few minutes and then totally stops. It is great that it ended but I would have preferred it continued until I was out of the lock and maybe had a chance to wash off most of the black debris. No such luck..
Next, while in the chamber the
lockmaster tells me the next
day at 6PM the lock is going out of service for two weeks (Yes, I
failed to
check the lock status BEFORE I left on the trip!) and unless I wanted
to stay
up there for two weeks I would need to be back through. I had planned
to stay
in Nashville for a couple days but not two weeks. After some thought I
decided
I would still make the run. The GPS put me at Nashville about
5pm.
That meant I could make dinner, knock around for the evening and spend
the
night at the city dock. Then early the next morning I could
depart and
make the lock by lunch - plenty of time before the 6 PM
closing.
With this decision
made, I motor from the lock, looking like someone dumped a barrel of
peat moss
all over the topsides. And although the rain had stopped the wind had
now
picked up and was blowing at a brisk pace of about 20 MPH. I run up the
river
about a mile but decide to stop and try to rinse off the lock debris
before it
dies and sticks in place. So I find myself standing on top the cabin
with a
plastic bucket and a rope trying to lower it into the water and haul it
back up
to wash things off. All while attempting to maintain footing
on the rocking,
slick and wet surface and trying not to fall overboard! After
the third
of fourth bucket load my hastily tied granny knot (I knew better)
decided that
was enough and let loose sending my bucket to the bottom on the
channel.
So much for cleaning off the junk. (Yea, I know – it sounds
like I am a
real novice at this!)