Fortunately,
I was able to stay on schedule and piloted my
nasty looking boat to the city dock right at sunset. My evening
visiting
Nashville was pleasant if not short as I again would need to have an
early
morning. I cast off
a little before
daylight and made the lock with no problem. From there I went back to
Clarksville,
TN for another meal and then spent the night.
The
return trip down Barkley Lake was uneventful – other
than morning fog - and I arrived at State Park Lodge in time for
another
evening meal. (Have you noticed this “boating – restaurant”, “boating –
restaurant” theme is very reoccurring in my cruising?)
It is noteworthy because of the current I
made the run almost two hours faster than the same upstream leg two
days
before. Although I had the time before eating, I decided not
to load the
boat on the trailer but spend another night on the hook. I find sleeping on the
water much more
relaxing than the trailer on the parking lot. But that too proved to be
ill
advised. I knew they were predicting strong winds the next
day but
ASSUMED it really wouldn’t kick in until later in the day - wrong! I
allowed
myself to sleep late and when I woke (I was in the same protected cove
by the
lodge) it was blowing 20 mph gusting to 30 at the unprotected ramp.
Obviously,
loading was going to be fun.
Made my way to the dock and got the trailer backed in with no
problem.
But pushing away from the dock was a trick since the wind was pinning
me hard
up against it. But now I had to approach the trailer with the
stiff
breeze about 45 degrees of the bow. Could have been worse but
still this
ain't good. AND did I mention once again someone fired a flare and it
had
attracted two guys in a bass boat.
And
naturally they decided just to sit, wait and watch the show. So great – I again have an
audience and this
has the potential to be much more embarrassing than the
unloading!
Over
the past couple years I have occasionally loaded with
some decent crosswind but nothing like this. Initially my attempts were
to come
at the trailer lined up straight only off to the windward side. The idea was to have the
wind move the boat sideways
as I controlled the forward speed.
I
have found this is normally a recipe for failure. Even IF it got the
timing
right (rarely) by the time the bow passed through the rear upright
trailer
guides it was blown off center of the trailer before it caught 
in the
forward
bunks. The gut
reaction was to crank
the steering to the opposite side trying to align things only to
overload the
rear downwind guidepost usually bending it.
The combination of a lot of side area and a shallow
draft allows a huge
amount of sideways force to be generated by the wind, plus add in the
push of
the outboard trying to correct and something has to give. Another
mistake I
would commonly make with this procedure is to approach too fast to try
to
reduce the time the bow has to swing off center.
This often ended up with the boating hitting the
trailer hard and
bouncing it and the truck around. Again, not a good idea.
I
have learned the best approach is similar to what I had
done in the lock. Come at the trailer at an angle with the bow into the
wind
while making a shallow arc. This allows me to approach at a slower
speed (wind
resistance) but with better control.
As
I near the trailer I allow the bow to turn toward the center but still
pass
between the guidepost at a somewhat upwind angle. The wind then begins
to blow
the bow towards the trailer centerline and by controlling the forward
speed I
can time things so the bow aligns with the center just as it contacts
the
bunks. It is still
somewhat of a
balancing act but far better than the straight on approach. The speeds
are
slower which allows more time to make corrections. Once the turn rate
is set I
rarely have to make anything but small directional adjustments with the
wheel. And if an
error is made it is
best to under correct and find the bow to far upwind as I can always
slow and
allow the wind to bring it on around – not the O/B.
Since using this method I have not bent the rear
guidepost – but
then again today might be a different story. Enough stalling - things
weren’t
going to get any better and my fan club was waiting so with somewhat
sweaty
palms I started my assault on the trailer.
Well a couple things happened. #1 - I like to think that experience kicked in. But #2 - I probably got incredibly lucky. I hit the trailer dead on and loaded it like it was a totally calm day. I have to admit I was more than a little pleased with myself and couldn’t help but look over at the two guys and smile. With no acknowledgement they simply got in their bass boat and left. Made my day……………………
The Numbers (as per GPS)
Total trip - 269 miles
Total time in route - 40 hrs 19 min
Maximum speed - 9.01 (passing a barge)
Average speed - 6.53 mph
Fuel burned 40.8 gallon
Average mpg - 6.59 or 1 gallon per hour