Wait. A few dam minutes.
The Fourth of July has come and gone. For many, it seems to mark the middle of summer. Of course in the southern states, summer weather lasts well into September. But from the level of boating activity at JWSP, the morning of July 5, you might have thought summer was over. We were one of only two boats left on the transient dock. And shortly, we would be gone as well.
The forecast showed the 5th as being the last opening in our weather window for several more days. So we decided to take advantage of it. Stopped by the fuel dock for a quick diesel top off, some ice, and, you know, other activities, then we were on our way.
Our course today would take us through Wheeler Dam Lock and then Wilson Dam Lock, finally arriving at Florence Harbor Marina, a trip of about 18 nautical miles. The chart plotter estimated we would be there in about 4 hours. Of course, the plotter had no idea how long it would take to get through the locks, and neither did we. The Tennessee Valley Authority guides generally advise to plan on 45-60 minutes to transit, but also reminds recreational boaters that commercial traffic has priority. Foreshadowing, anyone?
The TVA dam system is a marvel of engineering. Beginning in the 1930s, TVA administered the construction and maintenance of dams and power plants that transformed the Tennessee Valley; providing flood control, power generation, and reliable navigable waterways for commercial traffic. TVA has its critics, and some of that may be justified, but one has to admit, the residents of North Alabama have benefitted greatly from the economic impact TVA facilitated. On the other hand, AAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!
Let me explain. We left JWSP, and as we reentered the main channel, we could see the dam ahead. When we got within a half a mile or so, we contacted the lock master by radio, and requested to lock through. “Come on, we’ll get you right through” or words to that effect were his reply. There was a slight bobble with the lines initially, but we persevered and were quickly secured to one of floating bollards inside the lock, ready to experience our first lock transit. “Where are you headed?” the lock master asked from the top of the lock wall. “Florence” we replied. “Lot of traffic at Wilson”, the next lock downstream. We should have listened better.
We hear the sound of machinery and in a moment the water started draining. We watched as the floating bollard dropped lower and lower below the high water line. About 30 minutes later, the gates slowly opened and the ‘clear to exit’ horn sounded. We cranked the engine, retrieved our lines and were on our way. All things considered our first lock through was a piece of cake. That wouldn’t last.
With the light winds, we motored down the river channel, marveling at the number of birds on the bank. As the channel began to widen the number of waterside homes increased. As we got to the proper lake part of Wilson Lake, the number and size of the homes changed again. “Nice houses, nice views” we thought. “But our home moves” we laughed, as we continued on.
Around 1:00 pm we were close enough to Wilson Dam to contact them and request passage. The response was not what we received earlier. Due to the backups of some barge traffic, it would be at least 5:00 before they could clear us through. But we could tie up along the upper wall and wait our turn. And so we did and waited our turn; I mean what’s a few hours wait?
The call came about 8:20 pm. “The tug has the final load out now. It will take about 20 minutes to refill the lock then we can get you through.” The gates opened and horn sounded shortly before 9:00. Perhaps dam minutes are slightly longer than other minutes, we don’t know. What we did know, is we now have to negotiate the lock and the canal to the marina in the dark.
We had talked about the possibility of having to spend the night, still tied to the wall. By the time we realized finishing this leg after dark was a real possibility, it was too late to head back up river to a marina. And this part of Wilson Lake is very deep and shallows very quickly, so finding an adequate anchorage wasn’t a great option either. We decided to commit to making it to Florence - we were only 3 miles away at this point!
There are lights in the lock and we had our spreader / deck lights on as well, so tying up was no problem. The water either drained slower or Wilson is much deeper than Wheeler, as it seemed to take forever to empty the lock. Eventually the gates opened and we made our way out, radioing the lock master our thanks when we were clear. If I looked at the time when we were clear of the gates, I don’t remember what it was. That might be because what met my gaze, once the lights of the dam diminished, was an inky blackness I hardly had words to describe. Dark doesn’t quite cover it. Utter absence of light is closer.
I’ve been on other boats at night, but someone else was driving. This was my boat, my crew, my family, my responsibility. Amy sometimes refers to me as Mr. Safety, it’s sort of a joke. But this wasn’t really funny. Earlier, during the long wait, in the daylight, I had pulled out the spotlight that had come with the boat when we bought her. It had a 12v cigarette lighter plug, but we don’t have one of those on board. So, out came the electrical tools and some new connectors so I could wire it directly to an empty slot on the DC panel. It probably wasn’t ABYC approved but it worked. My thinking was, “If I go ahead and do this, then I won’t need it, right?”
The nice B&G plotter that came with the boat, laid down a lovely straight line for us to follow, straight through the center of the canal. In the blackness, that plotter was really all I could see, until the lights of the first bridge appeared, about 1.5 miles ahead. Fortunately, the canal is pretty straight so it became a simple routine: check the lights, check the chart, check the depth, repeat. Meanwhile, Amy had the spotlight, checking our distance from the canal banks, and looking for obstacles ahead. Only one obstacle presented itself, and turned out it wasn’t really an obstacle at all, it just looked like one from a distance.
We had initially planned to make this trip on Tuesday, but when we called the Florence marina there were no transient slips available - City of Florence Fireworks over the River for the 4th. Duh. Well as it turned out, our obstacle was the brightly lit barge that had been used to launch said fireworks. A crew was preparing it to go back to whatever it does the rest of the year. Plenty of room once we got to it, but with its lights, it looked disturbingly larger and quite in our way from a distance.
Once past that, we were close to the next bridge across the canal. Just beyond lay the marina entrance. What I didn’t realize for a moment, in the dark, was that just before that bridge, the canal joins back up to the main river channel. We had been motoring at about 3 knots thru the water and I hadn’t been paying attention to our speed over ground. But now, the extra current made Kotona’s steering sluggish, as we crossed under the bridge. We approached the entrance and the channel markers were moving up on us quite fast. “Current!”, it finally occurred to me and we gave Kotona the beans, turned hard to starboard and made it just inside the green marker, safely in the entrance channel. We had been advised by the harbormaster that getting outside the marked channel was a bad idea. Whew.
Docking was uneventful. Once secure, a relieved hug celebrated our longest day on the boat so far. We’d made it through our first ‘night sail’, unplanned though it was. And Kotona? She’d been perfect. Everything worked as it was supposed to. We gave her some pats, and words of thanks. It was somewhere between 10:30 and 10:45pm at this point. We found the marina showers, and celebrated again. YMMV, but I think, after a dam long day on the boat, a marina shower might be the best shower. We made our way back to the boat, and settled in for the night, safe and secure. We’d had a few problems today, but sleeping… that was no problem at all.