Chaos in the Industrial Canal Lock

Pura Vida pinned against the fuel dock in NOLA

Every time I transit through New Orleans’ elaborate system of bridges and locks, I say, “I swear, I will never do that again!” Well, I swear, I will never do that again. 

Our day began at 0630 trying to figure how to get off the fuel dock with the north wind pinning us to it.  When we fueled yesterday evening I told Ruth I don’t really like staying the night on this dock in fear of the expected increasing north wind.  After all, we were here instead of offshore because of the small craft warning.  However, this is the dock the marina offered us for free, so I didn’t want to appear unappreciative.  Another problem, besides the strong wind, was that we had a boat directly in front and behind us, limiting our maneuverability.  However, with the help of a local boater holding the bow we were able to get the stern off and we backed into the 20 knot north wind at 0730.

Tied to Wendy C awaiting a lock

We made it through the L & N lift bridge with no issues by 0745.  Next was the Florida Ave. Bridge (Ch. 13) which had a curfew disallowing boat passage, during rush hour, until 0830.  While circling and waiting, we were informed that it might not open on time as they were going to perform maintenance.  However, at 0831 the bridge began to lift.  Next was the Claiborne bridge (ch. 13) just shy of the first lock.  The Claiborne opened after we had confirmation with the Industrial Canal Lock (ch. 14) that we would be granted passage.  At 0845 we cleared the Claiborne.  The lock requested we tie up to some pilings on our port side and wait, as there was maintenance being performed on the lock gate.  As we approached the pilings, I realized they were too far apart to tie bow and stern and they appeared to be too shallow to drift with one line attached, so I contacted tow boat Wendy C, also awaiting entrance, and was granted permission to tie to its starboard side.  So we were set for the 2 hour wait.  At 1100 after a tow boat pushing 6 barges, 3 long by 2 wide exited, we were contacted by the lockmaster with instructions.  We would follow three light boats,

New Orleans Industrial Lock 

tows without barges, into the lock and tie on our starboard side. 

With fenders deployed on the starboard side we made our way into the lock.  Ruth moved to her position on the bow armed with a boat hook. The part that must be explained is there are River Flood Warnings throughout southern Louisiana including New Orleans and the Mighty Mississippi River.  The lock tender dropped Ruth a line, while I was steering and we never saw him again.  With a 20 knot wind tunneling from the rear, I told her to tie it to the stern cleat and wait on the bow line.  We never received a bow line.  I believe the intent was for us to hang onto the line, to keep us against the wall of the lock, taking in slack as the lock filled with water. As we rose, I suddenly remembered this from past experiences and moved the line to the mid cleat giving Ruth instructions to fend the bow off the wall with her boat hook, while I fended the stern.  This worked for only a few seconds until the water started pumping into the lock.  The flow into the lock was not gentle as I had experienced in the past.  It felt as if it was being pumped directly where PV floated, half way through the lock.  Eventually, as we drifted, we ran out of line to hold on to.  I had a tremendous sinking feeling when the line slipped through the mid cleat and my hands.  I actually thought it was going to rip the mid cleat off the boat.  Pura Vida met chaos this day.  Adrift in the Industrial Lock with 20 knot winds astern and water flowing into the lock we were suddenly headed to the port side wall.  We reached the wall swiftly and fended off the best we could, with no line from above, using our boat hooks, with only our fender board to port.  However, we couldn’t maintain this for long.  I floored the throttle in forward determined I would tie to a towboat ahead.  Apparently, Silver Fox, saw the event, radioed the lock stating “the sailboat lost his line”, then he offered us to tie to his port side, where I was already approaching.  With their help and our gratitude, we swiftly tied bow and stern and waited out the flooding of the lock.  The lock rose 13 feet, not a common amount.  This was attributable to the River Flood Warning and the Mississippi River being abnormally high.  We thanked the lock master, as is customary, and bellowed appreciation to Silver Fox then exited the lock with a sigh of relief and a change of shorts and socks.

Bridge after Bridge

 

Next was the Mighty Mississippi.  I figured the flow would be too great to turn up river to the Harvey Lock, which I have done previously, so we were prepared to travel the Algiers Alternate Canal.  However, I thought I would give it one last look before turning down river toward the Algiers Lock.  Following the tow boats I watched them as they entered into the river.  They seemed to be drifting almost sideways down river as they entered the river.  This made my decision easy.  After entering the Mississippi I contacted New Orleans Traffic (ch. 12), as required.  They informed us there was a ship heading upstream and to contact them on ch. 67.  We did as requested and passed them on the 1 whistle side.  I then noticed we were traveling at 12 knots throttled back.  The Yanmar was turning 2000 RPM’s, which usually pushes PV only 4 knots.  I doubt the river was flowing at 8 knots but we were flying.  I contacted the Algiers lockmaster who kindly gave directions.  Another unknown vessel contacted us requesting to hail us on Ch. 22a.  We changed channels and they informed us there was a very bad eddy at the entrance to the fore bay into the canal, which was just prior to the lock.  We survived the eddy then contacted the lockmaster for further instructions.  Fortunately, he requested we enter directly into the lock and “float.”  We were happy to “float,” and perhaps lucky to be floating.  The 13 foot descend from the Mississippi River level to the Algiers Canal level was pleasant.  We had no line to hold on to but the water was not flooding in.  We simply fended off the wall with our boat hooks, throttled forward and reverse as needed and floated back down to normalcy. 

Flooded Banks of the Mississippi River

We needed one more bridge lift for the day, the Belle Chase, before finding our anchorage for the night.  We dropped two anchors, bow and stern, into the familiar Barataria Waterway anchorage at Lafitte.  We felt grateful this day passed without a scratch on us or PV.  I swear... until next time.  By the way, cruising is not for sissies.