See full version: A Catamaran Takes on the American Great Loop
Continuing up the Atlantic coast north to Georgetown, South Carolina, we went back inside the ICW the rest of the way up to Oriental, North Carolina, where the folks at Sailcraft Marina helped us crane off Angel Louise’s 800lb deck-stepped mast and store it there along with our Facnor furler. [links]
At Atlantic City, we saw a brightly painted Krogen Manatee trawler named Manatee sporting more Coast Guard Orange paint than we’d ever seen before. We also had a chance to meet her crew, Sarah and Ted and their wonder-dog Patches, where we learned that they have made the 5,000-mile loop 27 times. more
Going under the Verrazano Bridge into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson is a joy few cruisers get to experience. We used AIS to monitor the busy traffic as we went up the Hudson to anchor off Riverside Drive. (We used twin anchors fore and aft on the tidal Hudson.) Wanting to make the most of the locale, we caught four Broadway shows in the five days on anchor in the Hudson in NYC.
Now mast-free, we traveled the length of the East Coast—up to the Erie Canal starting in Waterford, New York—without once staying in a marina, since we love to anchor and find it easy and secure with our 65lb Spade and 3/8in chain. Our longest cruising stretch was from an early morning anchorage in Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal to an anchorage across from the brightly lit Atlantic City casinos—over 100 miles!
"It sounded like a Tom Sawyer adventure to me," said Ruth Hallisy, eagerly waiting for the barges to depart one recently day.
"I want to be Huck Finn," added her husband, Robert, to the amusement of fellow retirees waiting to board.
Starting here on the Tennessee River, the 15-day cruise pushed north to the Ohio River, west to the Mississippi and then to New Orleans.
Boats and barges can now cross under the Hernando De Soto Bridge, Petty Officer Carlos Galarza told The Associated Press. River traffic under the bridge was shut down Tuesday after inspectors found a fracture in a steel beam on the span.
The bridge remained closed to vehicle traffic Friday.
Transportation officials wanted to make sure the bridge could stand on its own before re-opening river traffic. More than 45 tug boats hauling about 700 barges had been idled along the river south and north of the bridge, waiting for clearance.
However, height and width clearances for oversize vehicles were “basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action,” the inspectors found. Tennessee recommended “bridge deck replacement with only incidental widening.”
“ARDOT is now investigating to see if that damage was noted in a September 2019 inspection report and, if so, what actions were taken," the agency said in a statement. here
The Arkansas Trucking Association on Friday estimated the closure would cost the trucking industry at least $2.4 million a day because of the longer routes to cross the river. The group used data provided by the American Transportation Research Institute. [links]
“Even if you’re looking at 6-8 weeks, that's an incredible expenditure that the industry can’t simply absorb," Newton said. [links]
The bridge remained closed as negotiations intensified between the White House and a group of Republican senators over a potential infrastructure package. Democrats have said the shutdown highlights the urgent need for more infrastructure funding. here
DOT spokesman Dave Parker said the damage was found by a consulting firm that was inspecting the bridge's cables that year. here