Cruising to Paris

We left Florence, Alabama on Friday morning September 30th for a short 36 miles cruise. The wind was still coming out of the north, but since we were heading due west, it was not blowing in our face the entire trip. By closing the side isinglass windows in the flybridge, we had a pleasant breeze without getting blasted by 20 mph wind.

There were some strange stone/brick/concrete structures almost in the middle of the lake, just off the channel. By referencing the Fred Meyers book, we learned it was the Old Riverton Lock. Further investigation revealed it was built in 1900 to allow river traffic to cross Colbert Shoals. It was opened in 1911 and was the highest lock in the world at the time. The engineer who built it was then transferred to the Panama Canal project and later became the first Governor of the Panama Canal Zone. The lock was demolished in 1938.

Arabella arrived at Aqua Yacht Harbor early in the afternoon and found our friends Beeb and Frank aboard their 49’ Grand Banks named Phoenix. Karen got her “puppy fix” right away. (Yes, this is Capel writing this post.) We spent two nights at Aqua Yacht and met another couple on their boat, Adagio (Charles and Kim). They were also heading to Paris Landing for the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous. Charles and Kim were just two days away from crossing their wake in Columbus, MS.

We left Aqua Yacht on 10/2 and headed north (down river) toward Kentucky Lake. Our first task was to transit Pickwick lock. We called the lock master to see if there were any tows (barges) that would delay our transit. He said there were two and we should not arrive before noon. So we waited three hours before leaving and cruised the 10 miles to the lock arriving at noon. After dropping 80 feet, we headed downstream with a stiff current giving us a boost. For about an hour, we hit a blistering speed of 11 mph while running the engines at 1300 rpm. We would pay the price when we came back up against that current 11 days later.

A few hours into the cruise we came across a large old house on the eastern bank of the Tennessee river. It turns out that this was the Cherry Mansion. It was built on an Indian mound and used as a field hospital during the civil war. Further on, we encountered a very narrow spot in the river with high cliffs on both sides. The Fred Meyers book informed us this was Lady Finger Bluff. So named because a lady jumped to her death there after being chased by Indians.

We arrived at Clifton Marina late in the afternoon. This was a small marina that required some tight maneuvering in order to get our 48’ boat into a slip between the marina restaurant and fuel dock. The next morning we departed on a 56 mile cruise to Cuba Landing Marina. The hills disappeared and the river led us through miles of farmland. Land lots were being developed along the banks on both sides. The houses were on stilts, but most of what we saw was pole sheds with travel trailers parked beneath them. Probably a good plan since the travel trailers could be moved the next time the river floods.

We also encountered a US Coast Guard dive boat performing dive operations just off the side of the channel. It was a very small boat and we had no idea what they were doing. It reminded me of my time working in the Gulf of Mexico as a commercial diver. Whatever they were doing, I’m sure they had zero visibility. It was just another day for a commercial or CG diver.

When we arrived at Cuba Landing Marina, the wind was blowing at a good clip. In the wind, our boat can act like a kite while trying to dock. Lucky for us, there was another boat at the fuel dock when we arrived. Kathy, on board See Life, dropped what she was doing and hustled ¼ mile across the marina to help us tie up. We can’t thank her enough for this assistance. It took three tries to get secure and if Kathy hadn’t been there, I would probably still be trying:)

The next day we had smooth sailing to Paris Landing. The 46 mile cruise required no locks and we only encountered one tow in a wide part of the river. It was so wide, we didn’t even have to call them on the VHF radio to confirm which side to meet them.. Typically, a pleasure craft such as ours, would call the tow captain and confirm which side to meet. This is especially true in narrow parts of the river and critical if the tow is rounding a bend in the river. We arrived at Paris Landing State Park Marina in the middle of the afternoon.

Our friends aboard Phoenix were already in their slip, since they had arrived the day before. We had “docktales” on their boat that evening. We began cleaning the boat the next morning because we had signed up to participate in the “looper crawl” the following week during the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous. More about that on the next post.