Thursday - September 23, 2010

Lat 039 42 46; Long 090 38 64; Hours 356.36; Fuel 143 gal
We raised anchor and left Griggsville at 7:45 am. The intention is to try and make over 60 miles and reach the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers at Grafton Illinois. The channels are well marked and the river is getting wider as we travel towards the Mississippi. The topography is getting more hilly which is a change from yesterday when it was relatively flat terrain. The weather was sunny and hot. There is a current of about 2 kts in the river going with us which means that we are being pushed down the river. I go up to 8 knts and the engine’s rpms at around 1200 and I am only using about 1 to 1.3 gallons per hour which is nice. Winds were quite high today – about 35 knts according to the radio weather. Even saw some white caps on the river, but nothing like on Lake Michigan . The waves were only about ½ foot. If these winds had been on Lake Michigan we would not have even traveled since the waves would have been 7 or 8 feet.
Passed several tow as we go down the river. When you pass the tow it is quite amazing how strong and how far the prop wash goes back from the tow and barges. The boat gets pushed around by the back wash for several hundred feet. You have to have your hands firmly on the wheel to prevent being pushed out of the channel. This happens whether you are approaching or passing a tow. The captains of the tows are very professional and I believe very appreciative when you ask the side they would prefer you to pass on. When passing the tow going the same direction, we always advise the captain when we have cleared their bow since sometimes the tow is two or three hundred or more yards behind the lead barge.
We passed under a couple of train bridges which had about 20 feet of recorded clearance. Since the mast on the boat is 18’ 6”, it was close. If the water was up a bit, we could have had a problem. However I did have to put the aerial for my main VHF radio down since it was about 22 feet. I was glad I had a moveable aerial installed this spring.
I had to make a phone call at 1:00 pm to the CFC. During this time Brenda captained the boat and seems to be getting more comfortable with it.
We arrived at Grafton at around 4:00 went to the swimming pool since it was very hot and just rested before going out to dinner at a BBQ restaurant.